Evolving Minds Peer Mentor Program

Presenter: Addison Squires, Psychology, Global Public Health Scholars

For my practicum, I decided to pursue an internship program through a company called Evolving Minds. Through this program, I am learning quick and easy mindfulness practices that I can implement in my every day life. The mission of this internship is to teach the students who are participating the techniques of being mindful and creating a healthy mindset. Over the past semester, I have learned how to take mindful pauses any time I feel overwhelmed or overly-stressed, and I have also raised money for Evolving Minds' mission. This company is a non-profit that uses donation money to hold mindfulness workshops for high school teachers and faculty in the Maryland public school systems. Looking forward, after this internship I will be able to not only practice mindfulness in my daily life, but also help those around me to learn about the importance of being mindful.

6 Comments

soconno3

May 06, 2021

Mental health is definitely so important, especially during this pandemic; what was your favorite thing you did for Evolving Minds, and how will you use this experience in your everyday life?

addisonlea8

May 10, 2021

Replying to

My favorite part about Evolving Minds was having a consistent community of people to meet with every week. This small group not only helped to build trust and confidence within the program, but helped to improve everyone's mental health who participated.

Dori Tonic

May 03, 2021

In your experiences with evolving minds, did you get to see the effects of these mindfulness practices as they relate to other individuals? Was the preliminary research you all found in supporting these mindfulness practices additionally supported by your cause and outlook?

addisonlea8

May 10, 2021

Replying to

I definitely saw the effects in both my peers and my family when I taught them the mindfulness practices! At first, the changes were subtle, but eventually I could see how individuals would become generally calmer, more rational, and able to think through a problem without getting overwhelmed. The preliminary research was what guided Anthony, the program director, to the specific mindfulness practices that he taught. He learned through both his undergraduate degree and outside research about the benefits of simple mindfulness practices, and thus began Evolving Minds to implement them in a public setting!

Ray Asad

Apr 28, 2021

Do you think the Evolving Minds program could also branch out to the younger children in grade school themselves that also struggle with their mental health, on top of educating the teachers?

addisonlea8

May 10, 2021

Replying to

This is a great question. I honest do not know. On one hand, I think mindfulness practices are great for any individual who can take it seriously and get the most out of the practices. On the other hand, I can see how younger children, who lack certain levels of maturity and self-reflection skills, would have a hard time benefitting from these practices. I believe teachers are a great starting population for Evolving Minds because they deal with high stress situation every day working with emotional children and adolescents. With this being said, in the future, I would love to see the mission of Evolving Minds be applied to younger populations because everyone can benefit from the practices of being…