This past June, the members of BC Children’s Hospital Centre for Mindfulness community gathered online for a “mindful birthday party,” to reflect on what the Centre has meant for us in the year since its launch. We found it inspiring and energizing to reflect on where we’ve been so far, and where we hope to go in the coming years. Themes that arose from our sharing and reflection include community, growth, hope, opportunities, healing, and collaboration.

Since our launch in 2019, our community of mindful health professionals has worked hard to bring mindfulness to our hospital community and to the British Columbia public. We have presented over 150 events, large and small, for children and youth, parents and caregivers, and health professionals. In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have adapted many of our programs online, including MARS-A (Mindful Awareness and Resilience Skills for Adolescents), and Thankful Thursdays drop-in mindfulness sessions for health professionals at BC Children’s & Women’s Hospital. Some of the Centre’s most meaningful work has been done in the spirit of mindful community-building, with collaborations spanning the clinical and academic campuses as well as with community partners. Just a few highlights include: Starting the first-ever mindfulness postdoctoral research fellowship at BC Children’s Hospital in partnership with the BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute; offering  8-session Mindful Healing courses for pediatrics residents and multidisciplinary health care trainees; and offering mindfulness workshops for parents and caregivers by partnering with the Kelty Mental Health Resource Centre and the Dalai Lama Centre for Peace and Education.

We look forward to continuing to connect, support, and grow the talents of individuals and teams to bring more mindfulness to BC Children’s Hospital and beyond.  Imagine for a moment: What would a more mindful hospital look like?  How could our experiences as children and youth, parents and caregivers, and health professionals be transformed if mindfulness was the very foundation of our hospital’s culture, part of the air we breathed, the way we walked?  We are just at the beginning stages of this transformative journey together, and we hope that you will join us!