Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 110
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
978-1-4758-5145-8 • Hardback • August 2019 • $62.00 • (£48.00)
978-1-4758-5146-5 • Paperback • August 2019 • $32.00 • (£25.00)
978-1-4758-5147-2 • eBook • August 2019 • $30.00 • (£25.00)
Kari O’Driscoll is the founder of The SELF Project, an organization that uses mindfulness and nonviolent communication techniques to build resilience in adolescents. She is a Pacific NW native and mother of two who writes about parenting, health, and social justice.
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1- First Lessons
Adolescent Brain Development 101
Learning/Communication Styles
Chapter 2- Mindfulness
Educator Notes
Energy Follows Intention
Anger Comes From Fear
Owning Our Stories
Mindfulness & Conflict
The Trap of Superlatives
Living Your Values
Chapter 3- Compassion
Educator Notes
Seeing Others in Pain
Differing Perspectives
Name-Calling v. Owning Our Emotions
Myths & Misperceptions About Bullying
What Don’t You Know?
Self-Compassion
Alternative Forms of Wealth
Chapter 4- Positive Mindset
Educator Notes
Altruism
Deserving Joy
Finding Joy
Connection
The Three Crowns
Finding Meaning
Chapter 5- Self-Worth
Educator Notes
Comparison as a Form of Self-Judgment
Shame
Fitting In
Platonic Ideals
Pressure to Perform
Chapter 6- Stress, Anxiety & Fear
Educator Notes
Going it Alone
Fear, Wisdom & Equanimity
How We Freak Ourselves Out
The Power of Story
Rewiring Your Brain to Chill
Appendix A- Activities
Mindfulness
Compassion
Positive Mindset
Self-Worth
Stress, Anxiety & Fear
Additional Activities
Appendix B- Skills Reference Guide
About the Author
Offering a compassionate, curious approach to personal growth and social emotional wellbeing, this book is a valuable tool for parents, teachers and adolescents. Author, Kari O’Driscoll is deeply conscious of the student’s need for multiple ways of engagement and offers plenty of activities for the mind and body. Role-play exercises, discussion and journaling prompts along with guided meditation scripts combine to make this a flexible resource I will return to again and again.
— Tanya Ward Goodman, author of “Leaving Tinkertown,” and co-founder of Girl Group Enterprises
This book features a rich, developmentally-appropriate collection of lessons for adolescents. Author Kari O’Driscoll offers secondary teachers and youth development leaders a range of discussion topics, social-emotional learning activities, and mindfulness practices that will enhance teens' sense of well-being. Each lesson is thoughtfully packaged to actively engage teens in deeper reflection about who they are in the world and how to be kinder to themselves and more compassionate toward others.
— Amy L. Eva, Associate Education Director, Greater Good Science Center, University of California, Berkeley
I am so grateful for the abundance of tools and insight this books offers to me as a parent and a family therapist. Many of my teenage clients are not even aware of the amount of stress and anxiety they carry on a daily basis until they start to experience difficulties and break down in multiple areas of their lives. Kari provides reader friendly, user friendly, ways to both identify origins of stress and anxiety, and informative, compassionate, and practical interventions to manage these challenges creatively. The approach that fosters mindfulness as a skill and an accessible daily practice is exceptional. The exercises and activities allow each individual to become curious about their own unique experience and as well as creating supportive communities for adolescents. I have used this book with teen clients, adults, and my own children in order to heal dysfunctional communication patterns, remedy a ‘stuck mindset’, and boost overall self confidence. I highly recommend this text for parents, educators, health care providers, and anybody who wants to help adolescents build healthier lives and thought patterns.
— Tracy Gibbons Piette, MA, LMFT
The interactions that adults have with tweens and teens can sometimes feel like open warfare. The SELF Project provides a robust curricular scaffold that can be used to win over the hearts and minds of these children we teach, care for, and love. Mindfulness, compassion, positive mindset, self-worth, and ways to address stress, anxiety and fear will become part of your expanding toolkit as you seek to connect with young people before you seek to correct. Kari offers her journey of motherhood and her expertise as a context for deploying these smart strategies with the ultimate goal of developing kind, resilient and good human beings.
— Rafael del Castillo, Head of School, Bertschi School, 2016+, Head of School, Seattle Girls' School, 2010-2016