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Nourishing belonging with mindfulness and social-emotional learning

In this ever-changing world, we find ourselves facing situations that require deep emotional awareness, both personally and socially. At Upstream Collaborative, we work together with children, parents, and educators to support the development of mindfulness-based social-emotional skills that we all need to feel an increased sense of personal and communal responsibility and belonging. We want schools and homes to be places of refuge that encourage compassionate action.

Mindfulness and Social-Emotional Learning

What are they and why are they important?

Mindfulness, at its heart, means paying attention to what is happening in the present moment. We practice this by focusing our awareness on a specific stimulus, for example: the breath, emotions, physical sensations, or sounds. The more we have this direct practice of paying attention, the more we are able to bring this skill into our daily lives. A strong foundation in mindfulness opens us up to be able to develop healthy social-emotional skills.

You can think of social-emotional learning as the development of those ingredients we need in order to be the best humans we can be. These are the skills that help us to develop our unique identities, recognize and act skilfully on our emotions, have compassion for ourselves and others, build caring relationships, and make ethical decisions.

Social-emotional skills can include the broad categories of self-awareness, social awareness, self-regulation, relationship skills and responsible decision-making. We also work to develop compassion and an awareness of the interdependence of systems surrounding us so that we can choose to take ethical action in our lives.

When we have a strong foundation in mindfulness and well-developed social-emotional competencies, we are better able to deeply connect with ourselves, others, and the world around us. We feel that we are home. We belong.

Dandelion - Mindfulness and Social-Emotional Learning - upstream collaborative

Working with

Youth

individuals and group learning about mindfulness - upstream collaborative

Individuals and groups

Schools

Testimonials

Kailyn is an authentic, caring, and compassionate guide through mindfulness and meditation. She gave examples from her own life and experience in the classroom, related teachings and readings, and honored our own experiences that we brought. She clearly lives what she teaches. The time spent with her was well planned and well spent. I highly recommend a course with her for your personal and/or professional life!

Lea Karr, International School Teacher

I think that the mindfulness helped me focus more and be more calm. The only tricky part was doing it all online but it was fun.

River, 9 years old

This year we engaged Kailyn Fullerton to provide an online course on mindfulness. Kailyn was a very engaging facilitator and presenter. Her sessions were very well planned and met the needs of the participants. Kailyn provided good support to all. Participants completed the course with a deeper understanding of mindfulness. Kailyn provided a range of activities and strategies for teachers to use in their classroom. I would recommend Kailyn, and her courses, for anyone looking to learn more about mindfulness.

Murray Hodgson, Head of School, Sekolah Buin Batu

I love it when she does mindfulness because she has really cool things to say, really cool things that we can try out. And she’s really nice to us. She’s probably one of the nicest teachers I ever had in Jakarta.

Stella, 8 years old