In-Service Workshops

This presentation will help students understand the foundations of safe and healthy relationships—whether with friends, dating partners, or peers. Students will explore key elements like communication, trust, respect, and boundaries while learning how to identify red flags such as manipulation, jealousy, or control. Through real-life scenarios, interactive discussions, and practical tools, students will gain the skills needed to build positive relationships and seek help if needed. The goal is to empower youth to make safe, respectful, and informed choices in all types of relationships.

In this workshop, we will look and vicarious trauma and self-care. Vicarious trauma is “ a normal response to the ongoing exposure to other people's trauma.” Working to support people who have experienced trauma, and hearing, seeing and learning about their experiences, can have a cumulative effect on you and many aspects of your personal life. Self-care is important for people who have experienced vicarious trauma because it can help them cope with the emotional toll of being exposed to other people's trauma: Self-care includes meditation, mindfulness, breathwork, exercise such as yoga, journaling, massage, and practicing progressive muscle relaxation, as well as creating a work-life balance and learning to delegate.

Section 504 can be confusing for school staff and families alike. Yet its implementation is is essential to ensure that students with disabilities have equal access to educational opportunities. This Section 504 workshop is designed to equip student support staff with the necessary knowledge and skills to actively engage in the Section 504 process for students with disabilities.

The demands of educators today have faculty, administrators, and staff running in numerous directions with little time to pause and reflect, let alone allow for space to define what self-care at work (and at home) could/should look like. This interactive workshop provides participants with a "time out" to breathe (seriously), learn steps to craft an individualized self-care approach, understand how to protect oneself from emotional mugging, as well as an honest conversation on why asking your supervisor about "work-life balance" might set us up for disappointment. Participants will leave empowered and recharged--because when you feel good, you do good!

Providing 5-12 students with a cognitive behavioral approach to teach how to identify and to process feelings will result in developing strategies to cope with difficult situations. These skills will lead to improved self-regulation in students as well as increase increased ability to be actively engaged in learning.

Providing K-5 students with a cognitive behavioral approach to teach how to identify and to process feelings will result in developing strategies to cope with difficult situations. These skills will lead to improved self-regulation in students as well as increase increased ability to be actively engaged in learning.

We all have sensory processing preferences, but it becomes an issue if these preferences interfere with typical functioning and interactions. In this workshop you will gain a deeper understanding of what sensory integration is and why it is important. We will look at the eight sensory systems and sensory processing difficulties within each system. We will then examine some Ideas for re-creating more sensory-friendly environments in Preschool through Grade 2 classrooms.

Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook foster a culture of peer comparison and entice users to stay online longer than they intend, which can foster discouraging or negative feelings. Snapchat locations and Instagram stories cause FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), contributing to anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Teachers and parents will learn individual and group strategies to optimize students' use of social media.

Creating a trauma-sensitive classroom fosters an environment for all students to learn because educators are uniquely positioned to help students overcome challenges and build resilience. Participants will review preliminary information and definition of terms and explore ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) before delving into academic instruction techniques and relationship building for teaching students impacted by trauma. This workshop will also examine misconceptions about trauma, the effect trauma has on the brain, and review common challenges when working with students impacted by trauma. Participants will have an opportunity to share and reflect on their current practices and to learn ways to improve their self-care to ensure that the classroom is a safe space for all learners to grow.

Are you stressed? This can often be due to workload, the type of work you’re doing and relationships with your colleagues. This interactive workshop will explore solutions to all three of those issues, getting you to explore what your personal stress points are and giving you the tools you need to come up with a plan to reduce or even eliminate them.