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Integrating Mindfulness-based Practices into Social and Emotional Learning: a Case Application

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Abstract

Mindfulness-based practices (MBP) are being applied in school settings with growing interest and increasing frequency. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a paradigm in which schools are planning and implementing prevention and intervention programming to mitigate risk factors and positively affect the well-being of all students. MBP can be used with SEL programming as a novel adjunctive approach to fostering resilience. This article reviews SEL and highlights the theoretical basis for and the practical integration of MBP into existing SEL curricula, Strong Kids and Strong Teens. Recommendations for the continued use of MBP in school settings and within a SEL framework are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge our colleagues Dianna Carrizales and Oanh K. Tran for their collaborative work on the co-authorship of and revisions to the Strong Kids and Strong Teens programs and the co-creator of the series and our mentor, the late Kenneth W. Merrell.

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  1. Successful Kids Today, P.O. Box 772748, Steamboat Springs, CO, 80477, USA

    Barbara A. Gueldner

  2. University of Washington Tacoma, Tacoma, WA, USA

    Laura L. Feuerborn

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Correspondence to Barbara A. Gueldner.

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Gueldner, B.A., Feuerborn, L.L. Integrating Mindfulness-based Practices into Social and Emotional Learning: a Case Application. Mindfulness 7, 164–175 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-015-0423-6

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