Description

Yoga Therapy for Child & Adolescent Mental Health

We all know that mental health issues can be caused or exacerbated by trauma. Just as yoga is effective in reducing mental health problems in adults, it has the same transformative quality for young people.  Furthermore, when taught in formative years, yoga may have a long-term positive trajectory on those who would otherwise present with a lifetime of mental health challenges, including trauma.  As a result, we as yoga professionals can heed the call to reduce children and adolescents’ mental health burden and improve their well-being.

In this course, Michelle Fury shares concrete tools of how to safely and effectively integrate yoga therapy into paediatric mental health treatment. She also emphasises the importance of self-care for yoga professionals who bravely take on this vital work.  Michelle was named the first yoga therapist in a hospital setting by the International Association of Yoga Therapists, making her uniquely qualified to share her insights of how to use yoga therapy to treat the whole child.

Whether you are a:

• Certified Yoga Therapists who wants to integrate paediatric mental health skills into yoga therapy sessions 
• Minded Institute student or graduate who wants to specialise in yoga therapy for children and adolescents’ mental health
• Mental health professional looking to integrate yogic techniques with a developmental understanding into your work
• Yoga Professionals with a particular specialism in, or particular experience of working with, young people with neurodiversity, trauma and other mental health conditions. Please note that yoga teachers who complete this course are not able to refer to themselves as qualified yoga therapists (and will receive a CPD certificate without IAYT accreditation); to do so you must complete a full yoga therapy training.
• This course is not suitable for yoga teachers who do not have much experience of working with young people! If you are unsure whether you are eligible to enrol onto this course, please contact admin@themindedinstitute.com detailing your professional experience and we will be happy to advise you further.

We will cover the following:

• How to recognise and treat the symptoms of paediatric anxiety and depression with yoga techniques.
• Current research on yoga therapy for paediatric anxiety and depression.
• Trauma-informed yoga therapy skills and languaging.
• Yoga therapy for ADHD in children
• Four aspects of human development: chronological/physical (including musculoskeletal considerations), social/emotional, cognitive and neurological
• How the ancient yoga system of pancha maya kosha relates to paediatric mental health.
• How to inspire young people to practice yoga therapy?  
• How to compassionately treat the whole child, including how and when to interact with caregivers and family members 
• Self-care—forms of self-care for mental health professionals and the importance of practicing regularly 
• How to create a safe and effective individualized treatment plan for a child or teen’s optimal mental health
• How to liaise with the medical and health care establishments
• Precautions, best practice and duty of care

On completion of this training you will:

• Be confident in integrating yoga techniques into treatment plans for children and adolescents with symptoms of anxiety, depression, and ADHD.
• Be clear in how to work with children, adolescents and their families to optimise mental health.
• Have skills to insert into an existing client practice or healthcare setting.
• Be able to tailor yoga techniques to a child’s or adolescent’s individual mental health needs
• Understand how to inspire young people to practice yoga therapy to improve their well-being.
• Have tools to increase resilience and reduce the effects of burn out and compassion fatigue so often associated with this work.

About the Teacher

Michelle Fury of Rhythms Yoga Training, LLC. is an international leader in yoga therapy for young people’s mental health and the Minded Institute is honoured to have her offering a CPD to empower yoga professionals to help those in need. Tragically mental health problems for young people have been increasing in volume and intensity for a long-time and the pandemic only worsened the situation. In October 2021 UNICEF reported an estimated 13 percent of 10 to 19 year-olds live with a mental health disorder, and has called for governments around the world to take action. In the U.S. alone, a national emergency was declared by the American Academy of Paediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association.

Please note that this is a continuing professional development course – if you are a healthcare/ mental health practitioner or therapist, you will not become a qualified yoga teacher on the basis of this course but you will learn a variety of skills and tools that you can integrate into your pre-existing practice or profession.

Read more on Yoga for Children.