A Letter of Gratitude to the BC Children’s Hospital Center for Mindfulness

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As a social worker, working on an in-patient acute psychiatric unit – I don’t know where I would be without mindfulness and compassion practices. The issues we are faced with and the patients and families we support are complex – and I often remind myself that when I interact with these kids and their caregivers – it is likely one of their worst days ever. Stress, tension and anxiety run high – and as we know, emotions are contagious – so if I am not careful, I run the very real risk of catching or absorbing many of the difficult emotions that are present on the unit.

Without a mindfulness practice I don’t believe I could do this work. Mindfulness and compassion practices buffer stress, and in fact positively contribute to my resilience in this difficult work.

Mindfulness allows me to observe and understand what I’m feeling, to be aware of my thoughts, and to be present to the (often unpleasant) physical sensations alive in these moments. Mindfulness allows me to remain grounded and present, instead of being swept up and blown astray by the minute-to-minute challenges I may face.

Having directly benefitted from the positive effects of mindfulness in my work in healthcare, I have been motivated to share these skills with my colleagues, families and patients – so that they too may experience the buffering effects of these practices. 

Earlier this year, through my participation with the BC Children’s Hospital Center for Mindfulness, I was made aware of a generous grant opportunity. It was announced that the funds would be made available to someone (or someones), who would utilize the grant money towards something that would forward the Center’s mission, which is the co-creation of a more mindful hospital. I immediately jumped at the opportunity to apply, hoping to use the funds to pay for the opportunity to be trained as a certified mindfulness teacher. Although I had extensive experience and some formal trainings as a teacher of mindfulness practices, working in the hospital environment I sensed an increasing need to obtain a credential in order to increase the reception and validity of my teaching in a multidisciplinary context.

I was beyond thrilled to be awarded the full $4000 grant from the Center for Mindfulness, which covered the entire cost of my training through The Lab of Meditation, under the guidance of the revered teacher hiro Demichelis. For four months I gathered with other learners, spread out across North America. As The Lab’s training is the only Certified training offered in North America – my fellow students were a beautiful mix of students and teachers from varied locations. We met in the “zoomiverse”, where we meditated, studied, contemplated, laughed, cried, meditated some more.. and sometimes even danced.

The training was transformational, allowing me the opportunity to dive deeply into such topics as neuroanatomy (what happens in the brain when we meditate), Buddhist psychology and history, trauma informed and socially-just meditation practices, script building, the business of meditation teaching, the vagus nerve and nervous system regulation….just to name a few.

I attended, learned, practiced and took it all in with great vigor. I felt that I was beautifully positioned as a learner, having the benefit of over 5 years of teaching experience from which I could integrate the learnings into.

I’m proud to say I was the first of my cohort to complete all the learnings and submit all of the requirements and can now proudly call myself a Certified Mindfulness Teacher.

My next step is to acquire international certification through the International Mindfulness Teachers Association (IMTA). A component of this certification is to attend a retreat – and I’m beyond excited to be attending my first silent retreat this June 2024.

With my newly stamped certification, I will continue to share the tools of mindfulness and compassion generously. I am leading meditation practices with my team during rounds, I have been opening social work meetings with mindfulness practices and look forward to joining the inspiring roster of mindfulness teachers at Thankful Thursdays.

If you ever want to jam on the Dharma – find me in the CAPE social work office, or at lori.boland@cw.bc.ca. I’d love to connect & collaborate.

May you be well.

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About the Author

Lori Boland (she/her) is a social worker, counsellor, mindfulness teacher, and mom to 2 neuroD kids. For the past 3 years she has worked at BC Children’s Hospital in the Health Minds program, both on the Adolescent in-patient, and on the CAPE (Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Emergency) units. Outside of the hospital walls, Lori can be found cold-plunging, forest bathing, sunset chasing, community garden tending and house music (kitchen) dancing.