Mindful Connections for Black Parents

Mindful Connections™ for Black Parents

Parenting While Black has partnered with Awaken Pittsburgh, Homewood Children’s Village, and Primary Care Health Services to offer mindfulness training to nonprofit professionals, parents, and educators in Homewood.

Parents: Parents and children ages 5-17 can join a weekly group that combines Awaken’s Mindful Connections curriculum with the University of Pittsburgh’s Parenting While Black curriculum. Each session starts with a provided meal and then divides the children and parents into two separate groups. The program lasts 12 weeks, and as part of their participation parents are offered weekly incentives, as well as three free visits with a Black therapist.
Educators: Homewood-area teachers can participate in a weekly group focusing on mindfulness and trauma-sensitive practices in schools over 18 weeks. Awaken Pittsburgh, the Homewood Children’s Village, and the Center on Race and Social Problems are specifically introducing new mental health resources in the neighborhood by inviting three different groups that care for children to join weekly groups tailored for them at the University of Pittsburgh’s Community Engagement Center in Homewood:
Community and out-of-school care providers: Staff at community organizations and childcare centers can participate in weekly Mindful Connections for Helpful Professionals and Mindful Connections for Trauma-Sensitive Practices classes over 18 weeks. The first group to go through these programs in 2023 included staff representing Bible Center Church Pittsburgh, Legacy Arts Project, Trying Together, Urban Academy of Greater Pittsburgh Charter School, the University of Pittsburgh’s Community Engagement Center in Homewood, Brothers and Sisters Emerging, YWCA Homewood-Brushton, the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, and Operation Better Block.

Format	In-person
Level	Beginner to Intermediate
When & Where	Program enrollment is full. It takes place in the Homewood area on weekday evenings
Designed For	Parents and children ages 5-17 and Educators in the Homewood area

MCBP in the press!

Awaken Pittsburgh teaches mindfulness and meditation, July 17, 2023 | Article
Tony Norman: Mindfulness training for children, parents..., July 14, 2023 | Article
New mindfulness program provides community-based..., July 10, 2023 | Article
Homewood introduces new mindfulness program..., July 5, 2023 | Article

About

Homewood is a Pittsburgh neighborhood with a history of divestment, population decline, and oppressive traumas attributable to structural racism. The program will help those caring for children and families in Homewood to reduce their stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma, and to share those skills with the young people in their care. The program will help disrupt cycles of oppression by building on community-based assets to raise healthy, happy, and successful children. It will also reduce the stigma around mental health needs, treatment, and support.

To join a future group, people can contact Raymond Robinson at the Homewood Children’s Village at rrobinson@hcvpgh.org. The program is funded through a grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, and Primary Care Health Services is providing administrative and fiduciary support.