Capitalizing on Behavioral and Emotional Strengths of Alternative High School Students Through Group Counseling to Promote Mindfulness Skills

Alternative high school students are at risk of negative social, emotional, and academic outcomes. School-based group counseling is often implemented by mental health professionals to address these risk factors. This study explores benefits of school-based group counseling utilizing mindfulness meditation to help students improve functioning. Participants included 28 students (12 boys and 16 girls). In a pre-post test design, student strengths showed significant increases following the intervention, as evidenced by scores on the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale-2/Teacher Rating Scale. Findings indicate that application of mindfulness meditation in a school-based counseling group has the potential to help students enhance strengths.