Talk Description
The premiere season of C.A.F.E. 229 explores how to transform distress into compassion and on mindful living in action. In this fourth installment, we are joined by guest speaker Randye J. Semple, Ph.D. whose talk is called “Mindfulness Matters to Children: Cultivating Mindfulness During Childhood”
Mindfulness interventions have been shown to help children become more aware of their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, enhancing their social-emotional resiliency and the ability to make more skillful life choices. However, children (as the saying goes) are not just small adults. Anyone who has ever tried to make an eight-year-old child sit still for 40 minutes understands that adult mindfulness practices require significant modifications before inviting children to practice them. Dr. Semple will describe some of the adaptations to adult mindfulness activities that are necessary to engage children while responding to their developmental needs. She will briefly describe the clinic and school-based child mindfulness programs that she has co-developed. During this talk, you will also have the opportunity to experience several child-friendly mindfulness activities.
About Randye J. Semple, Ph.D.
Randye J. Semple, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California (USC), Director of Programs at the USC Adolescent Trauma Training Center, and Co-Principal Investigator for the USC Center for Mindfulness Science. She serves on the steering committee of Mindful USC, and the research committee of the American Mindfulness Research Association.
Dr. Semple’s research explores the role of mindfulness in emotional health and well-being, focusing on the development and evaluation of mindfulness-based interventions for children and adolescents in clinics and school settings. She has authored or co-authored nearly 50 scientific publications and two books for clinicians and K-12 teachers: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Anxious Children (New Harbinger Publications, 2011) and The Mindfulness Matters Program for Children and Adolescents: Strategies, Activities, and Techniques for Therapists and Teachers (Guilford Press, 2019). Dr. Semple is a clinical psychologist and graduate of Columbia University, NY.
Related Links:
https://sites.google.com/site/randyesemplephd
Additional information for Dr. Semple’s talk:
Mindfulness Matters Handout
Special Offer for Dr. Semple’s Book
