On Friday, Sep. 27, The Mind-Body Ambassador Club advisers, AP World History teacher Diane Wolk-Rogers and Ellen Fox-Snider, accompanied ten Mind-Body ambassadors to a conference that Advent Health was having for their executives and department heads in Marco Island, Florida. The club led Mind-Body Medicine workshops at the conference and was gifted $3,000 as a thank you for it.

Four, 40-minute Mind-Body Medicine workshops, with about 35 participants each, were presented by the Mind-Body Medicine ambassadors. At each workshop a PowerPoint was shown and the ambassadors explained what Mind-Body Medicine was, the science of stress and different types of relaxation responses.

In addition to the presentation, three Mind-Body Medicine techniques were taught to the participants: soft belly breathing, shaking and dancing, and visual imagery. The participants performed every activity and had the chance to find out if the activities decreased their levels of stress and anxiety. 

“Sometimes a lot of people have the mindset that the activities are childish and will not work but they do work for the most part,” Mind-Body Medicine Club President Arthy Suresh said. “It was kind of cool to see that these health executives could benefit from these things too; it just goes to show that these skills are universal and they can help anyone in any situation.” 

To transform their goals into reality, $3,000 was donated to the club by Sonia Rhodes, the CEO of The Experience Lab, a healing company.

“I was thrilled that Advent Health wanted to support the continued work of the MSD Mind-Body Ambassador Club,” Fox-Snider said. “We hope to use the money to spread Mind-Body Medicine with those who can truly benefit. It will enable us to continue training new cohorts of Mind-Body ambassadors who will learn to spread Mind-Body skills to help themselves and their community reduce stress and improve their physical and mental health.”

The MSD Mind-Body Club teaches students to become certified ambassadors through a six-week program. Members learn how to help themselves and others using scientifically validated skills that help reduce stress and restore physical and psychological health. One goal for the club this year is to help other schools in Broward County Public Schools establish their own Mind-Body Ambassador Clubs.

“Trauma is going to come to everybody at some point in your life, so the idea is to learn that you can return to wholeness and healing by using some of the skills that you have in your own body,” Wolk-Rogers said. “With the right kind of tools and training, everyone has the ability to return to wholeness and healing after a tragedy.”

For any student willing to join and expand their skills, meetings are held on Wednesdays after school in Wolk-Rogers’s classroom, room 428.