Occupational Therapy News OTNews March 2020 | Page 44

FEATURE STUDENT EDUCATION
Engaging local children in
mindfulness activities
Occupational therapy students Ami Smallwood and Amy McDonnell, from
Canterbury Christchurch University, recently undertook a community project,
which helped children in the local community access mindfulness activities
H
astings Museum and Art Gallery recently
welcomed around 50 children for a day
of free activities that introduced them to
mindfulness. The day was organised in
partnership with occupational therapy students Ami
Smallwood and Amy McDonnell from Canterbury
Christchurch University.
‘The year two community project is part of our
university degree programme,’ explains Ami. ‘We
were set the task of identifying an area of need in our
community, developing a plan to serve this identified
need, and to deliver the idea using the therapeutic use
of self.’
Ami notes that ‘the therapeutic use of self is an
essential part of building a relationship with clients and
is integral to our practice as occupational therapists’
(Clouston and Solman 2016).
The two students worked together as a pair to
identify children’s mental health promotion as an area
of need.
Referring to the literature (Christiansen et al 2015)
she says: ’Children need to be able to recognise
behaviours that affect them negatively and learn to
identify and control negative impulses.’
‘Improving spirituality and positive belief systems
early in the lifespan helps to build resilience to deal
with setbacks in a more positive way, allowing them to
move forward when they have a bad experience or are
subject to adversity.’
The aim of their community project was to educate
children in new skills, to help control their emotions and
improve their wellbeing.
‘This will not only help them as individuals, but also
make them part of a wider community, building social
supports within the group sessions,’ Ami adds.
According to 2015 statistics from the Department
for Communities and Local Government, Hastings
is ‘an area of deprivation’. Ami says: ‘Children who
live in deprived areas can be prone to experiencing
occupational deprivation, that is, not having the
equal opportunities within society to participate in
occupations of your own choice.
44 OTnews March 2020
‘This further affects their ability to form their identity
and express themselves, affecting spirituality. As a
result, marginalised children in society can be victim to
occupational alienation, and this leads to exclusion.
‘It is important for children to have the opportunity to
express themselves and form supports within society.’
She adds: ‘Mindfulness is commonly used in
relaxation and meditation teaching to people in acute
mental health crisis, but can be beneficial if taught early
on as a coping mechanism.
‘Mindfulness meditation can be difficult to engage
children in, as it is a passive activity. So we wanted
to come up with some fun activities that promote
mindfulness practice and its principles, and by learning
the practice, increase resilience in the long term.’
Recognising that ‘play is the most common form of
expression in children’, Ami says that the two students
wanted the children ‘to be able to express themselves
and be creative in the selected activities’.
Ahead of the project, and recognising that they
both needed ‘to gain some more knowledge on the
tools used for mindfulness with children’, both students
completed a mindfulness with children diploma.
‘The mindfulness project included a day that offered
participants three activity sessions, with mindfulness
colouring as an option while people waited,’ Ami
explains.
The first session involved following instructions to
make a windmill, while the second involved making
a jointed superhero, with the children imagining
themselves as a powerful superhero when designing
the character.
The third, and probably the most popular session,
Ami says, was the mindfulness bottles, which involved
‘encouraging the children to make bottles that, when
shook, represent the thoughts in their head; watching
the various glitter and sequins float around; and being
still and focusing on them falling to the base of the
bottle’.
She adds: ‘This visual representation makes it easier
to understand that you need to give your mind a rest
sometimes.’