Meditation Room Opened at North County for Staff

A Meditation Room has been established at North County Mental Health clinic for use by staff. This room was established out of a vision from the Spirituality Initiative.  A 2014-2015 intern Marissa Brun working with the Spirituality Initiative, made it her project to research the need and availability of a meditation room at North County.  The results of her surveys showed that a meditation room would be welcomed and used at North County.  Chummy Sevilla unit Chief at North County, was in agreement to create this vision.

With the help of staff/clinicians at North County, items needed for the room such as furniture, decorations and yoga mats, were gathered with funds from the Employee Wellness Grant (The BHRS Employee Wellness Surveys had indicated the number one wish is to have a quiet room and thus the grant was able to provide these funds).  North County was able to convert one of their small meeting rooms into a part time meditation room.  After much thought, a color was selected, the walls were painted, and the room was opened in November 2015.  Current hours the room is available for use are:

• Monday and Friday – 8:00 am to 10:00 am, 11:00 am to 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm,
• Wednesday -  8:00 am to 10:00 am and 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm
• Tuesday and Thursday  – 8:00 am to 10:00 am, and  11:00 am to 1:00 pm

The Spirituality Initiative is appreciative of all who helped with the creation of this meditation Room. All are welcome to stop by and use the room.

The benefits of mindfulness practices have been well documented by extensive research. Here you will find a few documents on this topic, including the presentation “Integrating Mindfulness into Clinical Work” by Dr. Paul Yang from the Spirituality Initiative.

Introduction to Meditation – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Instructions for Sitting Meditation – Gil Fronsdal, Insight Meditation Center
Instructions for Compassion Meditation
Mindfulness in Practice – presentation by Paul Yang, MD.