COVID-19: Resources and Webinar June 24, 2020 by Taylor Walsh Collected COVID-19 school guidance resources • “Balancing Academics and Wellbeing:” a July webinar • Exciting new project with the Whole Health Institute. Collected COVID-19 school guidance resources We’re continuing to build our site Resources Section, adding important policy and operating guidance for schools’ and families’ response to COVID-19. These articles, research studies, and policy papers have been prepared by many of the leading and most experienced organizations working in schools and communities across the whole health spectrum: The COVID Resources section is here. “Balancing Academics and Wellbeing for School Return in 2020” This July 17 webinar will bring together WholeHealthED advisors, partners and colleagues to consider how the combined positive health outcomes experienced by students and faculty who participate in whole health programs might help school officials plan for the return to school by emphasizing access to activities that can help offset the trauma and stress that most families will still experience. On May 5, the American Academy of Pediatrics published unambiguous guidance on this issue: “COVID-19 Planning Considerations: Return to In-person Education in Schools” . Notable excerpts: Under EDUCATION: • “If the academic expectations are unrealistic, school will likely become a source of further distress for students (and educators) at a time when they need additional support. • It is also critical to maintain a balanced curriculum with continued physical education and other learning experiences rather than an exclusive emphasis on core subject areas.” Under MENTAL HEALTH: • “Schools need to incorporate (into planning considerations) academic accommodations and supports for students who may still be having difficulty concentrating or learning new information due to stress associated with the pandemic.” The discussion will consider how those “other learning experiences” could be made available to schools during re-openings, however and whenever they take place. We’ll report the outcomes of this collaborative assessment and recommendations in the weeks following during a follow-on webinar designed for school leaders and educators Important new project with Whole Health Institute As WholeHealthED advanced the idea of whole health learning in K-12, other notable enterprises that embrace whole health thinking and precepts have been forming around the country. One of the most important was established in January when the Whole Health Institute and Chopra Research Library was formed by philanthropist Alice Walton in Bentonville, Arkansas. The mission of the Institute is to help people live a full and meaningful life by making the Whole Health approach affordable and accessible to everyone. The Institute will focus its work on transforming health and well-being by working from the very successful whole health model created and established in recent years within the VA, the nation’s largest healthcare system. (The creator and director of The VA initiative, Tracy Gaudet MD, now heads up WHI.) As COVID-19 blocked all in-person activities in the first quarter, the Institute’s whole health orientation and our approach in schools led to initial conversations based on our shared professional and collegial roots in integrative healthcare. These ultimately led to the creation of a project that is being built around our common interests in bringing whole person wellbeing to kids. As Dr. Gaudet explained in a May interview: We didn’t have this area of K-12 education highlighted originally. But with all of the trauma of uncertainty and fear around COVID I dread that we are creating a whole new generation of kids with ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences). We shifted because of COVID and because we have the right partner.” We’ll report more on this work in the weeks ahead. (For more on the antecedents of the Institute’s mission and purpose and the development of the whole health framework in the VA, see this report on the formal introduction of WHI last January.)
Education and Health Advisory Boards Formed June 6, 2020 by Taylor Walsh An Infrastructure of Self-Care? • We’re thrilled to announce the spring formation of two advisory boards to offer perspective, experience and guidance to the project. Education Advisory Board Kate Tumelty Felice EdD The Education Advisory Board is chaired by Kate Tumelty Felice EdD who developed the WholeHealthED Wellness Studies program that was implemented in four middle schools in southern New Jersey in the spring semester of 2019. Board members all share work experiences and commitment in and around elementary and secondary schools: as school-based coordinators for garden or wellness programs, as specialists who bring these programs to schools, as innovative district leaders, and as policy and research specialists and adherents of Social and Emotional Learning, SEL and the Whole Child (WSCC) movement. Health Advisory Board. Please see members of the Education Advisory Board here. Health Advisory Board Larry Rosen MD The Health Advisory Board, chaired by Larry Rosen MD, includes pediatricians from across the country. Many are members of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Section on Integrative Medicine, SOIM. They serve families from private and public pediatric clinics, work with Childrens’ hospitals, serve as research specialists affiliated with academic schools of medicine, and as contributors to initiatives created to mitigate the tides of Adverse Childhood Experiences and trauma. Members are committed to the principles of whole child health and appreciate the role that whole health learning can play in supporting children’s health and wellbeing, in mind, body and spirit. See members of the Health Advisory Board here. The creation of the Education and Health boards is part of our mission to bring together innovative stakeholders who are and have been deeply engaged in improving kids’ knowledge about the factors that influence health through academic and experiential learning, strengthening children’s health during their years in school, and forming a solid foundation for their adult lives. It is not usual of course to think of a connection between a school garden and a pediatrician’s office (but check out one pediatrician’s garden-informed practice below). But the adherents of both school-based wellness learning and integrative pediatric medicine (when not treating sickness and injury) are working toward a very similar outcome: Imparting to children an awareness of the importance of sustaining their own best health, while providing the knowledge, experience, tools and methods that let them know they can do it themselves. Formation of the Education and Health advisory boards will help shed greater light on the overlapping paths the members and their institutions are taking in support of such an outcome.
Briefing for NIH : Mental, Emotional and Behavioral Health March 31, 2020 by Taylor Walsh While COVID-19 may have forced unparalleled “physical distancing” on the population, it has also inspired re-assessments, innovations and taking the time to look at things from new vantage points. This is particularly true now as the well documented health benefits of time in nature become more widely known. NIH Focus on Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health: A Visit to Bethesda A school garden like the one above at Lafayette Elementary School in Washington — prepared but untended in the wake of the pandemic — would certainly be a new vantage point for the nation’s leading healthcare researchers. As it happens, the idea of linking a student’s time in a school garden with reducing stress and anxiety was the focus of a unique briefing at NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, NCCIH, Bethesda, MD on March 4. Working with NCCIH Deputy Director David Shurtleff we arranged a briefing for a few colleagues to hear from researchers very experienced with wellness activities now well established in K-12: mindfulness, PE and fitness, nature and environmental education, yoga, garden and food prep, and SEL. In recent years NIH has been steadily developing an interest in examining the increasing difficulties in mental, emotional, and behavioral (or MEB) health in the U.S. population. In 2018 NCCIH hosted a workshop on “Emotional Well-Being: Emerging Insights and Questions for Future Research” that included profiles on school interventions aimed at students and teachers. NCCIH was later a co-sponsor with the CDC and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA) of this report released by the National Academies of Science in September, 2019: Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Development in Children and Youth: A National Agenda Not surprisingly, apart from simple mention of social and emotional learning there was no mention of other school-base wellness programs. But Dr. Shurtleff saw in whole health approaches in schools potential alignment with two important points of strategic emphasis for NCCIH: 1) Embracing a whole-person-health framework for its work, and 2) Addressing these MEB impacts on wellbeing in the population at large What was envisioned last December as a small, informal briefing became a 20-person gathering, including NCCIH Director Helene Langevin, Dr. Shurtleff and other NCCIH senior staff. Our briefing team included: Erica Sibinga MD, Associate Professor, Division of General Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Science of Learning Institute Chair, Section on Integrative Medicine, American Academy of Pediatrics Chris D’Adamo PhD, Assistant Professor, Family & Community Medicine University of Maryland School of Medicine Director of Research, Center for Integrative Medicine Jennifer Sacheck PhD, Sanofi Professor of Prevention and Wellness Chair, Dept. Exercise and Nutrition Sciences George Washington University Milken Institute of Public Health Kimberly T. Kendzoira PhD, Managing Researcher, American Institutes for Research Social and Emotional Learning and Education Sarah Haines PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Science and Environmental Education, Towson University Cathy Jordan Phd, LP, Prof. of Pediatrics, U of Minnesota; Director of Research Children & Nature Network Two DC-area WholeHealthED advisors, Kevin Berry, MD and Wendy Bohdel joined as well. This 90-minute discussion was a first occasion to consider the health-creating potential of combined wellness programs available across the nation on K-12 campuses. (It was the first time anyone could recall hearing from experts in these diverse domains.) Dr. Shurtleff graciously tweeted out after the meeting: @NIH_NCCIH is pleased to be part of the conversation on how best to focus whole-health research across the lifespan, especially with children and adolescents using school-based and other innovative approaches… It is very important work that fits with our strategic objective to “Foster Health Promotion and Disease Prevention” Expanding traditional healthcare’s view of “prevention” to include student experiences in collaborative, hands-on wellness programs during their school years would be a major step in shifting the view that these experiences are “nice-to-have” extracurriculars (of uncertain sustainability) to essential-to-have pieces for a complete 21st century education. (NCCIH Director Langevin discusses whole-person-health during this Feb. 2020 webinar on the NCCIH Strategic Plan, 2021-2026.)
Wellness Studies in NJ: “Significant difference” November 12, 2019 by Taylor Walsh First implementations of WholeHealthED Studies at four NJ middle schools bring favorable assessment A survey of middle school students attending four schools in Cumberland County NJ who participated in the spring 2019 semester in our Wellness Studies Program showed significant improvement in their appreciation for multiple health-improving activities that are at the core of the curriculum. Cumberland County, with Vineland and Millville, NJ The survey was conducted by the regional offices of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program (21st CCLC), which is funded by the US Dept. of Education through local school districts. Program director Cynthia Angelo engaged the independent evaluation firm LinchPin Solutions of Mt. Laurel, NJ to conduct pre- and post-participation evaluation surveys among students who participated in the after-school programs. We were very pleased and gratified to read their conclusion: “Overall, across every domain, students reported more knowledge, increased positive behavior, and more self-awareness, from pre- to post- surveys. The CEZ 21st CCLC Health and Wellness Program appears to have made a significant difference for the participants of this project.” (CEZ = Cumberland County Empowerment Zone) “Across every domain” is key, as it refers to the curriculum’s core design premise: blending multiple wellness activities into a unified learning program. The after-school programs included mindfulness, nutrition and food preparation, fitness and PE, and outdoor and nature learning. As noted by P.J. Ragone, of the Inspira Health Network and leader of the fitness workshops: “What I appreciate most about the program is that it doesn’t just address one aspect of wellness. This program allowed me to educate the students on proper nutrition, physical activity as well as mental health.” Other workshops were led by specialists from Wellness in the Schools, WITS, of NYC; Holistic Life Foundation of Baltimore, and Project Little Warriors of Camden. The curriculum and a basic evaluation tool were developed initially for Lakeside Middle School in Millville for school-day workshop presentations by Kate Tumelty Felice, EdD, Director of Programs for WholeHealthED and Education Programs Coordinator, Associate Professor at Rowan College of South Jersey in Vineland. The program was then adopted by the 21st CCLC. As part of organizing the workshop teams and resources Dr. Felice included as support during workshops her students from Cumberland College some of whom are preparing to enter K-12 classrooms themselves. She dubbed them “wellness ambassadors.” For more details on the study and program, including sample survey Q&As, plus provider and faculty comments SEE OUR PAGE HERE.
The 100 Million: Obesity in the US September 12, 2019 by Taylor Walsh Perhaps the first inspiration for the formation of WholeHealthED was the projection made six or seven years ago by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) for adult chronic illnesses that looked like this: Today TFAH and its partners issued results from their 2018 survey of the prevalence of obesity in all the states. The projected increase from 36% to 50% is still at its full and demoralizing pace. The report was released with this summary: “U.S. Obesity Rates Reach Historic Highs – Racial, Ethnic, Gender and Geographic Discrepancies Continue to Persist … Obesity is a growing epidemic in the United States – and has been for decades. Currently, about one in three Americans of all ages – or more than 100 million people – have obesity.” The 2018 Snapshot. The full TFAH report is here. The question I asked myself the first time I came across the 2012 version of this map and those dismal projections for adult chronic illness — “Whose job is it to see that this doesn’t happen?” — clearly has become even more urgent by the year. The report lists a set of recommendations that include a couple that have some resonance for whole health conditions in schools: an excise tax for sugary drinks, the proceeds for which would “address health and socioeconomic disparities;” plus more emphasis on nutrition and exercise. It includes this disconcerting recommendation: “Ensure that CDC has enough funding to grant every state appropriate funding to implement evidence-based obesity prevention strategies (as of this writing, CDC only has enough funding to work with 16 states” — emphasis mine). Perhaps this is a measure of how the opioid/addiction epidemic has plundered public coffers? Which path to take? There is no mention yet of the potential for educating young people themselves with knowledge and experiential learning that has the potential for keeping them off the paths to adult chronic illness once they depart secondary school and ultimately reach their 40s and 50s. This is primarily because obesity and its consequent healths issue are rightly seen as matter for the healthcare system to mitigate and redress. In too many neighborhoods after all, kids suffer from the effects of trauma and ACEs, poor nutrition, social dysfunction and difficult rest and sleep. While the healthcare system’s response to this epidemic is understandably based on interventions. The WholeHealthED view makes a fundamentally different proposition: Mitigating the obesity problem is not (only) a healthcare task. It is a learning task. With the world’s greatest learning infrastructure in place — battered and bruised though it may be — it includes a multitude of campuses where the variety of whole health learning programs that we propose are in place. Thus they are in place to expand upon and tie together in academic and experiential learning programs that support objectives for SEL and building resilience. This unified learning experience is expressed at the moment in our Wellness Studies Program. It presents, we hope, an alternative path to the one that high school graduates step onto each June. Can there actually be delight in the whole health learning experience? Taylor is the founder and Executive Director of WholeHealthED. Reach him at taylorwalshdc@gmail.com
From Conversation to Curriculum June 30, 2019 by Taylor Walsh Two Key Markers for June 2019: The FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF OUR SUCCESSFUL INAUGURAL SYMPOSIUM held at Georgetown University in Washington. This event brought together for the first time experts who have been providing a variety of wellness programs to K-12 campuses, teachers and program coordinators working those programs, and pediatricians interested in their health outcomes. As leaders in these school and health disciplines in recent years, these folks never had the opportunity to meet and compare their experiences in and around school gardens, mindfulness programs, teaching kitchens and nutrition literacy, cognition-driving exercise and movement, and green and sustainable learning. The END OF THE FIRST SEMESTER in which our pilot Wellness Studies Curriculum The primary byproduct of that unique gathering and developed in the fall of 2018 — was incorporated into daily and after-school programs at four schools in southern New Jersey: Lakeside Middle School, in Millville, NJ; Cherry Street School in Bridgeton; Wallace School in Vineland, and Commercial Township School in Port Norris. Wellness in the Schools’ chef Rebecca brings mindful food preparation to the after-school program of The Wallace School in Vineland NJ. Among our unofficial findings from the semester: Students, faculty and administration are open to, if not enthusiastic about, programs that combine multiple wellness activities: the Wellness Studies program knits together these hands-on, collaborative activities in a mindful, whole-health-learning framework that creates a unified learning experience designed to be sustained across the grades. Partnerships are the key. Our advisor and Director of Programs, Kate Tumelty Felice, a faculty member of Cumberland College (Vineland, NJ) consulted with and engaged several wellness program firms (including those who attended the Symposium) to create the curriculum that forms the backbone for this multi-faceted learning: Wellness in the Schools (WITS) of New York, Holistic Life Foundation of Baltimore; the Inspira Health Network of southwestern New Jersey; Project Little Warriors of Camden and the Cumberland County Improvement Authority which was our primary local partner agency. The collaborative, social qualities of these programs lend themselves to support for the objectives of social and emotional learning (SEL) an increasingly critical factor in efforts to improve school climate and relationships: in states across the country. (New Jersey is a national leader among the states that have joined the Alliance for Social and Emotional Learning in the United States: SEL4US.org ) These programs served some 250 students all told during the semester. Thanks to these innovative leaders who are developing whole health thinking and learning in the schools: Evolving from a conversation in June to a living (and so-the far well received) curriculum in January has been tremendously gratifying, to say the least. So has the word-of-mouth that attracted the local office of the U.S. Dept. of Education’s “21st Century Community Learning” program, which helped fund after-school-enrichment programs for the schools above. Word-of-mouth also reached the New Jersey Dept. of Health, which is funding a multiyear, state-wide effort to bring wellness programming to scores of K-12 schools for 2019-2020. Its primary grantee for Healthy Schools, Healthy Children in south New Jersey, AtlantiCare, has contacted us about possibly participating in this program. Thanks again (and always) to our colleagues who assembled at Georgetown last year to consider the health and wellbeing possibilities – short and long term – of blending these campus-based activities to contribute to community health objectives. It was a great start that has provided the energy and spark to make the first proof-of-concept possible. For more on the participants at WholeHealthED 2018 see the roster here. Foundations for Whole Health Learning A Glimmer Amidst Candidate-Speak Here is a presidential candidate’s policy statement you might not have expected to hear: “Social and emotional learning is imperative to addressing kids’ trauma.” But Ohio representative Tim Ryan has been at the forefront of insisting on expansion of mental health support in K-12 schools for years, and now through SEL. He is the author of “A Mindful Nation.” As he told CNN a few weeks ago: And speaking of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), the U.S. House Appropriations Committee recently advanced an initiative to provide $260 million for SEL program implementation in the schools. Reimbursement for health-creating investments? We are admittedly maniacal about bringing financial incentives into the motivation — policy or otherwise — for building whole health and wellness infrastructure, and for rewarding the investors who direct their resources there, wherever they come from and however much they contribute. How about bee hives? This news from Minnesota could be a harbinger for the serious adjustments needed to reward financial investments where they can truly strengthen health and vitality. Is there a link between thriving bee populations and human health? Minnesota Will Soon Pay for Your Landscaping Costs If You Plant Bee-Friendly Greenery Symposium Partners Mission Thrive Summer begins its Seventh Season in Baltimore Brandin Bowden, Community Programs Director at The Institute for Integrative Health, TIIH, sends this update from the very first K-12 multiple-wellness program, now starting its 7th summer! Mission Thrive “gives Baltimore City high school students the chance to work, learn and grow over the summer months. The five-week program engages in farming, proper nutrition and cooking, mindfulness, physical activity, job skills training, and leadership development. “Since the program began in 2013, more than 155 students have participated in more than 240 hours of cooking that produced 2,350-plus healthy meals. Published assessments report that student participation demonstrates statistically significant improvements in reducing perceived stress and inspiring a desire to eat healthy foods.” Significantly, the program is partnering this year with the University of Maryland Baltimore’s CURE Scholars program, which introduces sixth- to 12th-grade students in Baltimore to competitive, financially and personally rewarding research and health care careers at UMB and other health institutions in the region.