Mindfulness for Recovery: The Public Sector and Environment Under Crisis in Israel

Mindfulness is a mental exercise derived from Buddhist thought that is gaining increasing currency in the West. Mindfulness training has been shown to improve practitioners’ health and well-being, for instance by reducing the symptoms of depression and anxiety disorders, lowering blood pressure, and alleviating stress and pain. The present research examines whether applying mindfulness training among staff in the public sector – in particular in health and education – can improve organizational effectiveness and performance. Based on the new public service approach (NPS), turnaround management strategy (TMS) and empathy-altruism theory, this research examines the effect of a mindfulness intervention as a bottom-up process leading from mindful leaders and employees, through mindful organizations, to a mindful environment. We integrate research in public administration and neuroscience by using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) to examine whether and how mindfulness training may affect brain structures and functions, along with behavior and attitudes, in public actors at times of crisis – in this case, leaders and employees in two public-sector organizations in Israel: a public hospital and a public school. At a practical level, the research will lead to recommendations for implementing the emerging field of mindfulness in public administration and policy.