How we worked in Sonoma County

The Sonoma Community Resilience Collaborative is training 300 community members in CMBM’s comprehensive model of self-care and group support, enabling them to serve tens of thousands of children and adults across the county through Mind-Body Skills Groups, workshops and individual or classroom work. Over 200 individuals are already working with thousands of people in Sonoma County, many of whom lost their homes or businesses in the 2017 wildfires. Half of the participants from the second cohort serve Sonoma’s Latinx community, many of whom run Mind-Body Skills Groups in Spanish. From county jails, to schools, to health centers, CMBM’s model is being implemented widely across Sonoma County.

Our impacts

The Sonoma County service providers who participated in CMBM’s training have, according to standardized scientific scales, experienced:

• decreased stress, anxiety, and depression
• increased hope for the future
• increased feelings of self-assurance, happiness, and serenity

How we worked in Houston

CMBM reached out to program graduates in the area and received an immediate response from Gwen Brehm, M.Ed., LPC, the Founder and Executive Director of Houston’s Center for Mind Body Health. Brehm reached out to friends and colleages, and leading Houston-based behavioral health and social service organizations—the Institute for Spirituality and Health (ISH), the Menninger Clinic, Houston Galveston Institute, the Jung Center, Compassionate Houston, and Healing Circles Houston—to create the Greater Houston Healing Collaborative (GHHC).

In late November 2017, with funding provided by the Greater Houston Community Foundation’s Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund and The Rotary Club of Houston District 5890, the Collaborative began organizing a community-wide trauma relief and resilience building program for persons impacted by Hurricane Harvey in the City of Houston and Harris County, Texas.

Our impact

Trainees have integrated our model into their work in local hospitals and clinics, schools, community-based organizations, and houses of faith, reaching over 10,000 Houstonians. GHHC-trained facilitators have focused on heavily-impacted areas across Houston, including Kashmere Gardens, Bear Creek, Bellaire, Meyerland, Third Ward, Katy, Pasadena, VA hospitals, and the Felony Mental Health Court, among many others. The GHHC is organizing as a permanent body, creating a charter for membership and structuring to provide long-term, sustainable mind-body programs and future disaster responses.

10,000

traumatized children and adults reached

120

physicians, nurses, counselors, educator, and spiritual leaders trained in our model

The challenge

In the aftermath of the February 14, 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD) that killed 17 students and faculty, Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) shared with CMBM the urgent need for a community-wide stress and trauma-relief response.

BCPS Superintendent Robert Runcie invited CMBM to host trauma-relief workshops in Broward, and in July 2018, with the generous support of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, CMBM and BCPS officially launched the Comprehensive Wellness Program for Broward County Public Schools. The Children’s Services Council of Broward County joined the effort in 2019, helping expand our program beyond the school system and into the community.

Our approach

Since 2018, we have brought CMBM’s transformational model of self-awareness, self-care, and group support to Broward County. Peer counselors, teachers, parents, and community service providers have spread our model across Broward’s classrooms, clinics, suicide hotlines, community centers, synagogues, and individual and family counseling sessions. Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas have also started a pioneering Mind-Body Medicine Peer Counseling Program and can become Mind-Body Ambassadors in the Mind-Body Club, started by MSD teacher Diane Wolk-Rogers.

Today, we continue to bring CMBM’s transformational model to Broward County. Mind-body medicine techniques have been integrated into classrooms, clinics, suicide hotlines, community centers, houses of worship, and individual and family counseling sessions throughout the county. Students at MSD have also participated in a pioneering Mind-Body Medicine Peer Counseling Program and Mind-Body Ambassadors Club, an after-school program started by MSD teacher Diane Wolk-Rogers and MSD parent Ellen Fox-Snider.

Our impact

CMBM—alongside the 650 Broward peer counselors, teachers, parents, and community service providers we’ve trained since 2018—have shared our model with over 51,000 children and adults in Broward County. We’ve documented statistically-significant decreases in levels of stress and depression, and improvements in burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma amongst those in Broward County.

Testimonials from the Comprehensive Wellness Program in Broward County Public Schools demonstrate our model’s ability to provide relief, increase hopefulness, and improve community connections between the thousands of students, parents, educators, and community members who have participated.

• Students and faculty present during the February 14th shooting report feeling calmer and more in control thanks to their newfound support system.
• Youth leaders who have participated in the popular Mind-Body Medicine Peer Counseling Program have also expressed an increased sense of well-being, agency, and purpose.
• Peer Counselors have led some 85 classroom presentations that have impacted over 1,000 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.
• Upon completing our training, students are excited to support one another, engage in dialogue about their trauma, and share the life-long self-care skills they’ve learned with their friends and classmates.

51,000

children and adults served

650

Broward peer counselors, teachers, parents, and community service providers trained in our model

18

gifted and committed local faculty members Certified in our model

Veterans share the impact of mind-body medicine on their lives