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Please settle in a comfortable position and we will begin with a short contemplative practice on compassion.

*see Notes below

Good Morning!

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Creating

Care

and Compassion

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Jami Hoekstra Collins

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Education Engagement Specialist PBS Wisconsin

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Teri Pipe

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Professor of Practice

UW School of Nursing

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Introductions - Favorite PBS KIDS character

Nick Shashko

Human Flourishing Ambassador Center for Healthy Minds

Introductions

Do a standing yoga pose of your choice if you are:

• A school counselor
• A social worker
• A teacher/educator
• If you work with elementary school students
• If you work with middle students students
• If you work with high school students

Creating Care and Compassion

Our time together

• Welcome - Practice
• UW Center for Healthy Minds Research
• Mindfulness as a kindness practice
• Well-being can be learned
• Student Flourishing Initiative and ASHF
• PBS WI Resources

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You are Everyday Heroes-Showing Kindness and Caring Each Day

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When the music stops,

• Find a new friend
• Take turns sharing an act of kindness you experienced recently.

What is Mindfulness?

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• “Moment-to-moment non-judgemental awareness of the mind-body-heart experience through calm, kind, accepting attention” (Mare Chapman)

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It’s not what you’re thinking!

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Center for Healthy Minds

Mission

To cultivate well-being and relieve suffering through a scientific understanding of the mind.

Vision

A kinder, wiser, more compassionate world.

Richie Davidson, Founder

Being well, educating well

Center for Healthy Minds

“Through the training of attention, the qualities of kindness and care toward oneself and others can be cultivated implicitly and explicitly…Daily intentions and practices to extend care and well wishes…increase activity in cortical areas responsible for empathy and compassion…with measurable change in altruistic behavior in as few as two weeks.:

(Weng et al., 2013).

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Learning is a social process

Wellbeing is trainable

Dahl et al., 2022

Taking care of yourself is essential to taking the best care of your students.

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*see Notes below

Cultivating Well Being Among College Students

What does it mean to flourish?

Foundations

Awareness

Connection

Insight

Integration

Flourishing

Transformation

Resilience

Focus

Emotions

Mindfulness

Interdependence

Compassion

Belonging

Identity

Values

Gratitude

Courage

Community

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*see Notes below

Course Context

Some Course Elements

• Large lecture 2x week; small groups once weekly
• Begin/end class with a mindfulness practice
• The importance of check-in’s
• Reflective weekly journaling
• Write and deliver a gratitude letter
• Efforts to embody the values we teach (team culture)

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Adaptable

Compared to the Control Group, ASHF Students Experienced

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Greater compassion

toward roommates

Increased ability to see other perspectives

More mindfulness

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Increased sense of connection

Heightened

self-compassion

Improvements in

attention regulation

Decreased sense of anxiety

Protective effect against depression

Please take responsibility for the energy you bring into your learning spaces

Jill Bolte Taylor

• Harvard Brain Scientist
• Experienced a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain
• Eight year recovery; relearning how to talk, walk, read, write or recall her life

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“Inner peace is accessible”

Student Flourishing Teaching Workshop

• Instructional workshop for educators who want to teach ASHF or integrate its elements into other courses/teaching practices
• Asynchronous learning + live Zoom sessions
• Course launch: Spring 2026

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If interested, please email: studentflourishing@chm.wisc.edu

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Adaptable

Adaptation Example - Connection Calendar

Some Course Elements

• Large lecture 2x week; small groups once weekly
• Begin/end class with a mindfulness practice
• The importance of check-in’s
• Reflective weekly journaling
• Write and deliver a gratitude letter
• Efforts to embody the values we teach (team culture)

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Adaptable

From Freshman To Flourishing

• “Humane Education” course in fourth grade
• Former teacher Ms. Greenwalt
• Bracing for college to be difficult
• ADHD and Dyslexia
• “Unique classes at UW-Madison”
• Recommended by advisors
• Blend of declarative and procedural learning

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Why I chose the ASHF

A pigeon is just a bird

Flying in the autumn breeze

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I am just a man

Looking up at just a bird

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I, a man

Pigeon, a bird

Memorable Moments: “Take 10 minutes to be creative”

The pigeon doesn’t try to be a fish!

It tries to be itself, a bird

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I should be like the pigeon

Not a bird, but myself

Be Like The Pigeon

• Start with a list of a 100 values, pick 10 that speak to you.
• Of those 10, focus on 5 that represent you best!
• Talk to a neighbor about your chosen 5 values and why you chose them?

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Memorable Moments: Core Values Exercise

• Do 3 stand out as your core values?

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• Knowing your values is important. It helps guide our decisions and how we spend our time.

Memorable Moments: Core Values Exercise

How the Art and Science of Human Flourishing Changed Me

• Major: Biology → Neurobiology (Pre-health track)
• Roles: President of HMoC, Student Flourishing Ambassador, & Former Undergraduate CHM Researcher
• Improved confidence I could overcome challenges
• Greater sense of awareness day to day
• Broader understanding of who I am
• Deepened connection between science and wellness

Program Goals

• Students share ASHF takeaways with campus community, donors, etc.
• Impact the culture of wellbeing on campus
• Partner with classes and student organizations to facilitate peer-led mindfulness practices

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Program Vision

• Recruit & train up to thirty students to lead mindfulness practices across campus

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Adaptable Elements

• Peer to peer wellness support
• Leadership development
• Promote a culture of well being that is student centered and student driven

Ambassador Program Elements

Student Flourishing Ambassadors

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Nick Shashko

Neurobiology

Stella Wickman

Biology

Lamont Johnson

Business

Amari Talluri-Boye

Psychology

Louisa Xu

Human Development and Family Studies

Justin Plank

Data Science and Economics

Healthy Minds on Campus (HMoC)

A student organization focusing on peer-led activities and well-being workshops to foster flourishing across campus.

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healthymindsuw.com

Adaptable Elements

• A registered student organization (club)
• Could start a mindfulness/wellness club
• Active Minds (already has infrastructure)
• Could start chapter of it at your school

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• Activities
• Mindfulness practices
• Movie screenings, e.g. Inside Out
• Painting, Yoga classes
• Speaker events with community wellness leaders

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Healthy Minds on Campus Elements (adaptable)

Well-being is a skill

Kindness Practice

Experience Mindfulness as Kindness

• Self Practice
• Share with students

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Understand the Concepts

• Attention Breath and Body
• Senses
• Caring and Emotions

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Explore the Strategies

• Teacher Resources

Well Being Can Be Learned

About The Kindness Curriculum

Taking responsibility for the energy you bring into your learning spaces

Above the Noise

• Research behind controversial issues affecting our daily lives
• Guides students in drawing informed conclusions

Young Peace Leaders

• Cultivate cross cultural empathy
• Promotes personal transformation

“Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person.”

— Fred Rogers

Weaving a Web of Kindness

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• Share a kindness strategy you learned today or have been meaning to integrate into your teaching practice

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• FUN FACT: Pound for pound, spiders’ webs are one of the strongest substances on Earth

Resources

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• Art and Science of Human Flourishing (ASHF): Essentials for Educators Course
• An online course for those interested in teaching, adapting, or integrating the evidence-based Art and Science of Human Flourishing

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• Born to Flourish (Book) by Dr. Richard J. Davidson
• Born to Flourish offers a way to turn stress and anxiety into clarity and calm.

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• Dharma Lab | Substack | Dr. Richie Davidson and Dr.Cortland Dahl
• Dharma Lab is a space for community and conversation — a digital walking path where we invite you to join us supporting greater wellbeing.

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• Healthy Minds Program App
• A free wellbeing app that has been found in multiple trials, including with educators, to improve mental health and wellbeing.

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• The Narrative Arc of ASHF Essay:
• This essay by John Dunne, in consultation with the ASHF teaching team, highlights the narrative arc of the course.

• Jami Hoekstra Collins

jami.hoekstra@pbswisconsin.org

↑ Let us know what you thought of this session!

• Teri Pipe

tpipe@wisc.edu

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• Nick Shashko

nshashko@wisc.edu

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