Known for his leadership during the Covid-19 crisis, Bloomfield has recently become an ambassador for a mindfulness programme for school-aged children.

The Southern Cross-funded Pause Breathe Smile (PBS) programme is free and available for all kura, primary and intermediate schools.

Grant Rix and the Mental Health Foundation collaborated on the programme's development, which started in 2013. Since then, 114,000 students have completed it.

"It really is about teaching kids basic mindfulness skills such as mindful breathing and body scan techniques and things like that, " Rix says,

He explains these techniques start by helping them build a really healthy, positive relationship with their body.

Then they learn to apply those basic skills to other areas that are really important for mental wellbeing. These include being able to regulate our emotions, he says.

The programme helps children understand their emotions and accept it is okay to feel a certain way.

Results look promising

Southern Cross CEO Chris White says the programme is having positive results.

Over 1,000 responses from educators trained in the programme reported positive behaviour in the classroom increased by 12.4 percent, he says.

At the same time, negative behaviour in the classroom was reduced by 10.1 percent.

"We were also excited to see that 12 months on from introducing PBS, general student wellbeing was up 16.6 percent and that the number of students flourishing increased by 8.1 percent," he says.

Bloomfield says children's mental health is of great "interest and importance" to him.

His concerns are timely.

Antidepressant medications dispensed to children and teenagers increased 53 per cent in the past five years. The growth of prescribing to young people is causing unease among experts in the sector.

Bloomfield's tips for parents

The former director general of health has some tips on looking after youngsters.

Bloomfield says Mindfulness is a good option: it teaches techniques that keep stress levels manageable.

It offers actions for when you're under pressure, he says. That's when you "drop anchor and ground yourself again."

Find out what works for you

This is essential, Bloomfield says. It could be meditation, yoga, running a bike ride, or something else.

Know your boundaries; take active steps to stay within them for your physical and mental well-being.

Spend some time in nature

"We know the benefits of spending time in the natural environment, getting out into New Zealand's beautiful bush," Bloomfield says.

Spending time outdoors can help with gaining perspective, and engaging with the natural world is important.

Connect with loved ones

He says it is important for our well-being to connect with people that matter to us.

Putting effort into those relationships can help keep us grounded, especially when the pressure is on.

Be grateful

Bloomfield says there is good evidence that children who know how to be grateful for things are more positive.

"One of the best things parents can do is model that, model gratitude for their children."

Source

• NZ Herald
• Stuff
• RNZ

"Our pace of life, marked by activism, competitiveness and consumerism, generates emptiness, stress and anguish", said the Bishops Conference's Commission for Doctrine of the Faith.

"In this situation, many people are resorting to methods of meditation and prayer that originate in religious traditions outside Christianity in response to a growing demand for emotional well-being.

However, a spirituality understood as cultivation of one's interiority and self-discovery does not lead to God". Read more

But as David Gelles observes in his new book, that contrast is dissolving, perhaps for the better.

In Mindful Work, Gelles, a business reporter for The New York Times, catalogues the nascent trend of establishing employee well-being programs that promote mindfulness, an activity that is perhaps best described as doing nothing.

More precisely, mindfulness means drawing one's attention to the sensations of the present moment, and noting, without frustration or judgment, any mental wanderings that get in the way.

It can be done anywhere—at your desk, on the subway platform—and at any time. Decades of research suggest that setting aside time for mindfulness can improve concentration and reduce stress.

Gelles first reported on the rise of corporate mindfulness programs in 2012 for The Financial Times, when he described a rare but promising initiative at General Mills. In the years since, similar programs have popped up at Ford, Google, Target, Adobe—and even Goldman Sachs and Davos.

This adoption has been rapid, perhaps due to its potential to help the bottom line: Aetna estimates that since instituting its mindfulness program, it has saved about $2,000 per employee in healthcare costs, and gained about $3,000 per employee in productivity.

Mindful employees, the thinking goes, are healthier and more focused.

I recently talked to Gelles about why mindfulness programs are sprouting up and what happens when you expose a practice unconcerned with materialism to the forces of capitalism. The interview that follows has been edited and condensed for the sake of clarity. Continue reading

Sources

• The Atlantic
• Image: Psychology Today

It is understood some Christian parents at Riversdale are furious the school wants to introduce the "mindfulness" technique, claiming it has Buddhism origins. Read more