Programs

GIFT is dedicated to bringing mindfulness training and all of its benefits to underserved populations.  Working first with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Delaware which serves over 37,000 children and adolescents, GIFT’s mindfulness stress reduction training has been directed to the helping professionals and volunteers who serve the needs of children, adolescents, and adults living throughout Delaware.  These helpers have learned stress management skills that help them to manage their own stress so they can be more present in the services and support they provide. In addition, GIFT training has enabled these helpers to share mindful practices with the populations they serve.  As a result of our work, over 200 helping professionals and volunteers at these organizations have been trained in mindfulness skills.

Partners

• Aids Delaware
• Boys & Girls Club of Delaware
• Children & Families First
• Communities in Schools
• Delaware Alliance for Nonprofit Advancement (DANA)
• Delaware Guidance Services for Children & Youth, Inc.
• Delaware Mental Health Association
• Delaware State Education Association (DSEA)
• First State Community Action Agency (CAA)
• Kingswood Community Center
• Limen House
• Mended Little Hearts of Delaware (& Nemours)
• SummerCollab
• United Way of Delaware
• West End Neighborhood House

In the last quarter of 2017, heading into the first quarter of 2018, GIFT began creating meaningful relationships with Delaware’s schools.

The door opener was the opportunity to bring mindfulness into the Casey Foundation–sponsored Compassionate Schools – Delaware’s schools working with the most at-risk student populations. Compassionate Schools is fully supported by the Governor and First Lady, the DE Department of Education and the Delaware Teachers’ Union (DSEA) among others. The first two were elementary schools Mt. Pleasant Elementary School and William C. Lewis Bilingual Elementary School. This has blossomed into many more elementary middle and high schools in several school districts and growing.

Partners

• Mt. Pleasant Elementary School
• Concord High School
• Nellie Stokes Elementary School
• Thurgood Marshall Elementary School
• McCullough Middle School (Librarians Training)
• Delaware State Education Association
• Baltz Elementary School
• Mote (Anna P.) Elementary School
• Shortlidge Elementary School
• William C Lewis Bilingual Elementary School
• University of Delaware
• Wilmington University

Since 2009 the Wilmington VA Hospital has actively incorporated mindfulness training in its treatment of service and combat-related stress and post-traumatic stress. Dr. Jenna Tedesco has led a nationwide movement to standardize mindfulness training treatment. At the Wilmington VA alone, over 1,500 veterans have participated in mindfulness training with tremendous results. Dr. Tedesco’s mindfulness training programs have largely been based on the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and long considered the “gold standard” and model for mindfulness training programs.

In 2017 GIFT began working with Dr. Tedesco to bring her success story into GIFT’s main U.S. initiative: to transform the lives of 100,000 veterans nationwide over the next five to eight years. Working with Delaware veterans, GIFT created a six-minute video and a simple step-by-step implementation system as a model for America.

Partners

• Delaware National Guard
• Vanguards of Mindfulness
• Delaware Interfaith Veterans Workgroup

In 2017 – 2018 fiscal year, GIFT began working with the DE Department of Health and Social Services (HSS), Division of Substance Abuse & Mental Health (DSAMH). During that time period GIFT trained 225 mental health professionals and 187 clients and continues to work with mental health professionals throughout the state to provide mindfulness-based stress reduction training.

In addition to working with DSAMH, GIFT has provided a variety of mindfulness training sessions to the clinicians of Children and Families First and Child Inc., both of which are large providers of mental health services in Delaware. GIFT has also provided mindfulness training through the Delaware Professional Counselors Association.

Partners

• Division of Substance Abuse & Mental Health
• Children and Families First
• Child Inc.
• Delaware Professional Counselors Association