The Next Einstein COMPETITION ENTRY

ENTRY DESCRIPTION

Introducing mindfulness into the education system to combat and reduce mental health issues in our youth by providing them with a technique to achieve wellbeing in our ever-advancing world.

By normalizing the concept of mindfulness as a management tool in Western societies, we can expect an increase in the quality of productivity of individuals. With respect to the education system, our youth are vulnerable to the increasing prevalence of mental health issues. This is simply due to the increasing demands of our rapidly progressing society - there is more pressure to independently achieve more, achieve a specific status quo, maintain a certain figure and image - all these factors contribute to the comorbidity of mental health issues we see in our youth today. Unfortunately, wellbeing transfers beyond the primary education system into university, and then further into our occupation. Anxiety and depression rates are becoming more drastic. Our system today is flawed because we only target these issues once they present in an individual, but what happens if we implement a strategy to prevent them from happening in the first place? Introduction to mindfulness at a young age, and continuing it forward in the education system so it becomes normalized and integrated with what is taught in school may, in fact, reduce the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues by providing a management tool. This taught tool can be carried forward into further education, social life, occupation, and even family life. The benefits of mindfulness are so diverse - improving productivity, wellbeing, happiness, and the overall quality of life of an individual. Furthermore, in an occupational setting, the happiness of employees translates into the success of the workplace. Mindfulness practice has already been introduced in the workplace, however, if we begin even sooner there may be vast benefits to an individuals development. Mindfulness should not be limited to psychological services, rather, implemented in all forms of management and wellbeing practice, especially with our youth.