School Program

Stress to succeed. Stress to be cool. Stress in families. From stress management to yoga and various techniques to control the way our bodies respond to the pressures around us, our school program is designed to support the mind, body and spirit of our youth. We offer seminars and experiential sessions for students, parents, educators and parent/teacher groups.

The mission of the Greenwich Hospital Integrative Medicine Program’s school initiative is two-fold: We support the mind, body and spirit of our youth –giving them life skills to promote optimal wellness. We also help educators find resources and training to integrate healthy concepts into the learning process. Seminars and hands-on training are offered, along with stress management techniques.

Option 1: Our Community Learning Series is designed for PTAs, educators, or community organizations
Our physicians and health care practitioners are available to come to your school or community location.

Topics include:

• How Psychological Stress Impacts Your Emotions and Physical Health
• Stress and the Developing Brain
• The Benefits of Yoga and Meditation in School Children
• HeartMath: A Form of Biofeedback and its Application to School Children and Athletes

Option 2:Stress Management
A) Staff Development Seminar: This two-hour introductory lecture/experiential session on stress management provides a snapshot to help present possible future programming.

This includes:

• Introduction to stress: definition, signs, symptoms, tools for solutions
• Relaxation Response (RR): physiology
• RR experiences: diaphragmatic breathing, “minis”, imagery, mindfulness, yoga, mind/body awareness
• Exercises to incorporate RR into daily life
• Research and outcomes

B) Hands-on Experience: A four-six week program consisting of a 45-60 minute class demonstrating stress management techniques for students and/ or teachers. This is designed to fit into a class period. From week to week, the students and/or teachers will experience and learn different stress management techniques.

These may include:

• A choice of four to six different techniques from our list
• The “Relaxation Response” breath work and body scan
• Progressive muscle relaxation, positive affirmations, meditation and journaling
• Visualization/Guided imagery
• Learn and review a new technique each week to develop and reinforce skills

C) Student Mind/Body Skills Group: These groups meet in two-hour sessions over a five-week period and cover six to eight stress management techniques. Individuals will learn to use the techniques independently.

D) Teacher “Train the Trainer”: This two-hour weekly in-depth training meets for five weeks. Teachers will learn how to train students in stress management techniques and incorporate these techniques into their daily lesson plans. No more then six techniques will be introduced.

These sessions may include the following:

• Reinforcing tools for stress management through conscious breathing exercises, mediation, movement/yoga and deep-guided relaxation.
• Learn unique and practical kinesthetic games to implement in the classroom at students’ desks, to reduce stress, calm or energize students.

Option 3: Research: Individual research projects in Stress Management are available in collaboration with school administration.