Instill Mindfulness SWVA

Description of Organization

Instill Mindfulness SWVA’s (FKA Life Support) vision is to bring mindfulness to every public institution and workplace in southwest Virginia with an emphasis on K-12 education. The area they serve is rural and one of the poorest regions in the state, thus the available resources to support a mindfulness program are not available in that part of the state. Instill Mindfulness believes that to fulfill their vision, they must increase today’s youths’ interest in mindfulness. The goal is for these graduates to form the vanguard of mindfulness proponents bringing mindfulness into workplaces and public institutions throughout the region. In collaboration with the Radford University Counselor Education Department and Montgomery County Public Schools, Instill Mindfulness recently completed a pilot program at Blacksburg Middle School, in which 75 mindfulness classes were taught to the 6th grade, along with several classes specifically for the teachers. With the grant support from the Lenz Foundation, Instill Mindfulness brought these classes to the 7th and 8th graders at Blacksburg Middle School and extended the program to Shawsville and Christiansburg Middle Schools. Future plans include the introduction of a new pilot program funded by the Department of Juvenile Justice in Roanoke, working with teens on probation. Discussions are also underway with a local business about developing a pilot program for their staff.