8-26-19 Answers for the Family Interview with Kari O'Driscoll
Guest Host: Britten Devereux
Co-Hosts: Rob Danson & Erin Thompson

Kari O’Driscoll’s new book, One Teenager at a Time, is a social-emotional education manual for middle and high school educators. The curriculum contained in this book is innovative, creative, and draws on the most current research in education, mindfulness, and adolescent brain development.

One Teenager at a Time will add a vital piece to the growth and development of middle and high school students as it offers them “soft skills” they will need as they navigate higher education and the workforce. One Teenager at a Time offers no Right/Wrong solutions and instead helps adolescents explore their own values and beliefs in a shared space that allows for an honest exchange of ideas. Content areas include Compassion, Mindfulness, Self-Worth, Positive Mindset, and Dealing with Stress, Anxiety, and Fear.

Each lesson addresses more than one of the CASEL guidelines for social-emotional health, with an appendix mapping the specific skills to each lesson. Educators will find the lessons flexible in that there is no specific progression or required format. They can be delivered in one sitting or across several smaller time periods such as homeroom or advisory periods.

Kari offers her journey of motherhood and her expertise as a context for deploying these smart strategies with the ultimate goal of developing kind, resilient and good human beings.

ABOUT KARI O’DRISCOLL - ( http://www.theselfproject.com )

Kari O’Driscoll is a child of the 70s and a Pacific Northwest native. She has been described as a “tree-hugging, granola eating idealist” and takes it as a compliment. She writes about social justice, parenting, mindfulness, food, and her family (with their permission).

After completing degrees in Biology and Philosophy from Pacific University in Oregon, she went on to work in various healthcare settings before realizing writing was the most compelling activity she could imagine doing.

She founded The SELF Project in 2015 to share her adolescent social-emotional health curriculum with educators and parents. Kari also writes on her personal blog at http://www.the-writing-life.blogspot.com and her work has appeared online in multiple outlets.

TODAY’S SPECIAL GUEST HOST :

Britten Devereux (https://damoreca.com) is a clinician, healthcare administrator and writer. Managing 6 addiction and mental health facilities, Britten noticed the big gap in clinical services for addiction. This led to opening a second company, Space Before Change. While she continues her work as CEO of D’Amore Healthcare (https://damoreca.com), Britten is creating more ways for life-saving services to be delivered. She revitalizes some of the industry’s old and demeaning ways of getting things done by studying outcomes, then raising the bar.

OUR CO-HOSTS:
Rob Danson is the Head of Marketing and Communications for Food on Foot ( https://foodonfoot.org ) , a nonprofit dedicated to empowering the homeless of Los Angeles with food, full-time employment, and permanent housing. Food on Foot volunteers distribute food and clothing to approximately 150 people on any Sunday in Hollywood from 3:00 to 5:00pm. Food on Foot’s jobs and housing program helps homeless people earn their way off the streets with an empowering life-skills education, a full-time job, and their own fully furnished apartment. 85% of Food on Foot graduates are still fully employed and living off the streets one year later. Visit www.foodonfoot.org for more info.

Erin Thompson ( https://.homeful.la) is currently the Special Projects Manager and Board Liaison for the Inner City Law Center in Skid Row within Los Angeles, where she’s responsible for Homeful. LA, a website her team created to connect the people of Los Angeles with opportunities to advocate, donate and volunteer towards ending homelessness.