Welcome to The Ministry Lab's curated list of resources to cultivate and nurture the spiritual and emotional well-being of young people. Here you'll find:
If you don't find a resource to fit your need, don't hesitate to consult with The Ministry Lab's director, Emily Meyer, who is happy to assist you.
By Dietrich Kirk
Mindfulness in Life and Death BY Brooke Schedneck offers a lovely memorial to Thich Nhat Hanh while outlining his role in introducing Mindfulness to the West.
Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village companions share the Teacher's Key Teachings and the podcast, The Way Out Is In.
shared a free downloadable poster of 5 Steps to Managing Big Emotions.
Poetry Unbound: incorporate poetry into a personal or group contemplative practice, worship/liturgical element, or fodder for small group discussions among tweens, teens and/or adults.
Listen to the trailer and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Overcast, or wherever you listen.
The Labyrinth Society has a page of resources specifically for children.
Building school wide Climate & Culture of Caring & Compassion
by teaching social emotional intelligence and life skills
See our listing for local, regional, and online Contemplative Practices here.
Rev. Emily Meyer is a certified Contemplative Prayer and Small Group Facilitator as well as a certified Mindfulness Instructor. Contact here here.
Rev. Nicole Havelka is a consultant and yogi with numerous areas of training and facilitation including youth-focused, restorative and trauma-informed yoga, Reiki, and Mindfulness.
Telling the Story of Your Body for Healing and Wholeness
Our bodies have a story to tell. When we turn toward our bodies with curiosity and reverence, we honor those stories, embrace our inner dignity, and make space for more agency. Sharing our bodies’ stories helps us feel seen so that, little by little, society’s limiting master narratives can shift so that more bodies feel safe and beautiful and have a sense of belonging.
Resources include:
To complement their lessons on emotional health in their lesson library, UpLift Kids has produced a limited-run emotion card deck.
In this 10-lesson course, Dr. Karen Bluth explores why self-compassion is a resource that people can learn, put in their toolbox, and use whenever they have a challenging day or even a challenging moment. And crucially, she explains how we can help teenage girls develop self-compassion to aid them in the fight against depression.
MHTTC New England offers Seasonal Affective Disorder: Responding to the Winter Blues in the Classroom online toolkit for care providers.
Preventing Marijuana Use Among Youth
The goal of this guide is to review the literature on prevention of marijuana use among youth, distill the research into recommendations for practice, and provide examples of the ways these recommendations can be implemented.
Quicksheets #78 Social/Emotional Health is a downloadable inventory that includes practices and activities - to share in small groups or for youth to practice on their own - to help them assess and engage with their emotional well-being.
These insightful cards are an innovative and uniquely interactive way to learn about and apply the highly popular Enneagram personality model as you uncover your inner feelings, motives, and desires; nurture your empathy and compassion for others; and grow toward the best version of yourself.
Online courses for teens:
Mindful Self-Compassion for Teens
8-week study on health and well-being via meditation and spiritual practices; online-friendly.
Includes Student Guide, Leader Guide, and free guide for leading virtually.
offering free online Mindfulness Classes for Kids.
Michel Gribble offers free online Story and Stretch (and other) videos along with liturgical elements and curriculum and Mindfulness and Meditation options.
Praying with Mandalas: teaches what mandalas are; includes a free downloadable mandala; and comes as an ecourse; youth-adults.
EmpowerU is built to help teens deal with stress and anxiety, including weekly free toolkits and a semester-long curriculum.
MYCepaz is a teen guide to mental well-being and includes calming yoga videos and several links to Mindfulness and Meditation sites, along with resources and supports for emergency interventions; includes a downloadable app to take mindfulness practices for use anywhere and anytime.
Butterfly Prayer — The butterfly prayer in Traci Smith's Faithful Families is a simple practice that anchors us to breath, calm, and movement. She recommended it as a practice to teach children for times of stress and anxiety. This old VIDEO features Smith's boys sharing the practice.
The Center of Mindful Self-Compassion's Dr. Karen Bluth offers teens Lovingkindness for Ourselves.
Thich Nhat Hanh's community offers The Plum Village app (free) and a list of other apps and online tools for meditation and minfulness.
University of Rochester Medical Center's Behavioral Health Partners' Melissa Nunes-Harwitt, LMSW, shares a method called Hand on Heart, to help ease a racing mind/anxiety.
shared 23 CHILDREN’S BOOKS ABOUT EMOTIONS FOR KIDS WITH BIG FEELINGS which is broken down by age group - toddler through young adult - along with books for parents
offers several books for CHILDREN on noticing and coping with big feelings:
They also offer book bundles, such as their:
offers several books for helping YOUTH deal with a range of emotions.
