Please Join Us!

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Dear Family and Friends, 

Today, we are asking you to join us on a very special project that is dear to our hearts. Shine Bright Workshops is currently working with a select group of middle school students at McKinley South End Academy, a therapeutic-behavioral school located in Boston, to teach students life skills and emotional regulation.

Shine Bright is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization, providing emotional awareness and mindfulness training for students of all ages. Founded in 2017, we have taught over 2,500 students in the Greater Boston area. Our workshops teach students tools to make better decisions, build stronger relationships, succeed at school, and achieve their personal goals. 

2019 was our first year working with McKinley South End Academy. These particular students are no strangers to the dangers of the streets, gangs, jail, and many unthinkable hardships on a daily basis. School is a safe-haven for them. Many students commute before sunrise for their breakfast as well as a refuge from their daily circumstances. In school, and at home, these students have a hard time regulating behavior, believing in themselves, and visualizing that they might have a future different from their current circumstance. 

Our students came into Shine Bright Workshops classroom dysregulated and angry, with their sweatshirts pulled tight hiding their faces. They gave our team clear signals that we would not reach them emotionally,  nor break down the protective barriers they had built around themselves. The Shine Bright facilitators continued to show up for these students, talking with them, showing interest in their lives, and teaching emotional awareness. 

After only a few weeks of cultivating a connection with our students, they became more relaxed, and engaged. They took off their hoodies and practiced yoga poses in their t-shirts, laughing, and feeling prideful of what they were accomplishing in our workshops together. Students that didn’t typically get along, were sharing supplies and complementing each other's work. Our team, alongside McKinley teachers and staff, witnessed a positive shift in attitude, behavior, overall self-awareness, and composure. 

When our students use the approach and tools we teach them to handle life’s daily challenges they are able to engage in clear thinking and decision making.

Together, with your help, we can redirect the trajectory of our students’ future.  Shine Bright Workshops has been hired for bi-weekly sessions throughout this school year. These frequent sessions will provide our students with the security they need to form relationships with their support teams and consistency in practicing emotional regulation throughout our school year together. 

We cannot do this impactful work without the support of our communities and so we ask you to join us in this special project by donating to the Shine Bright McKinley Workshop Fund this October. Our fundraising goal for this program is $15,000.