Our Residents

Children in six Springfield Housing Authority’s after-school and summer programs will soon be enjoying an enhanced sense of peace and happiness.

As they work and play, boys and girls will feel calm and content, under the leadership of 20  providers who recently took part in MindUp, a research-based training program for educators and children. MindUp is a nationally recognized social-emotional learning program founded by actor Goldie Hawn though the Hawn Foundation.

And as the summer progresses into the fall in the SHA children’s programs, the impact will increase as providers work together to learn the methods taught and to incorporate them more fully into their daily routines.

Pamela Wells, Director of Resident Services at SHA, said the MindUp training was brought to the providers as part of ongoing professional development to improve after-school and summer programs. Priorities for the programs are focused on literacy, physical fitness and mental and emotional well-being.

“We wanted to bring this training to our after school and summer providers so that we can bring awareness to the social emotional aspect of learning,” Wells said. “By adding this component to our programs, it will help empower our kids to discover how their learning is influenced by their own thoughts, emotions and actions.”

MindUp trainer Ryan Amsel discusses brain function and mindfulness training with SHA summer and after-school providers.

Instruction for the nationally recognized program was done by MindUp trainer Ryan Amsel. His  three-hour session at Forest Park Manor focused on how the brain processes information and converts that into emotion, and how SHA providers can create a positive, caring atmosphere every day.

Staff from summer and after-school programs at all six SHA sites – Duggan, Marble Street, Pine-James, Riverview and Sullivan Apartments – participated in the training.

MindUp is usually taught in 15 lessons, and to educators in schools and districts around the country. Founded by actor Goldie Hawn, the Hawn Foundation-sponsored program combines neuroscience, cognitive psychology and educational methods to help educators create and maintain environments where a child’s ability to succeed both academically and personally is directly linked to overall state of well-being.

At Forest Park, SHA providers got a crash course – three hours in all – that focused on brain development, and the connections between specific areas of the brain and ability to learn and grow.

“You can’t control what happens at home,” explained Amsel. “But you can create the environment in the place where you meet them. You can make a place that is calm and allows them to regenerate.”

MindUp trainer Ryan Amsel and SHA literacy consultant Karen Guillette at the training.

Karen Guillette, a consultant working with the youth program staff at SHA, learned of this program at a training by the Hawn Foundation in North Adams last year, and arranged for the program to be brought to Springfield.

“When I experienced the MindUP program training and saw their fantastic curriculum I knew we had to bring them to Springfield,” Guillette said.

“In my view this is the type of social-emotional learning that is sorely needed not only in schools but at every level of our society,” she added.

Among the lessons from Amsel:

• Creating a positive environment relaxes the emotion-processing amygdala section of the brain, lights up the prefrontal cortex part of the brain, which controls thoughtful decision-making and pro-social behavior. It creates chemical balance in the brain and readies the mind for learning.
• Children naturally enjoy helping others. Cooperation and good behavior should be ends in themselves rather than reward-driven.
• Getting children excited about pro-social behavior makes it contagious.
• Children thrive an atmosphere of well-being and a culture of lively interest.
• On the other hand, adrenaline overload caused by constant stress can change the make-up of a child’s brain, with negative long-term results.

Program providers spoke of children arriving stressed out from school, long bus rides, or from ongoing issues in their neighborhoods or homes. Amsel suggested providers set a calm tone by starting out each session with relaxation techniques known as mindfulness, which means maintaining an ongoing awareness to thoughts and feelings without judging them or thinking about past or future events or situations.

MindUp also includes a book with a curriculum that includes activities and exercises for maintaining a calm and positive atmosphere. It covers topics including brain function, mindfulness listening, seeing, smelling, tasting and movement, choosing optimism, expressing gratitude and performing acts of kindness.

Providers said they were pleased with the training and look forward to putting it to practice.

“This was great,” said Lindsey Barnhart, who works with children at Marble Street Apartments, a program run by Square One of Springfield.

“We will definitely be using this in our classes. It’s important for our children to feel calm, safe and comfortable,” she said.

SHA summer and after-school providers with MindUp trainer Ryan Amsel following the training at Forest Park Manor.

Her co-worker Nora Benbow agreed.

“I thought it was a good thing,” she said of the training. “We’ll be using the book, the exercises and the breathing. I’m looking forward to trying these methods.”

At ADC Prevention Services, which provides summer and after-school programming at Riverview, Moxon, Duggan and Pine-James Apartments, the reaction was also positive.

“The training was beneficial,” said Elliot Best.

 “It will help us to increasing children’s self awareness, understand themselves, their thoughts, feelings and how their bodies and brains work. We feel it will be very helpful,” he added.

The YMCA of Springfield provides summer and after-school programming at Sullivan Apartments. Staff from that agency also had good things to say about the MindUp training.

“It was extremely educational,” said Luis Torres.

“Just the short training has changed my life,” he said. “I loved learning about how the brain works. I think it will help the kids to be more open-minded and to form good habits at a young age. It will become a way for them to hold their composure as they encounter difficult situations.”