Raquel is a Cognitive Behavioral Psychologist working with young people & families. In Brazil she runs a private clinical practice and supports a multidisciplinary clinic consulting with physicians, educators, and paediatricians to promote psychological wellness. She leads the Family Systems Mindfulness initiative for the Mindfulness Centre of Excellence.
What Colour is Your Dragon? Systems Mindfulness to Increase Compassion
Sunday, May 3, 2020 — 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM
What colour is your dragon is a Brazil-UK collaboration that supports family (and other) systems to develop compassion and emotional intelligence. Using a theoretical framework based on the neuroscience of the brain’s three motivational systems (threat, drive and soothing), young people and families are taught to ask “what colour is my dragon?” and learn how to regulate their motivational states. Through the use of storytelling and puppets, young people and families learn about how to honour and take care of their three dragons and love them all.
The work blends a number of theoretical models including that of Paul Gilbert, Wendy Hasenkamp’s triple network model of of a mindful moment (attention, default mode and salience networks) and Tamara Russell’s Body In Mind Training (“Mindfulness in Motion”) with creative and enacted learning methodologies. It also draws on the inter-relational and pan therapeutic Family Domains model. As such, its a playful, simple and profound intervention that is based on solid theoretical psychological and neuroscientific models.
This work was developed in a Brazil-UK collaboration so it brings a unique take on the design and delivery, taking into account contextual factors including poverty, low education level and high physical and physiological threat as the norm. Under these conditions of complexity, simplicity in delivery is essential.
“What colour is your dragon?” is therefore a “bottom up” design of a mindfulness intervention. It supports systems change to a world where feeding your green dragon (developing self care, compassion and kindness) is for everyone and in fact works best when we can work together to manage our blue dragon (don’t work too hard), embrace our red dragon (it’s ok to have “negative” emotions and feed the green as much as possible (self care and kindness). It is a program that gives both permission and language to support emotional intelligence no matter the context.
Participants will come away with:
- How to innovate in the mindfulness space using theoretical psychological and neuroscientific models as a starting point (#protocolfree)
- The benefits (and challenges) of working cross culturally to develop mindfulness interventions
- How to develop systems based mindfulness approach (mindfulness is a team sport!)