NAPERVILLE, Ill. (PRWEB)
August 09, 2023

Smart Health, Wellness and Performance (Smart HWP), an organization that impacts lives with resilience, enhanced personal performance, and mindfulness training in youth, has been engaged to launch the “Resilient Youth” program in the school districts of Will County, Illinois for the 2023-24 school year. The Resilient Youth program will potentially reach over 26,000 students in grades K-12 representing communities across Will County, Illinois with daily coping and stress management skills to develop emotional resilience in times of adversity. The program is made possible through the United Way of Will County, which received $884,000 in funding in February for a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration initiative from the Congressional Directive Spending Project Services Administration of Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL).

“Today’s youth face more stress and emotional challenges than ever before and deserve to have the skills and knowledge they need to thrive,” said Tom Klisiewicz, founder and president of Smart HWP. “By learning resiliency skills, students increase self-awareness, manage their stress, and consequently, raise their overall performance in school and life.”

Klisiewicz discovered the program five years ago and is currently the only certified Resilient Youth trainer in the state of Illinois. The Resilient Youth program is an evidence-based curriculum developed 25 years ago by researchers from Harvard Medical School and clinicians from the Child Resiliency Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Benson-Henry Institute. Historically, students in the Resilient Youth program have achieved better control over their impulses, management of their negative emotions, and development of their empathy and compassion for others.

“I appreciate the way the program is set-up to Teach-the-Teacher, so teachers can impart what they learn to thousands of children throughout their career,” he said.

Klisiewicz will train teachers interested in implementing the curriculum through a two day teach-the-teacher training. This training is a very interactive session that is focused on teachers coming together to learn the components of the program and then determine the best place to incorporate it within their curriculum and school day in order to meet the needs of their unique school and community.

This curriculum includes cognitive strategies and mind body techniques that students can use immediately to regulate their emotions, such as breathing, mindfulness, and self-reflection. There are six core prevention-based resiliency lessons which are 30-45 minutes each at the center of the curriculum.  In addition, teachers are provided with an additional six supplemental lessons which schools can choose to implement to reinforce the core lessons and provide students with additional coping strategies. A third component of the program are short reinforcement activities that can be incorporated into the school day as needed to reinforce concepts and help students build consistent habits.

This program will be supported by Dr. Pete Sullivan, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of St. Francis and former Assistant Regional Superintendent for the Will County Regional Office of Education. Dr. Sullivan, who will have primary responsibility for managing the grant, shared some of the benefits of this program when he stated in a recent presentation, “It is vitally important for us as educators to ensure we are attending to the needs of children on every level – their academic development and their development as individuals. Recent research has made it clear why this is so important. Not only by attending to students’ needs are we able to help them to grow as individuals and give them skills which will allow them to be successful and happy adults, we also now know conclusively that promoting prosocial skills within students leads to greater academic gains.”

This work will also be supported by Dr. Hannah Klein and her colleagues from Lewis University who will be evaluating the effectiveness of the program.

SMART HWP has had previous success implementing the program in the nearby Lockport Township High School District 205 in 2020 through support from KidsMatter, a Naperville-Illinois non-profit organization, and Superintendent of Lockport Township High School, Dr. Robert McBride, Jr. The Resilient Youth Program was added to the district’s high school physical education and health classes during the pandemic. The program, which is continuing to be taught post-pandemic, has helped with student stress relief by making them aware of their mind body connection through self-awareness, yoga, meditation, and other exercises.

Apart from school settings, Klisiewicz employs the techniques from the program to help students individually conquer their test anxiety and improve their athletic performance. For all students, Resilient Youth can significantly improve health and quality of life by equipping them with skills to deal with stress – in a social setting, in a classroom or on an athletic field or performance hall.

“The skills in this program benefit anyone pursuing any goal,” he said. “It also builds upon an individual’s existing mindset, creating valuable results for the emotionally challenged as well as the emotionally healthy person.”

Learn more about the Resilient Youth program can contact Smart HWP at http://www.smarthwp.com

About SMART HWP

SMART HWP was founded in 2014 by educator, author, and speaker Tom Klisiewicz to equip kids, teens, and adults with techniques, daily habits, mindsets, knowledge, skills, encouragement, and accountability to breathe easier and achieve happiness, fulfillment, and success in all aspects of their lives. The organization has since impacted more than 22,000 people with valuable life-enhancing skills. SMART HWP is a certified trainer for the Resilient Youth program which was developed 25 years ago by researchers from Harvard Medical School and clinicians from the Child Resiliency Program at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Benson-Henry Institute. SMART HWP also offers programs that include Mind of a Champion for student athletes, Stress Less for the Test, and Weekly Brain Training. For more information, visit smarthwp.com or contact Tom Klisiewicz at 630.205.1719.

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