Boosting Mental Health in Schools and Communities: Oregon Mind Body Institute/Attune Ed
Time: Noon to 1:15 pm
Venue: WOW Hall
291 W 8th
Eugene, Oregon
97401
- Join the Livestream
- YouTube
- Podcast
We will meet at the WOW Hall, 291 W 8th. Learn more: https://wowhall.org/about-us/. Walk, ride a bike or take the bus. You may park on the street or in the parking lot of FOOD for Lane County's Dining Room, across 8th from the WOW Hall. A freewill donation acknowledging the Dining Room's generosity may be made at the meeting.
Lunch will be available for $15.
Topic:
We can all learn to take care of our mental health just like we learn to take care of our physical health. Based on this idea, Oregon Mind Body Institute was founded with a bold mission: to reshape how society understands, values, and integrates mental health into our daily lives.
Clients in mental health counseling often ask why they were never, before, taught basic concepts and skills to regulate their emotions and calm their nervous systems. OMBI provides this missing piece of education for both children and adults using an approach called Attune Ed, a curriculum developed by clinical psychologists. Attune Ed shifts from focusing on mental illness to emphasizing prevention by equipping children, adults and families with the tools to understand their unique pathways to well-being.
“OMBI: Boosting the Mental Health of Schools and Communities” will include the founder and executive director of OMBI, a social emotional learning specialist from Lane ESD, a teacher who works with youth at Lane ESD HOPE Factory, and a field coordinator—bus supervisor of Salem/Keizer Public School Transportation. They will discuss how OMBI has impacted the youth and adults with whom they work.
This program is sponsored by Oregon Community Foundation. Thanks! 
Speakers
Title: Executive Director
Organization: Oregon Mind Body Institute
Website: https://oregonmindful.org/
Biography:
Biographies are provided by the panelists and edited for length/proofreading
Dr. Lori Allen, Executive Director of the Oregon Mind Body Institute (OMBI), is a licensed psychologist specializing in mind-body treatment of traumatic stress, eating and body image, depression, and anxiety. Dr. Allen also holds a Master’s Degree in Education. She began her career in Special Education teaching students with learning and behavioral issues. Dr. Allen is a past president of Lane County Psychological Association and recipient of Psychologist of the Year in 2019. Together with her friend/colleague Shin Shin Tang, she co-authored Attune•Ed Preventive Mental Health Curriculum for Youth and Workbook for Adult Learning.
Dr. Allen oversees everyday operations of OMBI, supervises/trains trainers and teaches mindfulness-based mental health in schools. She believes individual and collective health and well-being are intricately connected; that to address mental health at its core, we need to reimagine the meaning of education and deeper societal sources of stress.
Title: Educator
Organization:
Website:
Biography:
Biographies are provided by the panelists and edited for length/proofreading
Daniel Gallo, MAT, is an educator, musician, and avid cyclist who feels strongly that schools need to center neuroscience-informed, transformative social-emotional learning in the life of schools and the broader community. He has taught Health and Social Studies in a variety of high schools over the past 25 years and works with a number of school districts on social-emotional-mental health initiatives and professional development. Daniel has a passion for facilitating spaces of listening, understanding, joy, and resonance.
Title: Lead Teacher
Organization: Lane ESD Career Academy
Website: https://lesd.k12.or.us/
Biography:
Biographies are provided by the panelists and edited for length/proofreading
Ryan Kruse, is the Lead Teacher for Lane Educational Service District’s Career Academy at HOPE Community Corporation in Eugene. HOPE is a first-of-its-kind factory in America. HOPE is a not-for-profit organization with an integrated Career and Technical Education classroom, focused on teaching Construction and Manufacturing to High School Seniors across Lane County. Lane Career Academy services all 16 school districts in Lane County. Students who have attended the program range from Mapleton to Oak Ridge. Through the program, students receive instruction on employability skills, power tool certifications, basic framing techniques, electrical, plumbing, roofing, drywall, welding, and finish work. They have the opportunity of graduating this program with certifications in CPR/first aid, OSHA 10, and NCCER Core curriculum. They can also obtain up to 12 duel credits through LCC in Math, Writing, and the Trades. Ryan is honored to be a part of this partnership and provide this resource to his community.
Title: Field Coordinator-Bus Supervisor
Organization: Salem-Keizer Public Schools
Website: https://salkeiz.k12.or.us/
Biography:
Biographies are provided by the panelists and edited for length/proofreading
Maureen Linn Medici has been part of the education system for 20 years, the last 10 spent in transportation at Salem-Keizer Public Schools. She started in 2015 as a bus driver and has been serving as a field coordinator-bus supervisor for the past four years. Working with children comes with its challenges and its rewards. One of Maureen’s favorite parts of her job is helping bus drivers improve their student management skills.
Thanks to a grant from the Oregon Well-Being Trust and our work with OMBI, Maureen and her team have learned the importance of self-awareness and including mindfulness activities in the daily routines of our staff. These practices are key to everyone doing their best work. Since bus drivers are often the first and last people to interact with the students each day, Maureen is passionate about creating a calm and caring environment for both students and staff.
