WestSide High School has been chosen to pilot the award-winning mindfulness app Stop, Breath & Think in classrooms starting in 2020. WestSide was selected out of 500 schools nationwide that applied to serve as 1 of 20 available pilot school locations.

Stop, Breathe & Think (SBT) is a mindfulness app for kids, teens and young adults. Through mindfulness games and activities, guided exercises, guided journaling, and signature check-in support, the app supports anyone and everyone navigating life’s challenges. The purpose of SBT — a 2017 Webby’s People Voice Award winner for Best Health App—is to help kids, teens and young adults build the emotional strength to tackle life’s ups and downs. 

According to Courtney Montpas, Head of Global Partnerships at Stop, Breath & Think, WestSide was chosen because their diversity and commitment to social-emotional learning will provide valuable insights as the company refines their new classroom product. WestSide has been a leader among Wenatchee School District schools for the implementation of whole-student practices that focus on the social-emotional wellness of students.

“SBT will complement the work that we have done at WestSide to help our school concentrate on the whole student,” says WestSide High School Principal Kory Kalahar.  “With our Trauma-Informed Practices, grit and resilience centered coursework, and character development curriculum, SBT will put a teacher-led tool in our students' hands to help with regulation and balance throughout the day as they cope with life. As we continue to add to our students' emotional learning toolbox, we need to find ways to help in an on-demand fashion like SBT.”

SBT resources available to WestSide teachers are designed to support high school students through the rise and fall of emotions that are typical of a high school environment. Content is developed to nurture classroom connection, empathy and compassion and decrease high levels of stress and anxiety. As part of the pilot, teachers will have access to downloadable resources and training to support the implementation of SBT in their classrooms. The hope is that teachers will feel confident introducing their students to mindfulness and encouraging the practice both inside and outside of the classroom.

WestSide will have access to growth data based on student surveys as well as track changes in attendance, behavior, and academics as a result of using the SBT tools. “If nothing else, we’ll know our students are growing in their emotional regulation, and it becomes a part of our daily conversations,” explained Kalahar. “We are very excited to roll this out.” 

ABOUT STOP, BREATH & THINK

Stop, Breathe & Think is a personalized emotional wellness platform that helps kids and adults build the emotional strength and confidence to handle whatever comes their way. The five-star-rated app, winner of the 2017 Webby People's Voice Award for Best Health App, is paving the way to everyday emotional wellness with bite-size personalized content and activities based on user emotions.
 
Co-founded by Jamie Price and Julie Campistron, Stop, Breathe & Think has achieved large consumer appeal, with over 4.5 million organic downloads. Its personalized experience has been praised by users and media and has allowed the team to build the world's largest database of real-life emotional data, with over 17 million emotional check-ins to date. That data is unequivocally proving the efficacy of the app, especially as it relates to stress and anxiety decrease.
 
Stop, Breathe & Think is available on iOS, Android and Alexa and online at http://www.stopbreathethink.com.