Growing Minds Mission
Our mission is to empower adults to build safe and trusting relationships, thus creating kinder communities and better learning environments for youth. Using mindfulness-based practices, participants learn to quiet their minds and bodies, focus better, connect and flourish...whatever the circumstances.
12
Years of life
Years of life
4000+
Educators trained
Educators trained
taught
6000+ Students
6000+ Students
10 online sessions
available
available
Our team
Meet our team
Susan Solvang
Founder and President
Susan Lubar Solvang is the President and Founder of Growing Minds. Susan recognized that developing a keen sense of awareness was the most valuable skill she had encountered. With a desire to share these experiences with school age children, including the opportunity to experience their learning in a safe and trusting environment, Susan founded Growing Minds. She has trained with the most established programs, including Mindfulness in Schools Project .b and .b Foundations, Mindful Schools, Learning to Breathe, UCSD Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Teacher training and Mindful Self-Compassion with Kristen Neff to develop the programs that would be useful to Milwaukee area schools.
Becky Fischer
Director of Development and Integration
Becky has been working with children and families in the Milwaukee area for over 15 years. Becky has a heartfelt passion for weaving mindfulness and brain-based concepts into everyday life because she has seen, firsthand, the beautiful power these skills have to strengthen relationships and enhance well-being. Having been a classroom educator, job coach for individuals with disabilities, and parenting consultant, she has gained valuable experience and insight across diverse fields within the community. Becky has a bachelor’s degree in Middle Childhood Early Adolescent Education and has trained under Mark Nunberg in Vipassana meditation and under Steve Hickman and Beth Mulligan in Mindful Self-Compassion.
Jenifer Hilander
Mindfulness Awareness Instructor
“When I came upon mindfulness, I felt like I’d unlocked a personal goldmine of tools for supporting my own personal well-being.” Jen holds a Master of Science in Counseling as well as post-graduate coursework in Educational Policy Studies with an emphasis on equity and social justice. A lifelong learner, Jen’s passion to bring mindfulness to educational communities led her to build core competencies through trainings in MBSR at UW Health, Yoga and Mindfulness Interventions for Trauma and Anxiety in Children and Adolescents, Trauma Sensitive Yoga Teacher Foundations Training (TCTSY), and the Power of Awareness training and mentoring program with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, as well as additional training through Mindful Schools and Growing Minds.
Tiffany Mercer
Executive Assistant
As an executive assistant with 25 years of experience in all areas of office administration, I have been with Growing Minds since the beginning, managing the behind-the-scenes operations, including scheduling, accounting, and human resources. “I love creating the many graphics we use in our sessions to express our narratives. My favorite mindfulness practice is gratitude, it really keeps me grounded in appreciating the good around me”.
Izzy Solvang
Technology and Social Media Designer
With a degree in Art Education, Izzy has journeyed through a range of positions spreading her passion for expression and healing while exploring how to make a meaningful impact in the world. Teaching high school art in one of the most prestigious art departments in the country, to developing programming for youth rock climbers, as well as digital marketing, Izzy is fully committed at all times.These experiences have coalesced into the opportunity to coordinate the e-learning here, at Growing Minds.
Our Grantors
Our Partners
