Peace in Schools Mindful Studies™

High school students receive credit for Mindful Studies. It is a full semester or year-long course offered during the regular school day.

A decade of direct service in Portland, Oregon and an award-winning pilot study with Johns Hopkins University show that our Mindful Studies course serves as an accessible, practical, and critical resource for teens — with particular benefit for marginalized youth and youth with high trauma. See our Evaluation and Research page to learn more. Our class is student, teacher, principal and parent approved!

We deliver an in-depth, immersive, relational education experience for teens. Our Mindful Studies students receive 72-144 hours of direct teaching time over the course of a semester or year long course. The curriculum goes beyond basic mindfulness instruction, including topics like negative self-talk, self-compassion, duality, projection, and more. We consistently update our curriculum based on student input, emerging research in the fields of mindfulness, interpersonal neurobiology and trauma-informed care, with a particular commitment to remain culturally responsive and equity-forward in our teachings.

All Mindful Studies teachers have received extensive, in-depth training in the Peace in Schools pedagogy, philosophical approach, and curriculum delivery. Having teachers who authentically embody presence is the one of the most important aspects of our class.

We believe that every teen is whole, authentic, and deserving of wellbeing. We support teens in connecting with who they authentically are and in noticing — without judgment and with compassion — that which keeps them from doing so. We aren't here to "fix" teens or to give them anything they don't already have inside them. Rather, our class invites teens to remember their own inherent wholeness and to practice caring with themselves, each other and the world. We use mindfulness as a way to address mental health in teens to prepare them for the future, to live, joyful, courageous, healthy and peaceful lives.

Peace in Schools is a secular, research-backed, elective mindfulness program committed to depth and honoring the roots of awareness practices. We believe that mindfulness as a capacity belongs to every human, and is not exclusive to any culture or tradition. Mindfulness is something that can be practiced by all people, regardless of who you are, what you believe, or where you’re from. Mindfulness has roots in Buddhism and has been practiced in India and throughout Asia for centuries, though practices of presence can be found across cultures all over the world. Peace in Schools offers secular, trauma-informed tools for wellbeing rooted in equity and racial justice practices. It’s important to acknowledge and celebrate the very long and rich history of mindfulness as we try it out ourselves.

Mindful Studies is not an independent study course; the learning and transformation that takes place happens in a community context. Our courses average 25-30 students per class. Building trust and focusing on relationship are essential elements in the class.

The relationship between school counselors and Peace in Schools facilitators is one example of how the program serves and enhances existing school-based mental health services. Peace in Schools offers programming as both a Tier 1 (universal support) and research-backed Tier 2 (targeted support) program in high schools. School counselors routinely refer and encourage students having personal, social and academic challenges, to enroll in Mindful Studies. In addition to the supportive tools provided to these students through the curriculum, our instructors serve as an early warning system in the schools. Mindful Studies teachers alert counselors when students need one-on-one support or urgent interventions. These notifications included instances in which students have suggested self-harming or violent behaviors.