Nicole J Albrecht
Dr Nicole Jacqueline Albrecht is a passionate educator, researcher, and wellness advocate whose career bridges primary education, higher education, and community-based wellbeing programs. With a diverse academic background spanning economics, Asian studies, Japanese language, education, and wellness, Nicole has built a unique interdisciplinary profile rooted in holistic teaching and research.
Nicole began her professional journey teaching Japanese in primary and secondary schools across Adelaide. Her deep interest in wellbeing education led her to pursue postgraduate qualifications, including a Master of Wellness from RMIT University and a PhD in Education from Flinders University. Her doctoral research, Teachers Teaching Mindfulness with Children, employed interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore how educators implement mindfulness practices in school settings. This work laid the foundation for Nicole’s continued focus on mindfulness, wellbeing, and ecological approaches in education.
She currently teaches in the postgraduate topic EDUC9702: Teaching and Learning to Promote Wellbeing and Positive Mental Health at Flinders University, and provides tutoring through the Yunggorendi Tutorial Program, supporting Indigenous students. She has also taught undergraduate and graduate students at RMIT University across disciplines including education, biomedical sciences, and engineering, primarily in subjects such as MindBody Wellness and Physical Activity, Lifestyle and Health.
Nicole’s scholarly contributions are extensive. She has published widely on mindfulness, teacher wellbeing, nature-based learning, and holistic wellness frameworks. Notable among her achievements is the development of several conceptual models—such as the Student Wheel of Wellness and the Whole Systems Mindful Enquiry framework—that continue to inform research and practice in education and health promotion. She is an active journal reviewer and has supervised multiple student research projects resulting in academic publications and conference presentations.
Her research interests encompass nature-based mindfulness, self-compassion, sustainability, contemplative practices, and creativity. Nicole is currently writing about the evolving role of wellbeing leaders in schools, and remains committed to exploring how mindfulness can foster ecological consciousness and transformative learning experiences for both teachers and students.
Beyond academia, Nicole operates MindWellCoach, delivering mindfulness teacher training and professional development to educators, health professionals, and community members. She regularly presents at conferences and public events, including international summits on mindfulness and education. Her work is shaped by a commitment to sustainability and embodied practice, drawing on her own personal engagement with Feldenkrais, Tai Chi, Chi Kung, meditation, aromatherapy, and gardening.
Nicole’s teaching has been recognized through numerous awards, including the 2021 Flinders University Special Learning & Teaching Award and multiple acknowledgments from RMIT University for her significant contributions to wellness education.
With a dynamic career that integrates scholarly insight, compassionate teaching, and practical innovation, Nicole Albrecht continues to inspire new approaches to education that are mindful, inclusive, and ecologically attuned. Her lifelong commitment to fostering wellbeing—within individuals, educational systems, and communities—marks her as a leading voice in the evolving field of mindfulness and wellness education.
Supervisors: Dr Leigh Burrows
Nicole began her professional journey teaching Japanese in primary and secondary schools across Adelaide. Her deep interest in wellbeing education led her to pursue postgraduate qualifications, including a Master of Wellness from RMIT University and a PhD in Education from Flinders University. Her doctoral research, Teachers Teaching Mindfulness with Children, employed interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore how educators implement mindfulness practices in school settings. This work laid the foundation for Nicole’s continued focus on mindfulness, wellbeing, and ecological approaches in education.
She currently teaches in the postgraduate topic EDUC9702: Teaching and Learning to Promote Wellbeing and Positive Mental Health at Flinders University, and provides tutoring through the Yunggorendi Tutorial Program, supporting Indigenous students. She has also taught undergraduate and graduate students at RMIT University across disciplines including education, biomedical sciences, and engineering, primarily in subjects such as MindBody Wellness and Physical Activity, Lifestyle and Health.
Nicole’s scholarly contributions are extensive. She has published widely on mindfulness, teacher wellbeing, nature-based learning, and holistic wellness frameworks. Notable among her achievements is the development of several conceptual models—such as the Student Wheel of Wellness and the Whole Systems Mindful Enquiry framework—that continue to inform research and practice in education and health promotion. She is an active journal reviewer and has supervised multiple student research projects resulting in academic publications and conference presentations.
Her research interests encompass nature-based mindfulness, self-compassion, sustainability, contemplative practices, and creativity. Nicole is currently writing about the evolving role of wellbeing leaders in schools, and remains committed to exploring how mindfulness can foster ecological consciousness and transformative learning experiences for both teachers and students.
Beyond academia, Nicole operates MindWellCoach, delivering mindfulness teacher training and professional development to educators, health professionals, and community members. She regularly presents at conferences and public events, including international summits on mindfulness and education. Her work is shaped by a commitment to sustainability and embodied practice, drawing on her own personal engagement with Feldenkrais, Tai Chi, Chi Kung, meditation, aromatherapy, and gardening.
Nicole’s teaching has been recognized through numerous awards, including the 2021 Flinders University Special Learning & Teaching Award and multiple acknowledgments from RMIT University for her significant contributions to wellness education.
With a dynamic career that integrates scholarly insight, compassionate teaching, and practical innovation, Nicole Albrecht continues to inspire new approaches to education that are mindful, inclusive, and ecologically attuned. Her lifelong commitment to fostering wellbeing—within individuals, educational systems, and communities—marks her as a leading voice in the evolving field of mindfulness and wellness education.
Supervisors: Dr Leigh Burrows
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Papers by Nicole J Albrecht
To advance, refine and develop a best method approach to Wellbeing Education in Higher Education institutions more studies using a range of methodologies are required. We need to understand how different countries are preparing students to teach and promote wellbeing and positive mental health in schools – what programs are available to meet undergraduate and graduate demand? This will involve reviews of wellbeing curriculum in Higher Education as well as Topic Managers and Lecturers describing the nature and scope of courses available in higher learning institutions. Apart from advancing our knowledge base about the nature and content of courses, we also need to listen to the voices of students undertaking Wellbeing Education – hear from teachers, psychologists, counselors and other professionals planning to work with children or who are already employed in Wellbeing Leadership roles. To date, most researchers have focused on examining how teaching wellbeing at university can enhance student resilience and prepare individuals to personally face the obstacles and challenges beyond tertiary life. This first-hand immersion in wellness enhancing practices is an important first step in being able to effectively and harmoniously share wellbeing with others. However, educators also need to learn theories, models and practices associated with promoting and implementing positive mental health programs in schools.
Those working in these fields have seen an opportunity to further enhance humanity’s connection with the environment and have created a range of nature-based mindfulness lessons and programs–lessons and programs that help individuals mindfully discover and develop a closer connection to the natural environment. In this opinion piece, we briefly outline the concept of nature-based mindfulness, give an example of a nature-based mindfulness activity, and discuss some critical skills needed to ensure that this deep connection people develop towards the natural world through nature-based mindfulness activities translates into pro-environmental action and behaviour.
Methods: In order to address these research gaps and practical concerns, in the current study the first author identified potential reasons as to why adult learners do not remain in education, explored the rationale for focusing on adult learners’ wellbeing, and lastly investigated whether Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) has the capacity to enhance the wellbeing of adult learners in their first year of post-compulsory education. A form of phenomenological research known as Heuristic Inquiry was applied to understand these problems. First person data was gathered from the first author and four other adult learners who took part in a condensed 6-week MSC program.
Results: This qualitative process produced a rich source of data – indicating that mindfulness and self-compassion helps adult learners enhance their wellbeing. Practising and building self-compassion was found to support adult learners when faced with challenges within their qualifications and in life.
Conclusions: The current research contributes to the collective knowledge on the topic and provides a possible resource building program, which all levels of adult education and more importantly, all modalities (face-to face/on campus and external/online learners), can utilise.
program implementers proceeded at a mindful pace – training interested teachers and staff gradually, and slowly incorporating practices into the school day. Conversely, rushing to integrate mindfulness was also perceived by the study’s participants to be problematic – with
mindfulness being misused with children. In this emerging field of science and practice we need balance – balance when researching and balance when sharing mindfulness with others. That is, the very skills we are hoping to impart to others need to be the foundation of our action.
designs to understand the practice’s efficacy for improving wellness in children. Less research has been directed towards understanding how children perceive mindfulness experiences. This gap inspired the research question—What are students’ perspectives of learning mindfulness practices
at school? Thematic analysis was employed to understand and interpret 38 elementary school students’ mindfulness journals. Findings suggest that mindfulness enhances student wellbeing and helps children develop a greater awareness of their body, mind and emotions. Implications of
these findings are discussed. Future research is required to determine how mindfulness practices enhance and sustain student wellbeing and learning.
Mindfulness is practiced widely around the world and is also a burgeoning area of academic interest. Research started in the early 1980s with people experiencing chronic pain and stress. By the close of 2012 there were approximately 2500 journal articles on the topic investigating its impact on a wide range of health conditions and well-being.
Due to positive research results in adult populations, mindfulness programs have been implemented in schools around the world over the last decade and researchers are conducting studies to determine how learning mindfulness impacts a school community’s well-being.
The current research project focuses on understanding children’s and teachers’ experiences and perspectives of learning and teaching mindfulness for the first time in an independent school located in New Zealand. The following questions were posed: "What is a child’s perspective of learning mindfulness practices at school?" and "How do teachers make sense of introducing a mindfulness program to children? "
In 2013, approximately 40 (forty) Year 2 and Year 5 students from a primary school in Auckland, New Zealand participated in a 10-week mindfulness program. The program was developed in Australia, by Janet Etty-Leal, and is based on the text “Meditation Capsules: A Mindfulness Program for Children” (see p. vi for an outline of the program).
The school’s Counsellor and Well-Being Director delivered the program with the general classroom teachers participating in some of the activities. During the mindfulness course, students completed age appropriate journals (see Appendix A) designed by Nicole Albrecht. The journals were then analysed by Karen Ager, who searched for prominent themes associated with the pupils’ perceptions of learning mindfulness.
Upon completion of the program, Angela Bucu interviewed the School Counsellor and Well-Being Director to find out about their experiences of teaching the program for the first time. Themes and patterns were generated from the interview data, based on the most meaningful and important experiences identified by the school’s facilitators.
The findings support the integration of mindfulness across the whole school, focusing initially on both teacher and student populations. Further research is recommended to determine whether mindfulness practice leads to long-term whole person development, enhanced academic performance and a reduction in student and teacher stress levels.
programs around the world. A wide range of organizations, from universities to private businesses, have designed
mindfulness programs specifically to suit the school system. A theoretical framework built for educational settings is
required in order to make sense of literature from a wide range of disciplines and methodological perspectives. In the
current article, the author proposes using wellness as a conceptual framework to guide and enhance our appreciation of
mindfulness practice and research. Wellness philosophy, principles, and characteristics are introduced and the
framework is then used to understand the motivation behind cultivating mindfulness in the classroom. It was discovered
that programs are perceived to target a wide range of wellness outcomes, with less emphasis currently placed on the
connection between mindfulness and the environment. Future research and discussion is required to determine whether
wellness can act as a suitable platform to improve and integrate mindfulness practice and research.
frequency in schools around the world. In the current literature
review we outline some of the core concepts and practices associated with mindfulness and discuss studies analysing the process of mindfulness teacher training. Preliminary research in this emerging field suggests that mindfulness has the potential to improve classroom management, teacher-student relationships and instructional strategies. Mindfulness instructors recommend that before teachers can feel comfortable and effectively teach mindfulness in the classroom they need to embody and practice mindfulness in their own lives. It is proposed that in order to improve our knowledge base in this area a critical synthesis and analysis of school-based mindfulness programs is required.
As a result, their theory of wellness resonates with many of the concepts and ideals experienced through a meditation practice. It is with this congruence in mind that the current paper explores
whether there is any relationship between meditation and high-level wellness and if meditation techniques play an integral role in helping to achieve enhanced levels of wellness. A wide range of research across disciplines is reviewed, and despite controversies in the methodology employed to test meditation’s efficacy, it is readily apparent that numerous benefits or wellness outcomes are derived from a meditation practice. However, it is doubtful that meditation is the only path to deliver high-level wellness, other means exist—some that may be a function of the natural human condition.
Teaching Documents by Nicole J Albrecht