OUR APPROACH

Firmly rooted in current research and scientific literature, Awaken Pittsburgh’s proprietary curriculum, Mindful Connections™, uses leading-edge techniques shown to increase mindfulness and its associated benefits. Each program is customized for the needs of different audiences, such as teachers, students, caring professionals, workplace wellness participants and those in recovery from addiction.

Programs are delivered over several weeks, in group settings, and usually incorporate a day-long retreat. This helps group members support each other outside their daily routines as they move through the training and continue to grow even after the program has finished.

Before and after our courses, we ask participants to complete standardized assessment surveys designed specifically for adults or for youth. The findings allow us to measure our impact on key outcomes such as participants’ self-awareness, compassion, stress levels, burnout and secondary traumatic stress (see table below). They also help us assess which parts of the program were deemed most beneficial and obtain valuable feedback that we can use to make improvements to our programs.

Examples of measures we use to assess participants’ progress:

If you’d like to read more about the evidence base for mindfulness, visit Our Resources section.