Speaking Topics

Creating Cultures of Dignity

This session is a call to action transforming the way we create communities where young people thrive. Using Donna Hick’s Ten Elements of Dignity as the foundation for our relationships with young people, we create a shared vocabulary that empowers their development, supports their emotional needs, and teaches prosocial critical thinking. We will use this approach to give common-sense suggestions to manage the frequent struggles between children and their parents – from video games and social media to communication breakdowns. Participants walk away with vocabulary, specific tools, and a new framework to guide your interaction with young people. 

Anxiety and Parenting

One of the most crucial skills we can model for the young people in our lives is emotional intelligence. However, many of us were not explicitly taught emotional regulation skills and often feel like we are at the mercy of the many emotions swirling throughout our homes. This feeling has been dramatically amplified by the pandemic and all the uncertainty Covid has created for everyone, from our youngest household members to parents. In this webinar we will cover the following topics:

• An informative, user-friendly summary of the most helpful aspects of the science behind emotions
• Specific skills to understand and manage emotional dysregulation, specifically anxiety 
• Tips on depersonalizing and normalizing emotion management to increase your sense of self worth and support the health of your family

Supporting the Social and Emotional Needs of Young People During Distance Learning

Having a sense of belonging and purpose are essential to a young person’s physical, psychological, and emotional well-being and will directly impact their learning during COVID. No one is born knowing how to manage their emotions or their reactions to change, these are skills we have to teach. While distant learning, we want students to feel as comfortable as they can to raise questions, share concerns, and advocate for themselves. This presentation can be tailored for educators or parents to help support young people. 

This session will:

• Provide a deeper understanding of the role and purpose of emotions
• Use social and emotional learning skills to help young people advocate for what they need during distance learning
• Understand the difference between emotional hijacking and productive discomfort or choose another Tiny Guide (see below) that meets the needs of your community..

Tiny Guides for Social Emotional Wellness

This session guides you through the use of Tiny Guides, a set of concrete tools that teach emotional intelligence and promote well being for both adults and young people. Emotional intelligence is not inherent, it is learned. Tiny Guides help you quickly comprehend core social emotional concepts, understand their impact on you and your relationships, and equip you with the tools needed to put them into action. Having a shared vocabulary around emotions is essential to young people’s development and enhances their ability to self-regulate, manage frustration, and practice effective coping strategies. It is also essential to creating healthy, emotionally agile communities and families. 

During this session:

• You will be guided through a Tiny Guide of your choice by their creator, an educator with over a decade of experience in teaching social emotional learning to young people and the adults in their lives. 
• Gain a deeper understanding of emotions, why they matter, and how to talk about them to support the young people in your life. 
• Learn strategies to discuss the content of the Tiny Guides with young people, in the classroom or at home.

Behind the Screens: Digital Well-Being During Tough Times.

How can we help young people find the balance with social media and technology when so many other options for social interaction have been taken away? How can we help them navigate friendships and conflict online and offline that may come up during this time?

During this session you will learn…

• Strategies to support your child’s digital wellbeing and balance technology
• How to understand and empathize with the ways social media can be challenging right now
• Skills to help young people understand and process the news cycle
• Best practices for setting family agreements and routines around technology
• How to manage your reactions with your own digital use
• How can we model thoughtful tech use 

How To Be An Ally

How do we make an inclusive community where everyone feels a sense of belonging? How can we have honest conversations about discrimination and bigotry that beings us closer as a community? While this topic for many can be uncomfortable, it is efforts like these that build our capacity to be a place of dignity for all.

This presentation will give increased knowledge and skills to support a school or community’s efforts to promote diversity and equity by covering the following topics:

• How to have hard conversations about race and privilege with your children
• How to support anti-racist work when you can’t relate to people of color’s experience or you have little education on having these conversations
• Knowing the difference between a curious question and a question that reinforces bias and discrimination.
• Increasing educators and parents skills to teach their children to contribute to a culture of dignity in the school.

Leveraging Student Voice for Prosocial Change

Creating a culture of dignity in a school can’t be limited to slogans and philosophies that have limited real-life applications in school. This school year gives us an opportunity to raise up and integrate young people’s voices and leadership in a school as never before. How can student leaders be a part of that? How can they most effectively advocate and work with the adults at school?

Young people are taking leadership roles in our communities in ways we have never seen before. From climate action to educational reforms how do student leaders lead in this new and changing landscape. How do they support other students?

This interactive presentation will discuss the common challenges student leaders face and strategies to affect positive change within school communities. Participants will leave with concrete skills to meet the common obstacles student leaders experience and the unique challenges we see in the upcoming year. 

Cultivating Engaged Prepared Ethical Leaders

Student councils, peer leadership, orientations, and countless other student leadership programs are essential components of any school. But the truth is it can be hard to get student buy-in under normal circumstances. To be effective and credible with the overall student body it requires collaboration between educators and young people that often results in a healthy and sometimes complex tension between them. This workshop can be designed for a new program or an existing one. This workshop is open to both faculty and students to assess their program’s strengths and weaknesses and create increased opportunities for student ownership of the process.  At the end of the presentation, attendees will have a blueprint to increase their group’s effectiveness and improve their school culture and climate.