The Dalai Lama Center's third annual Heart-Mind Conference recently took place in Vancouver in October. Heart-Mind 2015: Human Connection in a Digital World brought together an amazing group of presenters and facilitators with a passionate audience who all believe in the importance of educating the hearts and minds of our children. We explored the theme of Human Connection in a Digital World and learned how to teach and better raise our children in the rapidly changing digital age.
The thought-provoking and inspiring roster of presenters and included Robert Roeser, Alexandra Samuel, Deborah MacNamara, Amori Mikami, Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, Shelley Moore and Jennifer Shapka. The conference was moderated by acclaimed journalist and Heart-Mind expert, Maria LeRose, and included a keynote address by Dr. Peter Senge of MIT.
Thanks to everyone who attended, and all those who worked to help make Heart-Mind 2015 a success!
For a complete recap of the conference and presentations, please see the Dalai Lama Center's blog.
(photos by R. Semeniuk and A. Murray: (Top photos from L-R) Peter Senge, Jennifer Shapka and Shelley Moore, Robert Roeser, Fiona Douglas-Cramption. (Middle photo) Moderator and Program Designer, Maria LeRose).
The Dalai Lama Center’s online resource supports Heart-Mind well-being in our homes, schools and communities by providing free access to resources, research and general information for all those who care for and teach children. Everything we share is informed by the latest research in social and emotional learning and child development.
Some of Heart-Mind Online’s latest resources include:
Promoting Resiliency in Families This fall, the Heart-Mind Parenting Project has begun work on its program to promote resiliency and Heart-Mind well-being in families and communities. Currently, a literature review is being conducted on Social and Emotional Learning programs in order to guide development of new learning resources for families, early childhood educators and support staffs.
Focus tests are also ongoing with staff and parents at a number of Metro Vancouver community agencies to identify successes and needs in current programming. So far, focus groups have been conducted with Metro Vancouver's YWCA Single Mothers support groups, the South Vancouver Family Place, Mt. Pleasant Family Centre Society, and further groups will be involved in the months ahead.
The Building Resiliency in Families project is being developed with funding from the Vancouver Foundation, The Clyde Hertzman Legacy Fund, and Purdy’s Foundation, and we are continuing to seek partners to help ensure this important legacy project can fully address the needs of our most vulnerable families.
In addition, with the support of the United Way of the Lower Mainland, the DLC is developing a train-the-trainers program for the Heart-Mind well-being workshops. Through this program, we plan to expand our capacity in order to reach more teachers, support professionals and families in both Metro Vancouver and beyond.
The Heart-Mind well-being framework was also recently featured at the StrongStart BC annual conference and UBC's Human Early Learning Partnership Fall Expo, and the framework continues to gain awareness and acceptance in British Columbia as a methodology that helps raise compassionate children and meet the challenges of 21st Century education.
Stay tuned for more news about the Heart-Mind Parenting Project in the months ahead!
