25 Weeks of Gratitude: Helping Children Thrive Through Mindful Matters
Sarah Lehr
When Alison O’Neill joined the Benton County Boys & Girls Club three years ago, she expected to find a rewarding workplace and a safe place for her children to spend time after school.
What she didn’t expect was how much one program would impact her entire family.
Today, Alison serves as the Club’s marketing and communications manager, while her children, Aurora and Weston, participate in after-school and summer programs. Through Mindful Matters, the Club’s youth mental health initiative supported by grants from the Blue & You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas, both children have gained valuable tools to navigate challenges, express emotions and build resilience.
For Alison, the results have been life-changing.
“We’re able to have conversations we wouldn’t have had otherwise,” she said. “It’s made a difference for all of us.”
The Mindful Matters program was created in response to a growing need identified after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We just really saw a big shift after COVID,” said Sarah Volpendesta, director of Culture and Wellness for the Boys & Girls Club of Benton County. Children were struggling with emotional regulation, social interactions and behavioral challenges that had become more pronounced following months of isolation and disrupted routines.
With funding from the Blue & You Foundation, the Club launched Mindful Matters to provide children with tools and support to strengthen their mental health and emotional well-being. The program quickly became an integral part of Club operations, thanks in large part to Misty Ingalls.
Misty joined the organization as one of its first social work interns and helped launch Mindful Matters in 2023. During her internship, she helped create portable “calm boxes” filled with fidgets and coping tools and transformed a former storage space into the Club’s first Calm Center, providing a dedicated space where children could de-escalate, regulate emotions and take sensory breaks when needed.
After graduating, Misty was hired as a child advocate and continued helping the program grow. She provided trauma-informed training to staff, helped develop strategies for supporting youth experiencing emotional challenges and introduced daily check-ins for children who needed additional support.
“We saw huge improvements,” Misty said. “We were able to give staff the tools to be more successful.”
Misty’s influence remains visible throughout the program today.
“She has been with us from the very beginning,” Sarah said. “A lot of the program creation from that journey came through her education and internship experience.”
For Alison’s son Weston, those resources arrived at exactly the right time.
Like many young children, Weston sometimes struggled with emotional regulation after a long day at school. Through Mindful Matters, he participated in activities focused on recognizing emotions and expressing them in healthy ways. He was also introduced to Mightier, a biofeedback gaming program funded through the grant. The innovative system uses heart rate monitoring to help children recognize when they are becoming frustrated and to practice calming techniques before continuing to play.
Watching the program work was eye-opening for Alison.
“It was super helpful,” she said. “I saw a difference as his parent.” Weston learned how deep breathing and other coping strategies could help him regulate his emotions, skills he continues to use today.
The impact extended beyond Weston.
Aurora participated in age-appropriate mental health lessons that focused on empathy, bullying prevention and healthy relationships. Through programs like Wonder, she learned how to recognize bullying, advocate for herself and support her friends when they encounter difficult situations.
The Calm Centers that Misty helped create have become another valuable resource for both children. The spaces are used for individual support, conflict resolution, group programming, and simply giving children a place to decompress after a difficult day.
“They know it’s a safe place,” Alison said. “Whether they need a moment, need help working through something or just need to calm down, they know it’s there.”
Through conversations with Misty and other child advocates, Alison said she has learned strategies she uses at home to support both of her children. Those lessons have helped her better understand their emotions, strengthen communication and approach challenges differently as a parent.
“It really is changing how I parent,” she said.
The success of families like Alison’s reflects the broader impact of Mindful Matters throughout Benton County. What began as a new mental health initiative is now a comprehensive program that includes Calm Centers at all five traditional Club sites, staff training, parent education opportunities, specialized youth programming and community partnerships.
As the program has continued to grow and develop, Sarah pointed out the lasting impact it has on the children who walk through the Club’s doors each day.
“Every child deserves the tools and support to navigate life’s challenges. Mindful Matters is helping us build those skills early, so kids can become healthier, more resilient adults.”
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Blue & You Foundation, 25 Weeks of Gratitude spotlights 25 stories of Arkansans whose lives have been impacted by Foundation-funded work.
*The Blue & You Foundation was established in 2001 through an initial gift from Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Since its inception, the Foundation’s financial base has grown through wise and prudent investment strategies. This has enabled the foundation to support its mission by making grants funded by the interest earned on those investments.