History and Research on Mind-Well 

The Mindfulness-Based Wellness Education program was developed at the Ontario Institute For Studies In Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT) by Dr. Corey Mackenzie, Ph.D, Geoffrey Soloway, M.Ed and Dr. Patricia Poulin, PhD. It was developed to address the rising problem of teacher stress and burnout. The MBWE program was first delivered in a course taught in the teacher training program at OISE/UT in January 2006.

Research conducted in conjunction with the running of the first course demonstrated the positive impact of the program. A comparison study was done to compare pre-service teachers at OISE/UT who took the MBWE program with other pre-service teachers who did not take MBWE. Results on four different scales showed: greater increase in Mindfulness, greater increase in Satisfaction with Life, greater increase in Self-Efficacy with respect to engaging students and managing challenging classroom situations.

Poulin, P. A., Mackenzie, C. S., Soloway, G., & Karaoylas, E. C. (2008). Mindfulness training as an evidenced-based approach to reducing stress and promoting well-being among human services professionals. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, 46, 72-80.

Soloway, G. B., Poulin, A. & Mackenzie, C. S. (2010). Preparing New Teachers for the Full Catastrophe of the 21st Century Classroom:  Integrating Mindfulness Training into Initial Teacher Education.  In A. Cohan & A. Honigsfeld (Eds.), Breaking the Mold of Pre-Service and In-Service Teacher Education (pp. 219–227). Lanham, Maryland: R & L Education. 

Current research is underway and will be updated soon.