Peace in Schools Certification Pathways

“It’s been a life-changing, invaluable opportunity”

— High School Educator

Peace in Schools Certification Pathways provide opportunities for youth-serving professionals and educators to become certified in our transformative pedagogy and receive our research-backed curricula.

Through our immersive in-person retreat, skill-building virtual sessions, and customized trainings, we will guide you in deepening your personal mindfulness practice and embodying presence with the youth you serve.

We are proud to partner with the University of the Pacific-Benerd College to offer CEUs and PDUs.

The “Power of You” Facilitator Certification

Become certified to teach the “Power of You,” our 12-session youth curriculum. This pathway is for any youth-serving or mental health professional at a non-profit organization or other entity who works with groups of adolescents aged 15-24, in groups of 10, on a consistent basis.

Learn more & apply!

The Embodied Educator Certification

Become certified in our pedagogy and receive our toolkit of mindfulness-based practices to implement with youth. This pathway is for any educator or professional working in a school setting who is interested in having a transformative experience that will directly influence their work with young people.

Learn more & apply!

What You’ll Learn

Peace in Schools has spent over a decade refining and proving our unique pedagogical approach and Mindful Studies curricula. Through our robust and intentional training program, you’ll gain confidence in your ability to facilitate effectively and meet the moment with ease. You’ll learn engaging ways to build strong connections with young people so they feel safe and empowered to be themselves. Through playful, present practices and interactive games that foster connection and trust, you’ll reconnect with joy in your work with youth.

The Peace in Schools pedagogical approach consists of five pillars that are the foundations of our curriculum. These pillars, woven through all of the Mindful Studies content, class structure, and facilitation style, are what make our curriculum transformational and unique.
- Presence: Presence is the foundation. Throughout the course, students are given various tools and practices that give them a felt experience of presence.
- Compassion: We work with the group to co-create and maintain a container of compassion, giving students a supportive environment to explore their inner landscape.
- Community: We co-create a community in which all voices and experiences are validated, and all students experience a felt-sense of belonging.
- Conditioning: Students reflect on the ways they have been conditioned by their families, school, society, community, and culture.
- Self-Knowledge: Students are invited to bring nonjudgmental inquiry to their direct experience and get to know themselves on the deepest level.
Mindful Studies guides students on a journey of exploring their inner landscape without judgment and with great compassion. Throughout the course, students experience a felt-sense of belonging and touch in on the recognition of their own inherent wholeness. There are three main practice areas our students engage in:
1. Directing the Attention: Students build awareness, direction, and stability of attention through practices that enhance focus, support wellbeing, and promote nervous system regulation, empowering them to choose where and when to place their attention.
2. Processes of the Conditioned Mind: Lessons explore the conditioned processes that lead to suffering. Students engage in discussions and practices to understand the processes of the Conditioned Mind (Self-Talk, Coping Mechanisms, Survival Strategies, the Judge, Duality, Aspects of the Personality, Projection). This exploration helps students identify who they are not – “I am not my thoughts, I am not my emotions, I am not the aspects of my personality, I am not what I project.”
3. Exploring Who We Really Are: After exploring who or what we are not, the question arises, “Well then, who am I?” In the third part of the arc, we invite students to ask, “What is it like to take off the mask of conditioning? What does it mean to rest in Presence?” Lessons focus on cultivating Acceptance, Loving Kindness, and relational mindfulness.

What You’ll Experience

Through our immersive in-person retreat, skill-building virtual sessions, and customized trainings, we’ll guide you in deepening your personal mindfulness practice and teach you transformative practices that resonate with youth. Our team of facilitators brings decades worth of expertise working with youth, teaching mindfulness, and supporting adults in embodying presence.

Foundations:
- Myths of Mindfulness and the Nervous System
- Inherent Wholeness
- Window of Tolerance
“Embodying Presence” is our keystone retreat for adults. We can’t teach what we haven’t learned; we can’t embody what we haven’t experienced. This 6-night, in-person training is a unique opportunity to learn the very same practices and tools we share with teens through Mindful Studies, our research-backed, semester-long, for-credit course experienced by over 6,500 high school students to date. Our expert facilitators will guide you through transformative mindfulness practices alongside other educators, parents, and mental health clinicians who care about today’s youth as much as you do. Using trauma-informed, equity-centered, and contemplative practices, we’ll explore what it really means to be present, what gets in the way, and how to return to presence. This immersive experience will support you in uncovering the heart of who you are and set the foundation for how you embody presence in your work with youth and young adults.
In the spring following the retreat, each pathway will have a customized training to deepen the understanding of the Peace in Schools pedagogical approach and the Mindful Studies skills and concepts in their particular field.

Testimonials

"I appreciated the reminders that this retreat was FOR us. The open, come-as-you-are vibe made the content and the experiences so accessible. Being very new to mindfulness as a practice, I am leaving feeling drawn to the tools we've been playing with vs. mindfulness being this set apart to-do task."

— Beth Ford, Director of TCStrong, Brevard, NC
“I’m not exaggerating when I say that EVERY part of this retreat has transformed me. I was anxious at the thought of flying across the country and spending 6 days with strangers. But those 6 days have changed my life and those strangers are now family. I feel so grateful for the chance to notice and reflect on the survival strategies that have protected and kept alive up until now, and I’m grateful for the compassion to recognize that they no longer serve me. I’m grateful for the opportunity to witness myself and those strategies with compassion. I’m grateful for the tools that will remind me that I am whole."

— Kadiatou Tubman, Director of Programs at Sadie Nash Leadership Project, NYC
“The Peace in Schools retreat was deeply transformative for me. It shed light on many areas of my life I was unconscious to. The power of this work and tools are self evident when you experience them. The world would be a radically different place if these practices were more widespread.”

— Training Institute Participant 2026