Participants
Of the 64 RISE program participants invited to participate in the interview, 17 program attendees agreed to and completed the interview (26.6% of attendees). Participants (n = 17) were 94.1% female and 5.9% male with a mean age of 40.3 years (25-65). Interview participants represented a similar sample of professions as RISE participants including social service workers, first responders, and inner-city youth program directors.
Overall Results
Pursuant to the first aim of the current work five main categories were elucidated: (1) use of acquired behavioral skills and practices; (2) lived mindfulness; (3) resilience to stress and emotion regulation; (4) self-care and self-compassion; and (5) sharing with others. These themes are explored in detail below.
Pursuant to the second aim, participants’ reflections of their experience were reviewed for valance. Accounts of experience at RISE were positive, commonly citing the retreat experience as transformational. Participants offered layered narratives of learning and growth. For example, one participant described the retreat as reflective time for somatic awareness immediately linking it to motor ability. Inferring that RISE impacted physical and somatic wellness she said: “the quiet walks, the quiet breakfasts, you know, learning how to feel that energy within my body. From the day I got there I had to sit on the chair to when I left I could actually to sit down on the floor with everyone.” (Female, 51) While common themes are detailed further, it should be noted that the experiential nature of the data. Participants referenced an integrative experience of wellness learning, often citing food and lodging. For example, “but to actually experience it and learn about different spices, and to you know just to see like, ‘Oh wow, I can get this in my community, I´ve seen it, I didn´t know what to do with it. I didn´t know what it tastes like,’ you know, to have that exposure, made a tremendous amount of difference, and then the experience of the quiet breakfast, you know” (Female, 51). In addition, evidence of the wellness outcomes of the curriculum is displayed by reported use of explicit teachings.
Themes of use ofacquired behavioral skills and practice, lived mindfulness, and resilience to stress and emotion regulation support the explicit impact of the RISE program. Participants shared changes in behaviors perceived to be a result of the program. Specifically, self-care andself-compassion as well as sharing with others the practices, constructs and experiences with others were reported across interviews. Table 1 shows the themes derived, definitions, and an example of each.
Use of acquired behavioral skills and practices
Reflection on the RISE program offered varying usable tools and resources replicated after program completion. Participants reported continued use of inner resources/tools to promote their own wellbeing, commonly citing the tools as a formative effect of the program. For example, while stating the impact of the program one participant described: “Honestly the tools, like the breath, the things that focus and get us back to the present has been the most useful, because once I´m focused and present in my situation and body, I can see the future in a more doable way” (Female, 31). Many participants described situations that suggest transformation through use of tools that were learned in the program. For example, one participant discussed improved stress reaction, or emotion regulation, through using breathing tools:
I [was] very quick to react. But now I´m learning how to breathe in response. … are some situations that I have to react to, but taking that step, you know, breathing, holding a belly breath, releasing it to the top of my lungs. You know, it´s completely, [a] completely different outcome. (Male, 34)
It should be noted that these expressions of acquired behavioral skills and practice are directly related to specific content in the curricula. Therefore, these expressions should not be perceived as naturally emerging from the experience rather reflective of the tools that first came to participants minds three months after the retreat.As tools were embedded in the RISE curriculum, frequency counts were used to evaluate the scope and weight of explicitly taught items. Table 2 shows the tools mentioned by participants with an example of each. Figure 1 shows the frequency of the tools being mentioned.
Lived mindfulness
Participants described mindfulness within experiences of moments. Mindfulness in day-to-day life was described as experiencing, rather than performing, tools of objective awareness of both mind and body. This distinction of lived mindfulness emerged as a persistent component distinguished from typical mindfulness discussion. Accounts of mindfulness were made as descriptive skill use, related to reports of transformation, empowerment, and/or improved communication. For example, one participant states “…becoming aware of my breath makes me able to become more present and aware of like my body and what the actual reality is as opposed to. like you know. whatever fears and things like that are just being generated from a busy mind.” (Female, 31). This integrated account describes an experience of mindfulness as well as a demonstration/performance of mindfulness.
The transformative quality of lived mindfulness was often discussed. For example, “… for the first time I realize how much I am running and going from thing to thing without really thinking about what I’m doing” (Female, 53) and “I really feel like my life has changed a lot. You know, from small little things, like when I go and take a walk, you know, noticing things, the sounds, and the smells, and the sensations, which I never really did before.” (Female, 49). Others elaborated on a sense of expressed empowerment as one participant illustrated:
My [habit of] not being present was a way of avoiding things. So, I think like it´s empowering to imagine that like “Oh, that I can actually be here while this unpleasant thing is happening, and I can survive it, and I can-” You know, it gives you a sense of accomplishment to be able to deal with something and actually deal with it. (Female, 31)
These frontline professionals expressed poignant transformation related to their improved ability to communicate in seemingly stressful interactions. For example, one participant perceived her own mindfulness as influencing the social sphere around her saying “… It´s kinda like an instant reset when I am mindful and focused and present in that way, the other person kinda responds by settling down also.” (Female, 59). Participants shared that as behavioral health professionals this helped them in leadership and communication, as one participant explains:
I´m able to slow myself down and be completely present to the person I´m supervising, and I deliberately do that instead of kinda feeling all of my responsibilities, I´m able to just narrow down my focus to the person who I am talking to and just doing that consciously makes a huge difference first of all in how I feel about the conversation and also the effectiveness of the conversation. (Female, 59)
Resilience to stress and emotion regulation
Further expressions of transformation were reported through participant reports of increased resilience. In particular, resilience was connected to ability to cope because of decreased levels of stress. Specifically, participants suggested an ability to recover quickly during challenging moments. There was a range of situated stress from small stressors as one participant describes; “Things don´t bother me as much. Like, even if I´m running 5 minutes late, it´s, you know, taking a few breaths and saying, like you know, “A week from now, it´s not going to be a big deal that I was 5 minutes late” (Female, 27), to potentially traumatic stressors as another participant describes; “When I realized [a gunshot I heard] was close to me physically, it was three blocks away. I…my first response was to open that [mindfulness] app and just take time to just, to just be quite and still and kind of give myself some comfort.” (Female, 53).
Similarly, participants described diverse mechanisms of resilience. One participant describes it as an ability to let things go: “I am better able to kinda let things, not let things go, but like I said deal with it and then move on. Instead of, you know, keeping on and stressing on about one specific thing. You know I let my feelings be known, and then we go from there” (Female, 49). Another participant discussed an ability to take on perceived stress (through social interactions) with less impact: “It´s like easier for me to cope with a lot of interactions. It would get overwhelming if I spent like 5 days in a row around a lot of people. But it´s not as bad anymore. Like, I can recharge even with other people around sort of” (Female, 25). While still others described resilience as a type of emotion regulation. For example, one participant said her anxiety was seemingly gone after the program:
Before I went [to RISE], I had a lot of stuff going on in my life, and I was having a lot of anxiety. And it was affecting me, like I would have panic attacks and things like that sometimes. But when I went to the Immersion program, like it was gone. My level of anxiety has gone down like you would not believe. It´s like that´s the biggest thing that I´ve noticed, and I just don’t stress out about things like I used to. (Female 54)
Self-care and self-compassion
A surprising element of the experiential and transformative benefits of RISE was the increased ability for self-acceptance and boundary setting. Participants reported engaging in behaviors that are beneficial and kind to themselves. Interlaced in reports of self-care was also an expression of self-allowance. Self-care seemed to arise from the interviews in a sense of permission to slow down, take breaks, and notice surroundings. “It´s incredible how much it´s shifted, and like I sleep in a little bit later, I get up, you know, I do, I sit and have breakfast, I walk my dog, and then just kinda go into work. Everything is just paced a little bit slower.” (Female, 27). These reports were in the context of self-awareness and self-acceptance. In respect to self-awareness a connection to noticing ones’ level of stress allowed for more self-care. For example, one participant describes burnout:
So, all of those other intrusive thoughts would come in which also signaled to me of being a little tired or burnt out or what-have-you. So, being able to, it´s almost like self-soothing, you know, where I can listen, if I like, ‘Ok, I recognize that I´m not, that I´m starting to not pay attention or heard the car or someone just came into the office, let me re-focus on what this person is saying.’ (Female, 51)
Indeed, this self-soothing tool seemed to have a lasting impact on participants. One participant elaborated on transformation in a sense of willingness. She states that allowing herself to take a break allowed her to readjust “I might otherwise have just plowed along gotten exhausted or something like that. So, taking care of me, adjust-, shifted a bit as a result of the [program].” (Female, 65). As the former RISE participant suggests, a normalized view of a responsibility to continue work even in the face of negative outcomes, as she puts it plowing through, may be why so many participants feel that the first step in self-care was allowing or permitting oneself the action. Also considered a component of mindfulness, this form of self-acceptance was expressed in choices to take time other areas such as food intake.
Not to feel guilty about eating something that is not good for you and to just fully enjoy it. I think that makes it easier to make healthful choices because you don´t feel like you are breaking the rules when you make a not as healthful choice. It was like a really, a really important shift for me in thinking of like you know really enjoying each experience for what it is without, without attaching a judgement to it. (Female, 25)
Sharing with Others
While intraindividual self-acceptance and self-compassion was often discussed, interindividual reports also arose from the interviews. A construct not explicitly taught through the program that emerged as a perceived outcome was participants’ sharing with others the practices, constructs and experiences from the program. For example, one participant increased in excitement when talking about the tool letting go breath and describing the effect being multiplied and saying, “I share them! I like to do it myself and I share with others.” (Female, 54).
As frontline professionals are often working with challenging populations, the use of teaching internal tools to others seemed to be a commonly referenced impact for participants. As one participant who works at a juvenile rehabilitation center said, “…using those skills in our facility was also extremely helpful.” (Female, 31). Tools referenced varied but often included breathing and yoga techniques as one participant shared: “We do the like sun salutations as a way to end our session and get them to take some nice, letting-go breaths.” (Female, 54). The tools most commonly cited as something used in the frontline professional’s work setting to teach had to do with breathing. It seemed particularly useful in situations dealing with anxiety and stress. Once participant describes this:
I´ve had a lot of kids who are having like panic attacks and like just a lot of distress after being restrained. So, just kinda being with them and having them follow my breath to get them to focus and calm down and be able to talk has been helpful for them. (Female, 31)
Some participants described sharing with others the practices, constructs and experiences after the RISE program such as the “experience within”. Often this was in the context of bringing presentations and education to outside groups. For example, one participant spoke about sharing the experience at work saying, “I have the experience within me and just try to communicate to other people, “Hey, I want to share this experience.” (Female, 51). Shared language was also used to describe educational and informational programming that the participants used to share their learning at RISE. For example, one participant described programs created at a local school:
I participated in some parent education groups at a local elementary school, and we, that´s what we called it, “riding the wave of, riding the wave of parenting,” and then we identified 5 workshops based on some Kripalu language: “Staying calm when your child cannot,” “how to stay calm in a hectic world.” So, so, that really just solidified that even more for us as a, as a whole agency. (Female, 57)
An emergent concept from the participants was intentional sharing of practices and constructs with inference to a desired shift workplace culture. Participants shared ways in which they used their experience to cultivate a shared culture and environment of resilience-based pursuit. Through the interviews, this holistic integration of environment and tools was a common theme. Overlapping codes of transformation, tools, mindfulness, and sharing often painted a picture of a centered approach of resilience integration. Some participants demonstrated this through interlacing tools, experience, and relationships in multiple components of the workday. One participant described this holistic/integrated transformation as seen through coworkers who also attended the RISE program:
The environment we work in is very almost militaristic and very like team-oriented, and it´s very much like, you know you don´t let other people down and sometimes self-care is seen as like selfishness if someone is like, “Oh, I need to take a break.“ But I see that people are making time for themselves. And I think it´s just because you know that individuals that went to Kripalu or you know are practicing mindfulness, and you know, self-care and things like that are kinda speckled in. So, I think it´s, it´s making it ok for people to say that, “I´ve had enough.”, “I´ve set good boundaries”. (Female, 31)