Workshops

 
Tracy Smyth (Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education)

Learn how the Dalai Lama Center's Heart-Mind framework promotes well-being in children, and explore the resources on Heart-Mind Online, a hub of information and action ideas for parents and educators. Heart-Mind Online has a growing collection of evidence-informed resources to help us educate the hearts of children and foster Heart-Mind well-being in new generations of youth. Heart-Mind well-being refers to the balance between educating the mind and educating the heart. While there is a great focus in our society on academic achievement, research has demonstrated the positive impacts of developing our hearts - the way we "feel" and "relate to one another.” In fact, heart and mind development are interconnected. This workshop will demonstrate how to use the Heart-Mind framework and the resources at Heart-Mind Online to support raising compassionate and caring children in today's world. Participants are encouraged to bring digital devices to use in the workshop.

The Mindful Teen: Promoting Mindfulness and Resilience with Adolescents
Dzung Vo, MD (Mindfulness for Teens)
Growing up today is stressful. Mindfulness is a powerful tool that adolescents can use to cope with stress, build their inner resilience, and thrive no matter what challenges they face. In this workshop for parents, youth, and youth-serving professionals, Dr. Dzung Vo will describe mindfulness and its role in adolescent wellness and resilience. He will also lead several interactive mindfulness practices that can be applied in daily life to cope with difficulties and to live life more fully.
 
The Art of Storytelling: Indigenous Connections
Monique Gray Smith (Little Drum Consulting)
Since time immemorial, stories have been used by Indigenous people to connect, teach, share, heal and laugh. This workshop will be about revisiting the important art of storytelling and how it can be a powerful tool in fostering human connection in the digital world. Stories bring us together and connect us in ways that are often indescribable. They can make us laugh, or cry and when told well, they can create almost any emotional state. These emotions create a sense of community and belonging and when used in a classroom, they help create a culture of caring and learning. In this workshop we will explore the value of storytelling and how you can use it to support your work. Examples of Indigenous stories and the guiding principles of traditional storytelling will be shared. This will be a fun, interactive and participatory workshop so come prepared to connect through the art of storytelling.
 
Strengthening Communication and Relationships between Parent and Teens in a Digital World
Alexandra Wilson (SACY, Vancouver School Board)
How we navigate technology and parent-teen relationships is one of the most important challenges in raising and teaching kids today. Alexandra Wilson will help adults embrace the challenge to stay connected in healthy ways, and to acknowledge the benefits and excitement that the digital world brings to all our lives. Sharing research and practical tips on adolescent development, strategies to balance online and in-person time, and how to react to pornography or manage time spent gaming, Wilson shows us how to be proactive and intentional - and improve our own digital literacy - to help to bridge the technological generation gap and strengthen our relationships with the teens in our lives. 
 
Rest - Play - Grow - Making Sense of Young Children
Deborah MacNamara (macnamara.ca)
With their unparalleled impulsiveness, egocentrism, and lack of consideration for others, young children are some of the most misunderstood people around. Nature has a plan to grow them into maturity, but adults hold the keys to unlocking it. This presentation will address commonly misunderstood preschooler behaviour, including resistance and opposition, frustration and aggression, attachment needs, separation problems, the need for play, and discipline that is developmentally friendly. While this presentation is for adults who want to make sense of young children, it is really what kids wished adults understood about them. 
 
Using The Power of Conscious Parenting to Teach Children Technology Mindfulness
Michele Kambolis (Generation Stressed: Play based tools to help your child overcome anxiety)
Technology often tops the list as a main contributor to the reasons why our children are experiencing more stress than ever before. With continuous partial attention - the illusion of companionship and high-speed processing of information directly competing with heart-mind connection - parents wonder how to help their child learn the skills required to maintain a balanced relationship with technology. This workshop will be highly interactive, and demonstrate the impact of technology on heart-mind well-being and the many ways parents can use the power of their conscious parenting to teach children technology mindfulness. Participants are encouraged to bring their digital gadgets to use in this workshop.