Inner Strength Education’s innovative program combines the best evidence-based, trauma-sensitive mindfulness and self reflection tools with systems or contextual thinking, evolutionary brain science, and an understanding of the interplay between the world around us and our personal experience. In-school programs embed whole-person mental and emotional wellness with academic learning. This creates environments where teachers and students can regulate, bringing curiosity and joy back into the classroom. Working in under-resourced schools with the latest evidence-based wellness tools opens access to these supportive strategies.

When Amy founded the organization in 2014, she knew she wanted to do more than teach a handful of students to relax and find calm. Her goal was to create a robust curriculum that could reach a significant number of students year after year and improve the overall quality of school climate and wellbeing. Ultimately, she hoped, by sustaining the program over time, students who aligned with their innate care could improve outcomes in the city at large. Teens who learn to practice mindful awareness and contextual thinking mature into young adults who have the capacity to manage stress and extend compassion and understanding to others. They grow into all kinds of professions as adults who care and act from a sense of optimism and responsibility for the greater good. 

Amy piloted her innovative mindfulness and systems thinking curriculum in Fall 2014 with the International Baccalaureate Juniors at Bodine High School for International Affairs in Philadelphia. The click was immediate. The students loved learning how to explore their own experience, took to the stillness and focus, delighted in learning about the evolutionary development of the brain and systems thinking, and appreciated having the opportunity for open-ended discussion about what truly matters to them. Contrary to expectations, they loved the kindness building activities and shared how the perspective taking tools helped them navigate issues in so many ways.

It was clear we had to expand and Amy held the first instructor training in summer of 2015. The following year, programming expanded with 5 instructors. Now, nine years later, more than 26,000 students across 23 Philadelphia schools have completed the 3-month training, developing their skills of confidence, curiosity, and care.

Any program that works with students soon realizes that teachers, staff, and school leadership also need ways to manage stress in the midst of very challenging workdays. It quickly became part of Inner Strength’s school program to support staff and leadership with professional development sessions and extend care to the caregivers. When principals and teachers are supported, they create more positive environments for students. Our mission is to help talented educators reconnect with their passion for learning and teaching, discover easy ways to destress throughout the day to prevent burnout, and dismantle culturally conditioned barriers to self-care. Teacher retention and teacher absenteeism has reached concerning rates, impacting the smooth running of schools, school district budgets, and the mentorship of individuals just entering the profession. Our educator programs, designed by Amy in alignment with our youth curriculum have provided tools to more than 3,200 teachers in the School District of Philadelphia.