Educational Background/Training

Chris Jeter holds a Master of Education in Counselor Education from Virginia Commonwealth University. Chris’ professional background involves collaborating with primary and secondary schools across the Newport News, Henrico, and Richmond area school districts. Employing mindfulness-based and expressive arts interventions, Chris strives to enhance overall well-being in his counseling practice. Chris’ track record includes the successful implementation of programs that integrate music and mindfulness to assist young individuals in identifying and expressing their emotions. Presently, Chris serves as a Mental Health Coach at Headspace, where he support adults and adolescents on a daily basis in navigating various aspects of well-being.

On a parallel path, Chris’ exploration into the realm of yoga led to his Yoga Teacher Training at Faith Hunter’s School of Yoga in Washington, D.C. Throughout this transformative training, Chris delved deep into the philosophical underpinnings of yoga, a journey that not only shaped his identity as a teacher but also resonated profoundly in his personal life. Holding a certification as a 200-hour Yoga Teacher, Chris emphasizes the significance of personal expression and interpersonal connection in both his teaching and personal yoga practices. This focus adds depth and authenticity to his role as a yoga instructor, creating an environment where individuals can explore and enhance their own well-being through the ancient wisdom of yoga.

About the Artist/Ensemble

As an artist, Chris trained at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, and Contemporary Arts Network. Grounded in a passion for fostering healing through hip-hop, Chris strives to harness its transformative power for the betterment of individuals and communities alike. His artistic endeavors traverse the realms of hip-hop and mindfulness, creating a harmonious intersection that encourages profound reflection and authentic storytelling. Through his work, Chris aims to catalyze both individual and communal change.

Chris recently had the opportunity to collaborate with Teens with a Purpose (TWP), a non-profit organization based in Norfolk, VA. As part of their Summer Poetry Camp, he conducted a workshop entitled Reasonings of Resilience. The focus of this workshop was to provide a creative space for participants to process their stories of resilience in the face of everyday challenges. During the workshop, Chris worked closely with TWP’s in-house teaching artist to ensure the successful delivery of the workshop. He was able to integrate research-informed practices to teach mindfulness skills, and facilitate discussions on personal strengths and community factors that contribute to self-efficacy and resilience. As part of the creative process, students were given the opportunity to record response poems to the songs Chris created for the Reasonings Live album. These poems will be incorporated into a collaborative music project between Chris and TWP.

Educational Program Description

Chris provides youth-focused workshops, entitled Reasonings of Resilience. These workshops will be standalone activities to independently promote well-being, and will feed into additional activities to further augment well-being. These workshops will use research-informed practices to teach mindfulness skills, identify personal strengths and community factors that help with self-efficacy and resilience as a response to gun violence. More specifically, we will use the Learning to Breathe curriculum, and the Hip-Hop Empowerment (HHE) framework’s RAP Method to create a sense of community, promote collaboration, and highlight the participant’s lived experiences in ways that promote positive youth development and community change.

Participants will engage in mindfulness practices, and learn how mindfulness engages the body and can regulate stress. Participants will walk away with practices and tools they can utilize when in need of coping or calming. Furthermore, Utilizing the RAP method, participants will be presented with hip-hop songs that reflect one of the key elements of the HHE framework, resilience. Upon listening to these songs, participants will have the opportunity to Reflect, Analyze, and Personalize (RAP), with the group, on the song they heard. This process will guide the participant’s experience toward therapeutic lyric writing (personalize), which will be the key inspiration for this entire project. Willing participants will have the opportunity to record their writing to be included in a final album produced by Chris. HHE and the RAP method were developed by Dr. Raphael Travis of Texas State University, who serves as a consultant.

Workshop Outcomes:

At the completion of the workshop, participants will be able to:

(1) Utilize therapeutic lyric writing during times of distress;

(a) Author writing(s) that call attention to issues impacting individuals and communities, such as gun violence;

(2) Utilize mindfulness as a coping skill and calming strategy to effectively respond to stress and return to a regulated state; and

(3) Demonstrate the value of diverse perspectives, abilities, backgrounds, and cultures as we work toward a common goal.

Workshop Structure:

4 hours – Preferred to be two 2-hour sessions
Mindfulness Lesson – 30 mins
RAP Session – 1.5 hours
Reflect: 15 mins
Analyze: 30 mins
Personalize: 45 mins
Recording Session – 2 hours

Project Evaluation:

To measure the workshops’ effectiveness, Chris utilizes pre and post-tests at each session. He utilizes the Positive Youth Development Questionnaire, developed by the University of Minnesota. We will specifically focus on the outcomes of Caring, Active and Engaged Citizenship, and Connection. Additionally, Chris will measure participants’ mindfulness utilizing the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire. This focuses on the areas of non-reactivity, and description. Non-reactivity refers to the acceptance of negative thoughts/emotions which leads to the choice to not react to them, leading to emotional resilience. In mindfulness, description refers to the internal and external process of labeling and expressing experiences.

Fees

Hourly Residency/Workshop Fee:
$50/hr

Daily Residency/Workshop Fee:
$300/day

Audiences

• Secondary (Middle/High School) Students
• College/University Students
• Adults