Presentation & Workshop with Jean Watson
Mindfulness & Compassion Training has been identified as an effective approach for flourishing, wellbeing and for both preventing, and responding to, stress, anxiety and depression. Significant research evidence has emerged to suggest that a progressive eight week mindfulness and compassion program, built on cognitive behaviour therapy and modern neuroscience, can lead to participants feeling calmer, resilient, more fulfilled and focused. Mindfulness Matters Australia has developed and delivers an educational spiralling mindfulness and compassion curriculum for teachers and children aged 4-18 years old, based on the well -researched Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). Teachers develop their own toolkit first, then do syllabus training to teach children the age-related skills to develop their own toolkit. Teachers are trained in all 8 lessons and are given guidebooks and resources lists that allow them to walk out of the syllabus training straight back into the classroom.
Jean is a qualified mindfulness teacher and consultant. As a science teacher she has spent many years in the classroom and in senior leadership roles managing the wellbeing of both students and staff, within academic and pastoral frameworks. Jean has worked in a range of schools in Australia and the UK, including a girls’ comprehensive school and has wide experience and a strong interest in girls’ education.Through her studies for the Masters in Mindfulness and Compassion Training at Oxford University in England, Jean’s understanding of the evidence-based programs of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy has enabled her to develop the spiralling mindfulness and compassion curriculum for Australian schools, for all age-groups from 4-18 years old. All of Jean’s courses have NESA endorsement and play a role in the NSW teacher accreditation system. This has enabled Jean to translate the policies and principles of a good education system into mindfulness and compassion tools that can be used in daily life to support wellbeing and help develop the potential in young people and the teachers that care for them.
