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Image : Mindful Exercising, one of the sessions at the Mindfullness Workshop.
Parents and professionals who work with children were trained in Mindfulness to help their children deal with stress.
New Delhi, July 15, 2018 : Mom’s Belief and Taarika hosted a Mindfulness Workshop today, led by Stanford Adjunct Clinical Faculty Dr. Leena Khanzode, Adviser & Mentor to Mom’s Belief and Founder & President, Taarika Foundation. The workshop gave parents and professionals who work with children strategies they can use to help children manage stress. Participants also learned how to use Mindfulness to manage their own stress.
Ten percent of kids between the ages of five and 15 have a mental health issue. Fifty-two million children in India show signs of a developmental disorder such as autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, ADHD or Down syndrome. Even children who do not have mental health issues or a developmental disorder experience stress, and this can have an impact on their health, academics and social life. Parents can teach their children to deal with stress more effectively and use the same tools to reduce their own anxiety.
“Parents today experience a lot of stress, particularly if have a special needs child. Mindfulness is a tool that can help parents manage stress and anxiety, and this enables them to attend to their child’s needs with greater focus and energy,” says Mom’s Belief Founder and CEO Nitin Bindlish. “This workshop supports our overall objective of empowering parents, so they can help their child at home. With professional guidance, training and resources, parents can achieve great progress with their child, and this is what Mom’s Belief helps parents accomplish.”
In her workshop, Dr. Khanzode introduced Mindfulness and its use in everyday life, including exercises for Mindful listening, eating and breathing. Role plays demonstrated how Mindfulness is used in real-life situations. “Are you mind full or mindful?” asks Dr. Khanzode. “Mindfulness helps you bring attention to the present moment with kindness and curiosity, so you can choose the right response. Adults, children, and adolescents can all benefit from learning how to choose the right response, in all facets of their lives. Likewise, we can all benefit from learning how to reduce stress and anxiety in our lives and in the lives of our children, and Mindfulness can help us do this too.”
The event also included a panel discussion on Managing the Stress of Parenting in Today’s World. Panellists included Dr. Leena Khanzode, Adjunct Clinical Faculty, Stanford University, Founder & President, Taarika Foundation, and Mom’s Belief Clinical Adviser & Mentor; Dr. Manju Mehta, Former Head of the AIIMS Child & Adolescent Clinic and Mom’s Belief Senior Adviser; Dr. Veena Kalra, Former Head of Pediatrics at AIIMS and Mom’s Belief North India Head, Neuro-developmental Pediatrics; Dr. Roma Kumar, Chief Child Psychologist, Mom’s Belief and senior consultant to Sir Ganga Ram and Max (Gurgaon); Dr. Sapna Zarwal, special education specialist and Mom’s Belief Clinical Head; and Dr. Monalisa Palit, Senior Consultant & Clinical Psychologist at VIMHANS and Mom’s Belief Senior Adviser.
