In May the Rudd Adoption Research Program teamed up with the Learning Lab, UMass Psi Chi and Professor Amanda Hamel’s seminar class (The Neuropsychology of Stress & Meditation) to host a visit with Demetrius Napolitano - wellness expert and 2022 Re-envisioning Foster Care in America (REFCA) Champion.
During his visit Demetrius met with students and faculty, and shared how his life journey, which included extended time in the foster care system, led him to create the non-profit organization Fostering Meditation. He currently teaches youth (grades K-8) in a wellness room he designed in his former public school in NYC. Another wellness room to support students with autism is being built in an adjacent school!
While at UMass, Demetrius also led several sessions of mindful breathing and light movement for students and faculty – these were much appreciated moments of calm during the busy last week of classes!
*Fostering Meditation is a Harlem-based Wellness Nonprofit committed to nurturing the mental development of at-risk youth and those in foster care by teaching The Five Steps to Wellness: Meditation, Yoga, Expressive Writing, Community & Nutrition. Learn more here: https://fosteringmeditation.org