She built a Hollywood career around her kooky persona with films such as Overboard and Private Benjamin but there is nothing silly about Goldie Hawn’s ambition when it comes to helping to improve the mental health of children.
In 2003, the actress and best-selling author created MindUP together with researchers, scientists and educators to teach children how to regulate emotions, form positive relationships.
Her aim is to build overall wellbeing through positive psychology, mindful awareness, neuroscience and social-emotional learning.
In a partnership with the app Insight Timer, there is even a free five-minute exercises to teach children daily gratitude, “brain breaks” and kindness that are proven to improve focus, resiliency, optimism and empathy. The audio exercises are available in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese with more languages to come this year.
“It is a great honour to be associated with Insight Timer, a global company that has the capacity to create uplift, calm and various approaches to emotional wellbeing,” said Goldie Hawn, founder of MindUP.
“During this time of uncertainty, children are affected negatively emotionally and are facing symptoms of stress and anxiety. Our program MindUP helps address these issues by creating mental fitness and emotional stability.
Goldie Hawn
“Thanks to Insight Timer, we are able to deliver some of our education practices to parents who are helping to homeschool and teachers who are learning to teach virtually.”
Goldie Hawn
If you are a parent looking for help then listen to Goldie Hawn on Insight Timer explain the science behind the mental fitness program, MindUP. Let’s face it, this has been a difficult year for students and, MindUP’s exercises on Insight Timer teach children focus, empathy and relationship-building — which a screen often disrupts.
The World Health Organization reported in September 2020 that depression is one of the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents, and earlier this year reported along with the United Nations that more children are struggling concentration and nervousness amid lifestyle changes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As schools worldwide struggle to reopen fully, millions of children will learn in makeshift classrooms at home among potential distractions or unfit environments. MindUP created content for Insight Timer to fill that gap by making components of its well-researched, multi-year training program accessible to anyone who finds themself a teacher this year.
MindUP will join Insight Timer’s free library among neuroscience mindfulness exercises from Judson Brewer M.D. Ph.D, Rick Hanson Ph.D, Dan Siegel M.D. and other leading researchers.
Insight Timer is the world’s largest free meditation app for anxiety, stress and sleep. It is the only app in this space to grow from a conscious business model, attracting 18 million users through word of mouth and zero ad spend. Insight Timer offers 60,000 free, high-quality meditations from over 8,000 teachers worldwide including His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Russell Brand, Elizabeth Gilbert, Tara Brach, and Jack Kornfield. Its library is diverse and inclusive with secular, spiritual, religious and scientific meditations, music and talks in 44 different languages.
About The Goldie Hawn Foundation
Since 2003, MindUP has been helping children develop the mental fitness necessary to thrive in school and throughout their lives. MindUP is the signature program of The Goldie Hawn Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation created in response to the global epidemic of childhood aggression, anxiety, depression, and suicide. Based firmly in neuroscience, MindUP gives children the knowledge and tools they need to manage stress, regulate emotions, and face the challenges of the 21st century with optimism, resilience, and compassion.
To learn more about MindUP, visit: https://mindup.org/