Burrows 2017

Source:   RESEARCH STUDY/ARTICLE

APA Citation:

Burrows, L. (2017). “I feel proud we are moving forward”: Safeguarding mindfulness for vulnerable student and teacher wellbeing in a community college. The Journal of Adult Protection, 19(1), 33-46.

Author bio:

Leigh Burrows is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Education, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia

Central Argument/Thesis:

Mindfulness meditation in its current form is likely to be unsuitable for vulnerable students. 33

The potential harmful effects of mindfulness may be overlooked and may be more commonly experienced than is currently realized especially for individuals with a history of trauma, with addictions, mental health difficulties, or self-harm 33

Discussion – Conclusion:

Students’ experiences of mindfulness meditation were surprising and concerning given that the majority of studies on mindfulness focus on positive outcomes rather than difficulties 37

Overall, it is clear that the college teacher participants in this study are now much more aware of the importance of knowing their students, the range of possible experiences of mindfulness meditation, and making adjustments to mindfulness teaching and activities for vulnerable students and being aware that some mindfulness activities can be too intense for some students. 42

Notable Quotes (w/page numbers):

Many community college students are from non-traditional backgrounds with limited support systems, incomplete education, complex family lives, and interconnected socio-economic difficulties (Lenhart 2013). In addition, many students have trauma histories that make them vulnerable in the college classroom and this relates to both curriculum content and pedagogical processes (citation). 34

Safeguarding’s emphasis on protection and prevention of harm to vulnerable people and their wellbeing, empowerment and right to make choices makes it an ideal term to use to describe a process that this study has identified that is needed to ensure that mindfulness teaching methods and activities in education settings are adjusted for students with mental health, disability, and trauma backgrounds. 34

Baer and Kuyken (2016) have recently emphasized, “The prevention of harm to people learning mindfulness skills requires the field to study both the benefits and the risks: with a “need for perspectives to change as research on benefits and risks continues to evolve.” 34

Project notes:

Find these studies –

Appelhopf, R. (2012). “School-based programs to prevent suicide and build resilience among students”: A literature review and national stocktake, available at www.mentalhealth.org.nz/assets/ResourceFinder/SchoolbasedProgrammesPreventSuicide.pdf

Baer, R., & Kuyken, W. (2016). Is mindfulness safe? Oxford Mindfulness Centre, www.oxfordmindfulness.org/is-mindfulness-safe/

Britton, W. B., & Sydnor, A. (2015). Neurobiological models of meditation: Implications for training young people. Teaching Mindfulness Skills to Kids and Teens. New York, NY: Guilford Press. (Willard & Salzmann eds.)

Lenhart, A. (2013). American community/two-year college survey. www.collegecounselling.org/fall-2013-communitytwo-year-college-survey http://lindafinlay.co.uk/wp-content/up[loads/2014/05/The-phenomenological-attitude.pdf

Singh, N. N., Singh, J., Adkins, A. D., Singh, A. N., & Winton, A. S. W. (2008). A trainer’s manual for meditation of the soles of the feet. Midlothian, VA: One Publications.