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ROCKY HILL COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL PRESENTS
2021 MINDFULNESS CONFERENCE
SATURDAY, JUNE 19th 2021
8:30 AM – 12:00 PM
JOIN US. YOU DESERVE IT!
SATURDAY, JUNE 19th 2021
HALF DAY VIRTUAL CONFERENCE
TIME: 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM
COST: $25
Kick off your summer for a half-day, retreat-like, Mindfulness Conference. After this challenging year, we’ve revamped the conference to focus on self-care. You will leave invigorated and with tools and practices you can continue to cultivate over the summer. Join us. You deserve it!
Though virtual, we want to keep participants to an intimate 24 people per breakout session – so register early and claim your spot!
SCHEDULE
8:30 AM
Welcome & Opening Practice
Traci Fairchild, LCSW Director of Counseling & Wellness, Rocky Hill Country Day
8:35 AM
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Christopher Willard, Psy.D
9:40 –
11:50 AM
Self-Care Sessions
Participants will join four 30-minute interactive breakout room sessions.
11:55 AM
Wrap-Up & Closing Practice
Vanessa Weiner, Executive Director, Center for Resilience
SESSIONS
PRESENTER: TARA WOSISKI
Set an intention for self-compassion through art. In this session, experience how art and creativity foster mindfulness and compassion. Research shows the benefits of compassion are far-reaching and powerful. Participants will explore connecting to their own inner-compassion as they work with line, pattern and watercolor designs. Learn to lead this activity in a classroom or home setting using simple materials. The activity and practice are adaptable for younger students to adults. No art experience necessary to enjoy this mindful drawing and painting activity.
PRESENTER: WENDY GUSTAVEL
Mindfulness doesn’t have to be quiet and still. In fact, for many adults, adding action to our mindfulness practice is a key component in our self-care routine which allows us to be more fully present in the moment. In this session, you will learn how simple chair yoga practices and creative activities can help you fit 5-minute self-care mindfulness breaks into your daily routine! This session requires active participation in basic mindful movement and crafting. We will be learning by doing!
**While not required, participants are encouraged to have a chair, a piece of paper and markers/crayons/colored pencils, a small can of Playdough and small beads or beans available for the session.
PRESENTER: CAITY MacDONALD
Join Caity to tap into your mindfulness practice focusing on mindful listening. We will begin with a listening practice that can apply to everyday life and in a classroom. Participants will examine benefits of curating one’s own mindfulness practice through mindful listening practices that promote self-care. You will leave with mindful listening practices that can be used immediately.
PRESENTER: ADAM BOAZ
This session focuses on changing attitudes and behaviors that lead to stress and anxiety by actively practicing gratitude. Gratitude is a skill and can be strengthened by switching from an “I have to ” to an “I GET to” mindset.
SPEAKERS
Dr. Christopher Willard (Psy. D.) is a clinical psychologist based in Boston, MA. He has been invited to more than two dozen countries to speak, and has presented at two TEDx events. He is the author of over a dozen books, including, The Breathing Book (2020), Growing Up Mindful (2016), and Alphabreaths (2019). He teaches at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Willard has been practicing meditation for over 20 years, and teaching for almost as long. His thoughts on mental health have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, mindful.org, cnn.com, and elsewhere.
TRACI FAIRCHILD
Director of Counseling & Wellness
Rocky Hill Country Day School
Traci Fairchild is in her third year as Director of Counseling and Wellness at Rocky Hill Country Day School. She previously taught physical education and health for over a decade at RHCD and served as an adviser in Middle School. She found the need to pursue more coursework as a counselor, earning a master’s degree in social work at Rhode Island College. She trained in mindfulness through Center for Resilience in the first RHCD cohort of faculty over six years ago when their partnership began. Traci is thankful that she is able to work across the divisions with students, faculty, and parents to support them in being navigators of their own health in mind, body, and spirit.
With a practice that started in adolescence, Vanessa Weiner is passionate about sharing mindfulness with people of all ages. She founded the organization in 2012 to serve our next generation. Now in its 8th year, she and her team have worked with over 7,000 students in a unique school-based social and emotional learning program, the first of its kind in Rhode Island. Evolving to best serve the needs of the community, Vanessa and her team expanded the mission of the organization in 2015 to bring these trainings and practice opportunities to an increasing number of adults in the workplace and community groups— facilitating classes so that people of all ages can become more empowered, resilient, and self-aware. Vanessa authored a chapter in the recently published book, Teaching Mindfulness Skills to Kids and Teens, and is a contributing author for Best Practices for Yoga in Schools. She has presented locally at the Rhode Island Business Group on Health Wellness Breakfast, Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance conference, Rhode Island Occupational Therapists Association conference, the Social Enterprise Ecosystem for Economic Development Summit, and is a regular guest lecturer at Brown and Rhode Island College. Nationally, she has spoken at the National Kids Yoga Conference and the Bridging the Hearts and Minds of Youth Conference. She can also be found creating in the kitchen or hanging out with her greatest teachers, her husband, and two children. Vanessa is grateful to be able to facilitate instruction through a wide variety of techniques with different groups of kids and adults every day, and continues to be amazed at just how transformational these practices can be.
PRESENTERS
ADAM BOAZ
Adam is an educator, coach, and public speaker. He is currently an English teacher and class dean at King School in Stamford, CT. His personal journey through addiction led him to active practices of mindfulness and gratitude in his teaching and in his personal life. Adam’s presentations focus on positivity and changing mindsets to decrease anxiety and increase happiness.
WENDY GUSTAVEL
Wendy Gustavel is an educator with twenty years of experience teaching students in grades PreK through graduate school and is currently the Librarian at Rocky Hill Country Day School. She earned her M.Ed. in Elementary Education from the University of New Hampshire. Wendy is a certified Breathe For Change yoga and wellness instructor who believes that caregivers who care for themselves can more effectively care for their loved ones and their communities.
CAITY MacDONALD
Caity teaches fifth grade at Rocky Hill Country Day School. She earned her Masters degree in Education from Boston University and has been teaching for eight years. Caity has integrated mindfulness into her classroom and in her own life for the last five years and received her mindfulness training through Center for Resilience. Her favorite practices include journaling, mediation, mindful games, and mindful coloring.
Tara Wosiski is the art teacher at Moorestown Friends School, grades preschool through 5. She holds a master’s degree in teaching visual art from The University of the Arts. With fifteen years of teaching experience at a Friends School, Tara is deeply committed to the social and emotional growth of her students. Currently, she presents on mindfulness during monthly faculty meetings. Motivated by her knowledge and training in mindfulness, Tara’s pedagogical approach integrates mindfulness with creativity through a wide variety of projects and media. She leads annual large scale community works rooted in Quaker values and is energized by her student’s creativity.
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If you are not currently on our mailing list and would like to receive updates on our all future Mindfulness Conferences, please fill out the registration form below. Any related questions may be included in your registration or email them directly to mindfulnessconference@rockyhill.org. We look forward to adding you to our network of mindfulness educators and practitioners!
