NHTI, Concord’s Community College now offers a mindful communication certificate that can be incorporated into nearly any degree program:

See related video and webpage.

Background of the Mindful Communication Certificate:

This certificate is the culmination of twenty years of work that began with a course I developed called Communicating Mindfully. During that time, “CM” doubled as a form of professional development that benefited faculty members personally and professionally. As a result, they became advocates for the course and recommended or required it of students in a variety of degree programs. As demand increased, I trained others to teach the course. We now run approximately nine sections each semester, and those of us who teach these sections are receiving training and consulting services from CFM, Margaret Fletcher, in particular.

Many faculty members say they can see a difference between students who have taken the Communicating Mindfully course and those who haven’t, finding the former are more invested in their work, more respectful of others, and more thoughtful in their responses during class discussions. Several years ago, the information technology department recruited me to co-teach their internship course in order to help their students succeed in the workplace. This gave rise to co-teaching similar courses in a variety of departments, including human services, early childhood education, and orthopedics.

Along the way, the Mindful TLC (teaching, learning, and curricula) Team was established to discuss ways to expand mindful communication on our campus. This work spurred curriculum development such that we found ourselves with four courses that infuse mindful communication into the core content:

• Communication
• Composition
• Literature
• Succeeding in the Workplace

These courses now make up the mindful communication certificate and can easily fit into nearly any degree program at our college. These courses are required of information technology students and may soon be required of students studying human services, addiction counseling, and orthopedics, as well.