Heading 1NDMTSS Conference
Description
Teachers have always needed to know and practice protective strategies in their social emotional first aid kits to manage the daily stressors of working on the front lines of a human-service oriented profession. That need has never been greater given the massive increase in uncertainty and unpredictability in the teaching profession and in one's personal life due to COVID.
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In short, teaching is emotional labor-- the effort required to manage and metabolize strong emotions like anger, shame, guilt, anxiety, and overwhelm, as well as generate and stoke positive emotions like joy, hope, and compassion.
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Stress significantly diminishes a teacher's capacity to regulate their negative emotions and cultivate positive emotions. Ironically, teachers who leave the profession often cite their inability to cope with their own emotional reactions to loss of control, unpredictability, and lack of purpose in their teaching as the primary reason for burnout.
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There are many, many strategies and practices rooted in cognitive and affective neuroscience and social and behavioral sciences that teachers can learn, practice, and integrate into their personal and professional lives as teachers to metabolize stress, manage negative energy, protect themselves from the burnout cycle, and find joy in teaching the whole year through!
Learning Objectives
In this session, teachers will:
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Explore the core elements of the teacher burnout cycle and learn how to protect one's self from the 2 paths to burning out,
Meet Jen
Dr. Jen Clifden is the founder of Present Well-Being LLC and the creator of Present TeacherTM Training. Jen received her BA in Elementary Education from the University of Michigan and her MA in Socio-Cultural Foundations and Educational Thought from Western Michigan University.
Jen received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Minnesota College of Education + Human Development with a focus on discovering the origins of human-service professional mental health, adult social and emotional well-being, human-centered curriculum design, and mindfulness. She researches and teaches the process for "burning in" to heart-centered healing professions through metabolizing stress to heal trauma, actualize personal self-transformation, and stoke presence.
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Jen also created and founded Mindful Moms Network while her children were infants to raise awareness of the mental health of mothers and caregivers. MMN is a supportive community and safe space for mothers to be inspired to mother in the moment, honor themselves, and be real about the stressors of raising healthy, happy children.
Jen is also a 200 hour certified yoga teacher and mindfulness teacher. She has spoken about mindfulness and well-being in the workplace at Target Corp. Dr. Clifden has experience teaching meditation and mindfulness courses for the Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota, Lifetime Fitness, and the University of Minnesota College of Education + Human Development and Carlson School of Management.
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Dr. Clifden is currently the program administrator for the Minnesota Grow Your Own Teachers (MNGOT) program at the University of Minnesota's College of Education + Human Development. Jen also teaches courses on new teacher social-emotional health within the program.
She draws on 27 years of collective experience as a public school teacher, university teacher educator, phenomenological researcher, program administrator, mental and emotional health researcher, entrepreneur, mindfulness and yoga teacher, and mother of a 10th grader and twin 9th graders to raise awareness of human service professional mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being through national keynote and conference presentations and working directly with human-service professionals (school leaders, educators, therapists, physicians, and nurses) in the Twin Cities and beyond.
Jennifer's teaching, research, writing, and curriculum development areas of expertise are:
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origins of healing practices and soul health
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mental and emotional health for human-service professional caregivers​
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mindfulness
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embodied equity dispositions and practices
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burnout & moral injury preventive practice
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energy resilience
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SEL (social and emotional learning)
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healing-centered curriculum design
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leader/administrator well-being and emotional intelligence​
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mindful-movement (yoga)
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phenomenology and phenomenological inquiry and research
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soul restoration practices​​
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trauma-responsive practices for human-service professional caregivers
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