The Inner Resilience Program Information

After the events of the September 11th, 2001, a group of concerned educators and mental health practitioners, including Linda Lantieri, created The Inner Resilience Program to address the needs of eleven public schools located in Lower Manhattan. IRP's initial goal was to equip the school staff and parents of these more than 5,000 students with the necessary skills to build back their inner strength and resilience. It soon became clear that the work being implemented in schools in lower Manhattan had broader implications to the field of education in general. Public school teachers all over the city and the country were overstressed and close to burnout. Many of them needed help managing the challenges facing them inside the classroom and out. Learning to balance work and life stressors was a pervasive issue that affected teachers throughout the New York City Department of Education and nationally. As a result of this ongoing need, the program continued to thrive, moving from a focus on trauma recovery into the broader category of teacher, parent, and student wellness, including a focus on nurturing the inner lives of educators and students. Over time, IPR not only contributed to, but was also informed by the burgeoning worldwide interest in SEL and mindfulness within education. Though IRP maintained its original focus on promoting the inner resilience of school administrators and staff, Linda Lantieri's 2008 book, Building Emotional Intelligence: Techniques to Cultivate Inner Strength in Children, and IRP's K-8 curriculum, Building Resilience from the Inside-Out (2009), offer specific ways for teachers to help children respond to and rebound from any challenges they may face. Since the beginning, the implementation of IRP has included weekend residential retreats for school staff, professional development workshops, individual stress reduction sessions and parent workshops at school sites. The program also included opportunities for teachers to nurture their inner lives through weekly yoga classes and monthly ...