Our Curricula
MBA’s Group-Based Curriculum
The MBA curriculum represents the best practices and thinking from close to 30 years of organizational-direct service experience with incarcerated and post-incarcerated populations. Developed by experts in the fields of Corrections, Psychology, Mindfulness, and Social and Emotional Learning, the 10-session curriculum is a proprietary rehabilitation program designed specifically to meet the social and emotional needs of highly-at-risk populations.
The curriculum utilizes a universal class structure that includes periods of check-in, meditation practice, and group discussion. Presented in common vernacular and employing concepts relevant to participants lives, it is broken into 10 stand-alone modules as part of an inquiry-based prospectus that addresses the specific challenges incarcerated and at-risk populations face.
MODULE 1: INTRODUCTION TO MINDFULNESS
Objectives of the Module
- To orient participants to the culture of the group atmosphere
- To define and practice mindfulness meditation
MODULE 2: BASIC GOODNESS
Objectives of the Module
- To encourage participants to contemplate their own inherent value
- To relate basic goodness to the practice of mindfulness
MODULE 3: IMPULSE REGULATION
Objectives of the Module
- For participants to learn the difference between a reaction and a response
- For participants to learn the relationship between impulsivity and behavior
- To learn specific skills to address impulses
MODULE 4: EMOTIONAL AWARENESS
- For participants to become educated on the basic concepts of emotional awareness
- To expand their knowledge of emotional vocabulary
- To recognize emotional impact on physical level
MODULE 5: EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Objectives of the Module
- For participants to have an emotionally intelligent experience.
- Understand the window of tolerance and how it influences our thoughts, feelings, behaviors
- Learn specific strategies to stay in our optimal window
MODULE 6: IDENTIFYING CORE BELIEFS
Module Objectives:
- To teach participants what an IWM (Internal Working Model)/core belief is
- To help participants identify how their upbringing may have influenced their IWM
- To discuss strategies that can help transform negative core beliefs
MODULE 7: CAUSE AND EFFECT
Module Objectives
- To understand how our actions, thoughts, decisions, and words create consequences
- To understand how environmental causes and conditions affect outcomes
- To understand personal responsibility
MODULE 8: EMPATHY
Module Objectives:
- To acknowledge and recognize differences and similarities amongst group members
- To experience vulnerability in a safe container
- To learn how empathy may facilitate better wellbeing and relationships
MODULE 9: FORGIVENESS
Module Objectives:
- For participants to have an introductory understanding of how Forgiveness can be beneficial as a strategy
- For participants to experience what it may be like to take the first step towards forgiveness
MODULE 10: INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Module Objectives:
- To discuss the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships
- To understand what it means to express compassion
- To have an experience of giving/receiving compassion