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46. The One About The Mindful Curriculum
18 Plays8 days ago
In this deeply personal and exciting episode of the Mindful Educator Podcast, I’m taking you behind the scenes of something that has been on my heart for a very long time… The Mindful Curriculum.
This isn’t just another program or another thing for teachers and parents to add to their already overflowing plates.
This is a mission.
A mission to help children, teachers and families better understand their minds, emotions, bodies, behaviours and relationships — in a way that is practical, empowering and sustainable.
After more than 20 years working with children through teaching, mindfulness, coaching and motherhood itself, I’ve seen firsthand the growing struggles so many children and adults are facing:
- rising anxiety
- emotional dysregulation
- overwhelm
- disconnection
- burnout
- lack of resilience
- increasing mental health challenges
And the question I keep asking is:
Why are we not teaching people how their minds and bodies actually work?
In this episode, I share:
- The story behind why I created The Mindful Curriculum
- What I’ve been witnessing in schools, homes and communities
- Why supporting children also means supporting parents and teachers
- The four core pillars of the curriculum
- How understanding our thoughts, beliefs and emotions can completely change our lives
- Why resilience and emotional intelligence are essential life skills
- The importance of physical wellbeing and nervous system regulation
- Why personal responsibility and social awareness matter more than ever
- How this curriculum is designed to reduce teacher overwhelm — not add to it
- My vision for bringing this into schools, homes, daycares and communities across WA (and eventually beyond!)
Calling All Schools, Parents & Communities
If you know of a: school, daycare, homeschooling group, education setting, parent community
that would benefit from The Mindful Curriculum, I would absolutely love to connect.
I’ll be beginning workshops within Western Australia and rolling out the curriculum in stages, with the goal of supporting not just students - but entire school communities.
Connect with Victoria
🌐 Victoria R Website
📱 Instagram – @the.victoria.r
📧 hello@victoria-r.com.au
And keep an eye out for The Mindful Curriculum journey unfolding soon - including a dedicated Instagram page (@themindfulcurriculum), behind-the-scenes development, workshops, resources and so much more. This is only the beginning… and I’m so grateful to bring you along for the ride.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Mindful Curriculum
00:00:37
Victoria R
Hello everyone, welcome to the Mindful Educator podcast. so this week I have decided that I am going to share with you something that I've been working on really hard behind the scenes with and it is something that I am super, super passionate about and I'm doing my absolute best to get this ready to get it out into schools, to homes, to everything else.
Motivation Behind the Curriculum
00:01:01
Victoria R
And you may have seen it kind of mentioned, I've shared a little bit about it on my socials. But what this is, is the mindful curriculum.
00:01:09
Victoria R
And this has come about basically because I have seen, I've seen a lot of things, ah but I've seen a real need for this, not only in schools, but also in homes and just in people's lives in general.
00:01:24
Victoria R
And if you followed along, if you know um kind of my story, if you know my background, you know that I've got a background in teaching. So I've been working with children in some capacity for over 20 years now. And even before I was formally in the classroom, I was doing things like swimming teaching and all that sort of
Rising Mental Health Issues
00:01:42
Victoria R
thing. So there's there's always been um some element of teaching children and being involved in assisting children in some way.
00:01:51
Victoria R
And so... This is kind of stemmed from that, but it's also my own experiences of parenthood as well, of seeing what's actually happening firsthand in schools with children and also with the teachers and the parents as well. So it's kind of not just focusing on one area, it's it's ah kind of encompassing all of that as well because Let's be honest, like things aren't that great in some regards. um When we're talking about things like our mental health, ah there is such a huge increase in mental health, not only with adults, but with children. And for me, that is incredibly concerning.
00:02:38
Victoria R
We're sitting there going, why are so many of our children displaying increases in anxiety, in depression, just to name a few? what's causing this? Why has this all of a sudden, instead of it kept becoming less, you know, we've got, like, if you look at it, things like we've got pretty good lives, but why are they not, why are we not seeing this in the, the kind of overall results?
Addressing Mental Health with Curriculum
00:03:05
Victoria R
um Why are we seeing these increases instead of decreases of mental health issues? And obviously that's also prevalent in our adults as well. So,
00:03:16
Victoria R
You know, we've got parents that are experiencing many different things. And I'm not saying that that's a direct correlation with children, not at all. I'm just saying that adults are also experiencing this too.
00:03:28
Victoria R
And it's like, well, why, why is this happening? And how can we then go about, you know, ah addressing this and fixing this and, um, helping people move beyond that because it's natural that all of us at some point in time are going to experience mental health conditions that's just a given all right our brains our minds are such amazing complex things but when they're not working for us yes that's when we may be experiencing um some mental health and of course there's going to be times in life where things might be a little bit heavier a little bit more full-on You might be experiencing grief or loss of some sort. And so it's understandable that things like depression or anxiety may become more prevalent during those times. And that is it is almost to be expected and that's okay. Like it's okay to be experiencing that. But it's when we're not able to move beyond that, when we're finding that children and adults are experiencing these mental health issues in such a long-term capacity,
00:04:31
Victoria R
but wondering, well, what's going what's going on here? Why is it a case of we're not moving beyond
Challenges of Geographical Limitations
00:04:38
Victoria R
that? And so this is where the mindful curriculum is going to be coming in to help address these sorts of things. And it's kind of come around from The fact that I do these mindfulness sessions in town, which I love. i love doing them.
00:04:54
Victoria R
But for me, it's been like i'm I'm literally one person. I'm one person and i live in a small town and there's only so many people I can reach doing these mindfulness sessions. And I'm not saying that's not a great thing because I love the fact that I'm able to do that. But for me, it was like how can we impact more people though and help more people?
00:05:15
Victoria R
And this is the thing. It's helping more people. helping people understand how their minds actually work, you know, recognizing that just because you think something doesn't mean it's true.
00:05:27
Victoria R
We can change our thoughts. We can change our beliefs and having that understanding of how to actually do that, right, and that in itself is so empowering and then has that flow and effect of you know that when a thought comes into your mind, instead of just believing that it's true, you can question it. you can go, well, is this true?
00:05:46
Victoria R
Am I choosing to accept this thought or am I going to reject this thought? And all of that, that kind of what goes on from there. And so it was like, okay, well, how how can I help impact and help more people?
Involving the Community for Comprehensive Improvement
00:06:01
Victoria R
And as much as I would love to physically be able to go around to every school, every area, Once again, I'm just one person. i'm trying. But for me, it was like, how can we do this in a way that is still going to help others, still have the impact we want, but still be done in a really meaningful and a really um long-term sort of manner. And so this is kind of where the mindful curriculum has come from.
00:06:29
Victoria R
And it stems from the need to help children stems from the need to help teachers and the need to help families because it's kind of, it's a whole sort of perspective here. We can't just focus on one without the other. And i do mention this a bit as well. It's like when I work with parents or with children,
00:06:49
Victoria R
it goes hand in hand. All right. So you kind of need to do the work with both in order to kind of experience the benefits of it. And I'm not saying that just one person doing the work isn't going to benefit others. It definitely will. And it will definitely
Four Components of the Curriculum
00:07:01
Victoria R
encourage others. But if I can kind of help the whole community in that regard, like the whole school community, the student, the teacher, the parent, right, then we're going to see a huge improvement in people's moods and their emotions, in the way they approach things, in their learning and their questioning and their understanding. And this is where I'm like, right, how do we do this? And so then the how and everything is coming.
00:07:27
Victoria R
But for me, the main focus of the mindful curriculum is kind of four different parts. So we're focusing on mental wellbeing, firstly, all right? And obviously, this is a biggie for me. You know that this is something that i i definitely have mentioned many a times.
00:07:46
Victoria R
And it's like, right, well, how can we help develop an awareness of our thoughts and our beliefs and our mindset so that we can become stronger mentally, right, and we have that stronger, that um better mental health and also that resilience.
00:08:04
Victoria R
Resilience is one of these things that seems to be kind of disappearing a little bit. and We all need to work on our resilience a bit more. So that is kind of one aspect of it. The other aspect is the emotional intelligence side of things. So understanding that our emotions, like emotions are totally normal and having all these emotions, that's part of being human. This is the beautiful thing about being human is the fact that we get to experience all these different things.
00:08:35
Victoria R
But then it's like, okay, well, how do we use this to help us build these healthy relationships and these strong emotional skills for ourselves? And so that's kind of a different perspective for the mindful curriculum.
00:08:48
Victoria R
And then further to that, we've also got our physical wellbeing. So understanding how our physical bodies work. Like I said, if you've listened to any of these other podcast episodes, you will know that I have been learning so much over the last few years about our bodies, about how everything kind of is interconnected and even just our emotional regulation, our confidence, our ability to learn and to take on new knowledge.
00:09:13
Victoria R
ah All this is just, oh, it's amazing. And you know, if we feel our bodies right, if we move our bodies right, if we have that awareness of what works for us, not necessarily for other people, but what works for us, all right, then that, again, is so empowering. And that is going to, once again, benefit everyone that's in that realm. And then lastly, the kind of the the final piece of this is the self and social responsibility.
00:09:39
Victoria R
all right. So this is where we really focus on actually developing personal responsibility, recognizing that it's up to us to do this. No one else can do this work for us.
00:09:51
Victoria R
All right. No one else can be the one that does all this. And it's also recognizing that we need certain skills as well in order to be able to contribute um positively to society, to um contribute positively to relationships and communities and
Physical Health and Responsibility
00:10:05
Victoria R
all the rest of it. And okay, well, how do we do this? You know, and teaching our children also reteaching ourselves sometimes what this actually looks like. Because sometimes as a adults, yeah, we talk the talk, but we don't always walk the talk. And I think this is where we're like, oh, maybe I could, um yeah, take a little leaf out of that booklet and do that too. So these kind of four things are the main pillars, I guess you could say, of the mindful curriculum.
00:10:34
Victoria R
And so what is going to be rolling out over the next few months is, you know, approaching schools, informing them of what this is, how it's working, all the rest of it.
00:10:46
Victoria R
And then there's going to be um a way to access it i kind of taught access that and for me to are actually go into as many schools as I possibly can and actually, you know, do workshops with the parents, do workshops with the teachers, you know, all the rest of it so I'm actually so, so excited about this because I know, i know that this is so, so needed.
00:11:11
Victoria R
And for me, i can like, literally my brain is just like, oh, you know, we could go off in all these direction different directions. I'm like, Victoria, you just gotta, let's just start here. Let's just start with this.
00:11:23
Victoria R
um And then we will go from there because i just think, you know, the The system that we have at the moment clearly isn't working as well as it should. We have teachers leaving the profession in droves, like they're they're out of there.
00:11:40
Victoria R
And it's like, well, why? Why do we have such amazing high quality teachers going, I'm not doing this anymore, I'm out. you know What's going on here? So it's it's trying to support them as well as supporting what's actually happening in the classroom and not just focusing on the literacy, the numeracy, the science of this, the that it's actually, let's teach these
Implementation Plan and Motivation
00:12:04
Victoria R
children. Let's, you know, i create an environment where we're raising freaking amazing human beings that are able to think critically and question things that are able to recognize if something's not feeling right in their bodies that are able to approach different social situations, whether they're comfortable or uncomfortable with it and be able to draw on some different skills to know how to be a good friend you know to know that if someone is being bullied well how do we stand up for that how do we stand up for things that we believe in in a way that you know isn't necessarily going to start a fist fight it's all these different things that kind of come together and even as i'm talking i'm like i know that this is not a small mission this is freaking huge but for me it is just it is so important and even
00:12:52
Victoria R
You know, as a mum myself, like there is so much that I am still learning and in no way do I ever say that I'm ah a parenting expert or anything like that, like not a freaking chance. My husband and i we are constantly learning, constantly, and our children are challenging us in so many different ways, which I absolutely love because it really does give me that opportunity to think about things differently and to go, well, have I actually approached this in the best way for this child because I've got three children and they are all vastly different and what's going to work for one isn't going to work for another. So as a parent, it's also a case of, well, how do I, as a parent, research, find out, look into all this information, decide what's going to work best? And sometimes we just can't. It's too overwhelming. And so this is where I'm like, well, if there was a resource, if there was somewhere that parents could go and they could find this information,
00:13:50
Victoria R
yes, please. ah You know, instead of having all these different things kind of coming at us, if we could just go to one place and have that information, working alongside the school, working alongside our child, how amazing would that be?
00:14:05
Victoria R
And so I know there's like different bits and pieces out there already, which I get, and that's fine, but they don't have my flair. And this is where I'm like, this is where I know that the mindful curriculum is it
Accessibility of the Curriculum
00:14:17
Victoria R
is going to make a big difference. It is going to make a positive difference. And I am so, so passionate about that.
00:14:24
Victoria R
I already know that the work that I'm doing in these mindfulness sessions with children is making a difference with them. And I absolutely don't take for granted the, of what's even the right word, the honour to be able to have this space for these children to come each week. It like it is, it it is absolute honor that the children wanna be there, that the parents are trusting me to, you know,
00:14:51
Victoria R
teach them to go through and, you know, explain more about how their minds and their bodies work and to do the mindfulness with them. Like that is an absolute honour and I don't take that lightly at all.
00:15:01
Victoria R
And so when it comes to the mindful curriculum, the same thing applies. Like it is an absolute honour to be able to create something like this and to get it out into schools and homes and to get it in front of parents and teachers and children. Like what an absolute freaking honor.
00:15:16
Victoria R
And so for me, it's like, right, if we're going to do this, let's let's do it properly. Let's do it. You know, if we're going to start off, we're going to start off strong. And I do have, ah should be coming next term. I'm aiming for term three that we're going to start kind of creating the portal, rolling it out, all the rest of it. So I'm actually really, really super excited about this one because I know how desperately it is needed. I see every day in conversations, in what I see, in what I, you know, observe, all the rest of it, just people are struggling. People are really, really freaking struggling. And if this can just help,
00:15:57
Victoria R
you know, a handful of people, then my job is done. You know, obviously I'd love it to help a lot more, but, you know, and helping anyone is, you know, yeah, like I said, I don't take that lightly at all.
00:16:11
Victoria R
And so my request of you is, If you know of a school or even a daycare or anywhere that works with children that will benefit from having a program that is designed not to add more work to the teacher's workload, and I want to make this really, really clear, all right, this is not designed to be another thing to do. This is designed to be something that you can go into And i have created videos of me doing stuff where you can just press play, step back and just observe. You don't have to be teaching anything. You don't have to be planning anything. The only thing you would probably have to plan is which video you want to watch on which day. All right. It's as simple as that. And further to that, there will be
00:17:04
Victoria R
resources and stuff that can be used but it is not required and i'm only doing that because i know i know as teachers that we love to have all the things so i am creating a bank of resources but useful resources not just stuff that's just feel a crap oh i'm just like oh we don't need more of that it's actually stuff that can be used in the classroom to further kind of promote what is being taught within the mindful curriculum And so this is where we're
Call for Listener Support
00:17:34
Victoria R
starting. And like anything, I know it is going to evolve. I know with different feedback, things may change trajectory and all the rest of it. And I'm totally okay with that, but this is where it's starting. And so, like I said, my request of you, if you know a school, if you know a daycare, if you know a family or even homeschooling families or anyone that will benefit from this and would like to be involved in these initial stages please let me know. i am going to be starting doing workshops in schools.
00:18:04
Victoria R
um Obviously, I'm just going to start in WA because that's where I am. But we're going to start going to schools within Western Australia. And I will be doing workshops with teachers and also with parents. So if this is something that you know that your school community needs or that your daycare community needs, please get in contact. I will have my details in the show notes, but I am I am very determined to get this into as many schools, homes, education facilities as possible. And like I said, this this work has literally changed my life. What I have learned, what I have been learning, even understanding how my mind works, has been game-changing.
00:18:48
Victoria R
And yet so many of us, so many of us have no idea about this until we choose to do it.
Future Developments and Outreach
00:18:54
Victoria R
Why is this not being told to us straight away? are these things not put in front of our face and said, learn this or look at this, look how amazing this is. And so this is where I'm like, well, this is my job. This is what i'm doing. so that is where the mindful curriculum is at.
00:19:12
Victoria R
I am going to add in here, I've have started a separate Instagram just for the mindful curriculum. Gosh knows if I'll post on there because I know what I'm like, but I will do my best to do that.
00:19:24
Victoria R
um But please reach out to me. i I am more than happy to come and, you know, have a chat to schools, have a chat to parents, have a chat to whoever is interested in this resource because it is going to be game changing and I really, I'm just, i can't wait I can't wait to start seeing this in schools and I'm open to feedback for it as well I know it's in the very early stages if you know of something that you know has come to your attention that you're like oh that would actually have been really good to have um please let me know and I mean future plans involve having like a whole section or even on like financial literacy and you know, understanding this and that, like, honestly, my mind, I'm like, I just i need to bring it in a little bit.
00:20:07
Victoria R
But i I'm so super excited. So please reach out. I'll put all the details in the show notes. But in the meantime, follow me along for this journey.
00:20:18
Victoria R
You're going to see it all. You're going to see the the stuff ups and the successes and everything that comes along with it. And it's literally going to be the juggle as well. The juggle with, you know, parenting my own family during this while trying to roll this out in different places. And my husband is aware of it.
00:20:36
Victoria R
a little bit reluctantly, he's on board, kicking and screaming, but he's on board because he understands how passionate I am about this and how much it means to me to be doing this sort of work. So, you know, i'm very lucky to have him on board with me for this. And yeah, I just, I can't, I can't wait to see it getting out there. So In the meantime, I will keep working behind the scenes. You know how you see those um memes where like the ducks are all come on top of the water and then the legs are going a mile a minute. That's going to that's what it's like.
00:21:11
Victoria R
But it's been, it's actually really fun. I'm really enjoying actually writing the curriculum out as well. I'm like, ooh. Who would
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:21:18
Victoria R
have thought I would have ever said i'm enjoying doing something like writing a curriculum, but here you go I can tell you now when I was at uni, that would not have been the case.
00:21:28
Victoria R
All right, I'm going to leave it there. So i look forward to hearing from you. I look forward to you reaching out and I'm going to be reaching out myself to many schools, many daycares, many different areas as I can. So if you're able to give me a hand in that regard, i will be very, very grateful.
00:21:45
Victoria R
especially when it does come to getting something like this off the ground. i know that it's it's going to be an interesting task, but I'm looking forward to it. all right, I can't wait to bring you guys along on the journey. I'll speak to you soon.