Rachel Douglas, executive director of The Innerwork Center (Photo by Julianne Tripp)
Founded in 1994, The Innerwork Center aims to be a catalyst for well-being through programs designed to inspire curiosity, cultivate mindfulness and awaken the spirit. The nonprofit recently received $16,000 from the Jenkins Foundation to conduct mindfulness training at Richmond Public Schools (RPS). A six-week virtual program will provide teachers and support staff with mindfulness techniques to manage stress in the classroom and become more resilient.
We talked with Rachel Douglas, executive director of The Innerwork Center, about this initiative and why mindfulness is so important right now.
Richmond magazine: What kind of training will you provide RPS?
Rachel Douglas: RPS will assess the need in the first few months of the school year and see where they can best use our resources, and then we have a year to spend our grant. Our program will be optional not just for teachers, but [also for] the administration, custodians, security personnel, after-school care providers. … We want to create a culture of mindfulness in all the adults who surround students.
RM: Why is mindfulness important right now?
Douglas: With RPS going back to school in person for the first time in 17 months and with positive COVID cases still going up, there’s a lot of ambiguity and unknowns. Mindfulness is very grounding. You don’t know what’s coming down the pipeline, but you can just take things moment by moment and make decisions the best you can.
RM: How does this translate to the classroom?
Douglas: The Virginia Board of Education wants to create a positive and preventive approach to student conduct and behavior, and RPS has been working on this cultural shift called Massive Resilience that prepares students and teachers for times of crisis. The cultural shift really starts with the teachers, and they model positive behavior to the students. Our strategy is to create a mindful classroom, which we’ve seen work in cities like Baltimore and Seattle. Mindfulness is the bridge between a trauma-informed practice and restorative justice principles. It brings awareness to our actions and our emotions. If a student is acting out, the teacher might be able to bring awareness to why they are feeling a certain way.
RM: How has the pandemic changed your programming?
Douglas: Even before COVID, our mindfulness program has focused on the helpers — teachers, health care providers and parents — and it just so happened those were three groups heavily impacted by COVID. Anxiety and depression in teachers are at a record high worldwide. We have a sense of urgency to meet their needs and make our programs more available.
RM: What is the difference between mindfulness and meditation?
Douglas: Mindfulness is anchoring yourself to the present moment with kindness and without judgment. Meditation is the formal practice of that, either in silence or with a guide. There are two overarching themes: wisdom and compassion. Wisdom is understanding how we’re all connected and seeing what is ours to do in the world. Compassion is seeing the suffering in others and yourself and wanting to alleviate that suffering.
RM: What are some other benefits of mindfulness?
Douglas: Mindfulness helps us live a life that’s more meaningful, makes us more awake and prepares us for challenges that are coming our way with resilience. It grows our brain, affects our parasympathetic nervous system and improves our executive functioning. There is so much new science around mindfulness right now, and there’s a really renewed interest to learn the practice. I think 10 minutes of mindfulness a day will become a regular part of our hygiene, just as important as brushing our teeth.
