Training on Emotional Regulation for Improved Classroom Behavior
One-Day Virtual Training
currently not scheduled
Understanding Polyvagal Theory and the Social Engagement System for More Effective Therapies
training for
Therapists, School Counselors, School Social Workers, Teachers
Through this understanding, you will learn how to work with the nervous system to open the door to improved behavior, interventions, regulation, and student or client outcomes.
This three-part, six-hour course will introduce you to the Polyvagal Theory and the Social Engagement System (Porges, 1994). The three-part series will cover the evolution and function of the human social brain in relation to our nervous system with application to clinical work, education, and personal understanding.
Understanding the Polyvagal Theory and the Social Engagement System is foundational to effective therapeutic work and student learning, as it creates a therapeutic/teacher presence of safety and connection, helping clients/students regulate, opening the door to intervention, learning, and to healing. Improved therapeutic/teacher presence will also help you experience better client and student outcomes. You will be offered several tools to use with your clients and students to help them understand and regulate their nervous systems.
Three Training Sessions
in one day
Session one will discuss the importance of safety and connection and how our bodies detect safety or threat through neuroception. We will discuss how the presence, or absence of safety puts us in one of the three basic physiological states, and the resulting changes that occur in the brain and body. You will learn how the physiological states relate to student learning and behavior, client engagement, and open the window for healing. You will be given suggested reading and practice sheets to help map and identify these physiological states. This session will also cover regulation, coregulation, dysregulation, and how we learn to move between these states to regulate and build resilience.
Session two builds upon session one as we dive deeper into the hybrid states that allow for play, problem solving, and stillness. We will discuss the social engagement system and the powerful way it allows us to connect and coregulate with others. You will learn the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of social engagement, the related physiology, and how this system creates safety, a portal for learning, therapy, and interventions. You will learn more about the vagus nerve and the vagal brake to understand how this wandering nerve is related to your breath, gut, and heart. And finally, how the vagus nerve is connected to the social engagement system through the eyes, voice, and ears; our portals for physiological shifts.
Session three will introduce you to several tools that you can use to help yourself and your clients attune to their physiological states, move between states, and exercise their nervous system to build resilience. The activities are designed to bring awareness to the physiological states, to act as neuroexercises to regulate oneself when necessary, and finally to build a strong and flexible nervous system. You will learn how to choose the intervention or support that fits the state the student or client is in. Therapists and educators will be able to help both clients and students develop their own personal toolbox for regulating in the moment as well as create a lifestyle that supports a strong, flexible nervous system.
Objectives
The training informs social workers and counselors how the students’ biology directs behavior.
Attendees will learn how to work with the nervous system to open the door to interventions, help students regulate, improve behavior, and improve student outcomes.
As a result of this course participants will be able to:
- Explain the Polyvagal Theory in relation to educational and therapeutic settings.
- Explain the three states of the Polyvagal Theory and describe the accompanying physiological changes in the body.
- Explain the Social Engagement System and how we use this system to detect threat or safety.
- Describe coregulation, why it is important, and how the Social Engagement System is used to coregulate.
- Apply the Polyvagal Theory to a diverse group of people (ethnic, gender, SES, age, environment) and explain why these individuals may have difficulty regulating themselves.
- Utilize three to five tools given in the training to help clients or students understand their nervous systems and create their own personal toolbox of care strategies or activities.
This course is approved by the NASW-Michigan Social Work Continuing Education Collaborative For 6 CE hours.
Dr. Ginny Witte
Dr. Ginny Witte is a trauma educator, educating groups on trauma and trauma recovery. She also works with individuals to guide them through the process of healing from trauma. Dr. Witte is a licensed educator in the state of Michigan who focuses on trauma informed teaching as foundational to learning for all children, specifically supporting children who have, or are experiencing trauma. She has taught children from preschool through the university level, combining her background in education, kinesiology, cognitive science, family life, and child development to unlock blocks to learning. She has helped both typical and atypical children find success through using trauma informed approaches alongside her knowledge of how the brain learns. She is also certified in Trauma Informed Yoga, Somatic Stress Release Therapy, and Trauma Informed yoga for youth. Ginny currently uses her expertise to coach and educate individuals through trauma recovery and to educate professionals and trauma survivors about trauma and trauma informed practices.
Education
Western Michigan University
BA in Education, Science and Family Life
Western Michigan University
MA in Early Childhood Development
Michigan State University
PhD in Kinesiology and Cognitive Science
Certifications
TEFL Certified
Certified RYI 200
RYI 500 in progress
Trauma Informed Yoga
Trauma Informed Yoga for Teens
Somatic Stress Release
Training on Emotional Regulation for Improved Classroom Behavior
Virtual Training
Date: Currently not scheduled
Location: Virtual, via Zoom
Cost:
- Professional: Early registration, $149.00. Regular price, $199.00.
- Student: Early registration, $59.00. Regular price, $79.00.
- Parent: Early registration, $59.00. Regular price, $79.00.
Continuing Education Credits:
- NASW-Michigan Social Work Continuing Education Collaborative: 6 CE hours