The School Program Teaching Kids to Love Themselves

Evelyn Reed · 2026-09-09

What if the most important thing we could teach kids had nothing to do with math or reading? That's the question Janice Martellucci has been answering for years. As Executive Director of Peace in Schools, she's helped bring mindfulness training into regular school curriculum. Not as an add-on. Not as a special treat. As a real class, with real evidence behind it. I sat down with her recently, and our conversation kept circling back to one idea: we're all whole already. We just forget sometimes. And kids, especially, deserve to know that early. ### Mindfulness Isn't a Luxury. It's a Life Skill. When most people hear "mindfulness in schools," they picture kids sitting cross-legged, breathing quietly. That's part of it, sure. But Martellucci describes something much bigger. "We're not teaching kids to calm down so they can get back to work," she told me. "We're teaching them to meet themselves. To notice what's happening inside without judgment. That's a skill they'll use every single day for the rest of their lives." That reframing matters. Mindfulness isn't about fixing something broken. It's about uncovering what's already there. ### What the Research Actually Shows Peace in Schools has been running for over a decade. And the data is hard to argue with. Students who take the course report: - Lower stress and anxiety levels - Better focus during class time - Fewer conflicts with peers and teachers - More willingness to ask for help when they need it The program is evidence-based, which means it's been studied, measured, and refined. That's not always the case with wellness programs in schools. Too often, well-meaning initiatives show up without any proof they work. Martellucci's team took a different path. ### Why Kids Need This More Than Ever Let's be honest about what teenagers are facing right now. Social media pressure. Academic stress. A world that feels uncertain and loud. The rates of anxiety and depression among young people have climbed steadily for years. Martellucci doesn't pretend mindfulness solves all of that. But she does believe it gives kids a foundation. A way to check in with themselves before things spiral. "When a kid learns to pause and notice their breath, they're not just relaxing," she explained. "They're building a relationship with themselves. One that says, 'I'm worth paying attention to.'" That's a radical message in a culture that often tells kids their worth depends on performance. Grades. Test scores. College acceptances. ### The Real Goal: Meeting and Loving Yourself Here's the part of our conversation that stuck with me most. I asked Martellucci what success looks like for Peace in Schools. She didn't talk about test scores or graduation rates. She said, "Success is a kid who knows how to be kind to themselves when things get hard. That's it." Simple. And also enormous. Because that kind of self-compassion doesn't just help in the classroom. It shapes how people move through the world. How they treat others. How they handle failure. How they show up in relationships. ### What This Means for the Rest of Us You don't have to be a student to benefit from this work. The same principles apply to adults. We can all learn to pause. To notice. To meet ourselves with curiosity instead of criticism. Martellucci's work with kids is a reminder that wholeness isn't something we achieve. It's something we uncover. And we can start at any age. If you're a parent, a teacher, or just someone who cares about young people, consider this: what would change if we stopped treating mindfulness as optional? What if it was just part of how we do school, the same way we teach history or science? That's the world Martellucci is building. One classroom at a time.