Our body is a messenger. It is the first sensations we receive to seek safety. Through our fight or flight responses the automatic fear based systems in our nervous system kick in and our behavior becomes less in our own control.
Being mindful of our actions and choices can only come after we regain our thinking brain. That depends on greater awareness over what is happening in the body and body based ways of coping with stress.
By providing education through hands-on activities, physical play, and educational bonding experiences, we aim to increase access to important mental health education while improving overall community well-being.
This, in turn, leads to more constructive and adaptive coping strategies, reducing the likelihood of maladaptive behaviors or emotional outbursts.
Nervous system education cultivates empathy and understanding towards others’ emotional experiences. Armed with a deeper understanding of their own emotional responses, individuals become more attuned to the signals of distress in those around them. This heightened empathy fosters stronger interpersonal connections and promotes more supportive and compassionate relationships.
Greater awareness also serves as protection since children recognize physical signals of mental health distress. It is through awareness that we know to seek support and body based education makes that possible sooner than ever.
The Nervous System is where our body processes and behavioral responses are being managed. There are three divisions in the Nervous System: Autonomic, Parasympathetic and Sympathetic.
The Sympathetic Nervous System feels like:
This combined response is what we call the fight-or-flight response.
The Parasympathetic Nervous System feels like:
This combined response is what we call the rest-and-digest response.
How to stimulate the Vagal nerve to start the rest-digest process in the body. Also, learn how humming and vibration can help us calm down fast through music.
What is Box breathing, how can double breathing help us recalibrate stressed breathing. Also, how 2 simple breathing tricks that can increase our oxygen intake by 15% on every single breath.
How squeezing, pushing and pulling, helps us complete the fight fear response and think better in the moment. Also, how we can use our non-dominant hand to grow the self-control muscle in the brain.
What emotional eating is and how to notice it. The impact strong emotions have on our eating habits and how healthy foods support well-being. Also, how to do a lymphatic release to promote movement in the stomach area.
How to use jumping to complete the flight fear response. Also, the importance of movement for good blood circulation and waste drainage in the lymph system.
What bilateral movements are and how they help the body move out of fear responses into rest and digest modes. Easy to remember bilateral movements that increase body awareness.
Everyone is going through something we can’t see.
Kevin Love
Free basketball programming through delivered through physical education classes in public schools, community centers, after-school care programs and on-site.
One-one-one mentorship with one of our volunteer high school or graduate students seeking medical or mental health professional tracks.
One-on-one therapist sessions, family workshops, support groups, resource bridging as well as additional investments in the child's future including skill building, college and future planning.
Parenting workshops, educational training and basketball programs use facts and strategies outlined by the following resources:
School-based Programs to Increase Physical Activity, School-Based Violence Prevention, Early Childhood Education
Community-Clinical Linkages Health Equity Guide, Healthier Food Retail: An Action Guide for Public Health Practitioners
Merging somatic strategies with recommendations by the CDC to create body based strategies that provent trauma based stress retention.
Treatment for Self-harm, and Suicide Attempts Among Youth, Screening Anxiety in Children and Adolescents: Screening, Eating Disorders in Adolescents, Suicide and Violence Prevention, Mental Health: Targeted School-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Programs to Reduce Depression and Anxiety Symptoms, Physical Activity, Preventative Care, Nutrition and Healthy Eating.
A program that cares for a child's mental, emotional and physical health.