1) Mindfully Kind: A Pocket Guide for Care Providers
IKR is proud to announce the successful completion of the "Mindfully Kind: A Pocket Guide for Care Providers" pilot project, beautifully composed, organized, and led by the IKR Co-Executive Director Amy Spangler at Lyngblomsten in St. Paul! This initiative aimed to equip care providers with tools to cultivate kindness, empathy, care, and compassion in their daily work, fostering a sense of community within healthcare settings. Through the use of our Kindness Guide, healthcare facilities are envisioned to become environments where kindness is at the heart of all interactions, ensuring every individual feels valued and connected. The guide, adapted from our Connect with Kindness curriculum, was specifically designed to support care providers in enhancing holistic well-being and celebrating the dignity of every person within their community.
Now that the project is completed, we’re thrilled to share the outstanding results. After conducting pre-and-post implementation surveys, here’s what stood out:
Empathy & Kindness Boost: Participants’ thoughts of empathy and kindness at work skyrocketed from 92% to 100%!
Self-Care on the Rise: The biggest change was in participants practicing kindness towards themselves at work:
- Pre: 44% yes, 48% can’t say, 8% no
- Post: 72% yes, 16% can’t say, 12% no
Positive Impact on Residents: 100% of participants who work with residents reported that the Pocket Guide had a positive impact on the residents they care for.
Personal Growth: An incredible 96% (24 out of 25 participants) experienced positive changes in themselves through using the Pocket Guide.
These amazing results confirm that the Pocket Guide enhances kindness and empathy in everyday caregiving.
Self-Care on the Rise: The biggest change was in participants practicing kindness towards themselves at work:
- Pre: 44% yes, 48% can’t say, 8% no
- Post: 72% yes, 16% can’t say, 12% no
Positive Impact on Residents: 100% of participants who work with residents reported that the Pocket Guide had a positive impact on the residents they care for.
Personal Growth: An incredible 96% (24 out of 25 participants) experienced positive changes in themselves through using the Pocket Guide.
2) Kindness City-School: International Contest
Kindness City-School: International Contest provided a safe virtual space to present creative ideas, images, and thoughts of the school that was ‘magically’ transformed into a Kindness City! We are happy to announce that over 500 children and young adults from 19 countries worldwide participated in this contest. We’re overjoyed by the overwhelming response and can’t wait to showcase all the incredible entries on our project website. The diversity of ideas, images, and thoughts is a testament to the power of kindness and imagination.
Mission of the Kindness City-School project is to harness and celebrate the unique perspectives of how a school looks and feels when it is truly kind; all generated by children. Through these insights, the project seeks to cultivate a nurturing and inclusive educational environment where kindness becomes the cornerstone of all interpersonal interactions. By prioritizing the recognition and encouragement of continuous kind actions, the project aims to help establishing a unique culture within every school-participant that transcends traditional norms and fosters a sense of community, empathy, and understanding.
This initiative is dedicated to formulating an environment where students and school staff are embraced by kindness. It is also oriented towards supporting a steady flow of actions of kindness in their daily lives. Through consistent practice, along with direct instruction provided through implementation of Connect with Kindness: Child-Generated, Teacher-Friendly Supplementary Curricula Materials, the project endeavors to instill a resilient and “contagious” element within the overall school culture. This ‘contagious’ kindness is not confined to the school premises but extends its reach to students’ families and the broader community, contributing to the creation of a positive and harmonious society. The goal is to inspire a construct within schools that causes a ripple effect of kindness that transcends the confines of the school, creating a lasting impact on individuals and communities.
Check most interesting projects on the project website and its YouTube channel and celebrate diverse children’s representations of kindness schools from Brazil, Croatia, Ivory Coast, Lithuania, Moldova, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, United States, to name just a few.
