TEACHING FROM PRESENCE
Monthly Teacher’s Circle
First Call: Wednesday Sep 18, 9am ET OR 7pm ET*
Monthly calls on Oct 16, Nov 13, Dec 11, Jan 8, Feb 12, Mar 11, Apr 8, May 13, & Jun 10
*Meeting times can be adjusted to participant’s needs.
$20 for Sept 18; $180 for the series
THIS IS DESIGNED FOR YOU IF...
You care for other people’s children as a teacher, facilitator or care-giver.
You are interested in learning and applying intuitive and empathic practices to bring more ease, presence and joy to your relationship with the children you support.
You value the insights of a “big picture” / systemic lens to understand the family and systemic dynamics between you and the children you work with.
You are looking for a safe space and a community of practice for support and personal and professional growth.
As educators, our work takes place inside a network of complex systems: interpersonal and family systems, school and administrative pressures, external assessments, social inequality and injustice … and, someplace in that web, the challenges of our own personal lives. The swirling of these pressures can lead us to believe that we have no power to affect positive change. But this is a false and demoralizing belief - because your greatest impact emerges from within – from our PRESENCE.
Practicing presence does not make the challenges magically disappear, but as you enter presence, you turn on the light of awareness and receive the gifts of insight and wisdom. This allows you to operate from a place of deep knowing as you respond to what arises.
ABOUT THE 10-MONTH SERIES
Over the 10-month call series, we will:
Build a foundation of healthy support for your students.
Right relationship with parents is a subtle but foundational dynamic between you and your student. When the parent-teacher relationship is out of order, teachers become more easily burned out, and students have more behavior problems. Learn how to activate a supportive partnership - even with difficult parents.
Transform burnout through connection and presence.
You probably don’t need burnout defined, but here it is: a work-related syndrome involving emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and a sense of reduced personal accomplishment.* We acknowledge that most of the contributing factors are systemic, not personal. However, the practices we share will not only empower you and reduce burnout, but they have the capacity to bring more joy and wonder to every aspect of your life.
Access a “new level of thinking” to find innovative solutions.
Einstein has been quoted as saying, “a problem cannot be solved at the same level of thinking that created it”. Our Systemic Coaching will teach you a new way of seeing yourself and your relational systems. Participants will experience a real expansion in their ability to perceive hidden relationship dynamics, and the ability to respond more effectively to complex problems.
ABOUT THE FACILITATORS, LINDA VISHALA BAKER AND ALISON FORNÉS
Linda Vishala Baker is a certified K-8 teacher and a K-12 certified school counselor. She worked for 33 years in a Public Magnet School in New Haven, Connecticut for grades preK-8 as a teacher and school counselor. Linda completed five years of facilitator training with the New England Institute of Systemic Constellations and additional training with the ECL foundation. For three years she was a catalyst for ECL (Emotional Well Being Creativity and Learning Foundation) by bringing the systemic lens and ECL practices to her school and other schools and educational organizations. She founded Supportingsystems.org in 2017 and has been providing consultation and workshops for educators, schools and organizations.
Alison Fornés, MEd. is a NYS certified teacher who taught high school in New York City for 12 years. Working alongside many passionate and creative educators, she brought systems thinking and mindfulness into her project-based science classes. In 2012, she immersed herself in the path of Systemic Constellations, and for the past few years has been innovating in bringing together constellation work and education. She is writing a book, The Knowing Revolution. Find out more at theknowingrevolution.com
DISCLAIMER
It is the nature of our work to hold space for processing difficult emotions. We ask that you evaluate for yourself your comfort with this. If you would like to grow in this area, or are already skilled at holding space, we welcome you. However, we are not licensed mental health professionals. This group is not a substitute for therapy with a licensed mental health professional.
*Physician burnout: contributors, consequences and solutions. Journal of Internal Medicine, 2018. C.P. West, L.N. Dyrbye, & T. D. Shanafelt