

Because a country, a society, a family, a community doesn’t run without empathy.”Įven with all the challenges to building a system to support strong, mentally healthy children, Hawn said she still feels confident it can be a reality. “School is for our children, to build them strong and healthy and good learners and focused attention and kind and empathetic. “Let’s stick with it and stop politicizing left, right and center because you think it is a bad thing for your child, or you think that a parent can do it, or you think that that’s not what school is for,” she said. Hawn believes teaching children to develop grit, optimism and empathy – both at home and at school – are key to improving our culture. The way to happiness is by creating stability, creating hope.” What I didn’t realize is that happier wasn’t a problem. “I started this program because I thought children needed to be happier. They have been proven through research time and time again,” Hawn said. “Prevention and these kind of programs should not be politicized. In a time when schools and learning have become politicized and polarizing, Hawn, indisputably warm, energetic and no-nonsense, may be the right ambassador to bridge the divide. “We, as a nation – maybe you do governor by governor, maybe you do school superintendent by school superintendent – but we have to gather together to find solutions for this problem.” “It’s so disturbing to my mind and my heart,” Hawn said. She pointed to a statistic from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s bisannual Youth Risk Behavior Survey that found that 57% of teen girls described themselves as feeling persistently sad or hopeless.

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Twenty years into her efforts, Hawn said there remain problems “that we don’t know how to solve.” She added: “We’re sort of in, like, the perfect storm.” All this feeling of hopelessness is all wrapped up into so many different areas right now.”

“Some of them are suffering from their own areas of mental disturbances because they’re just overworked. “Schools, we’re in so much trouble politically and in every way. She sees nothing but important work ahead, particularly in the aftermath of yet another tragedy – the deadly shooting at an elementary school in Nashville. Hawn was recently selected as one of USA Today’s Women of the Year for her efforts with MindUP. The science-based social-emotional curriculum has since been taught to 7 million children in 48 countries, according to the organization. In 2003, her vision came to fruition with the launch of MindUP, a program that offers kids tools to regulate emotions, build resilience and understand how trauma impacts the brain. “I was crying into the American flag – that I was knitting, by the way – (and) trying to figure out what I could do,” Hawn recalled to CNN in a phone conversation on Tuesday. The Oscar-winning actor and advocate for children’s mental health first recognized the need to help kids learn how to process their emotions more than 20 years ago, as she was reeling in the aftermath of the events of 9/11 and saw distress among children. Goldie Hawn is in a hurry to help end America’s mental health crisis, but the fight is not new to her.
