Healthy Power in Schools

Join Gillian and Joelle as they discuss both symptoms of power imbalance and creative solutions for engagement, learning, and equity. Each session is designed as a short and timely offering that can be watched by school groups to prompt discussion that validates our experiences and inspires effective response. Each will also include a resource that outlines the session’s key concepts to guide discussion and support implementation. Join us as we discuss how to shift from fearful reaction and power hoarding to proactive response and power sharing in our schools and communities.

Session 1: A Safe Brain is a Smart Brain

This webinar addresses the impacts of chronic fear and stress on executive functioning. Using research on trauma, resiliency, and developmental psychology, the presenters unpack the predictably contagious nature of fear in communities, and simple interpersonal shifts that can reduce this effect.

Session 2: Mental Bandwidth and Space to Think

In this recording, Gillian and Joelle will address the impact of fear on the brain and on communities. Particular attention will be paid to intersectionality and the heavier mental burden of chronic fear and stress on BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, neurodivergent people, and others.

Session 3: Interrogating What and Who Is Prioritized

When leaders and decision-makers are overwhelmed, afraid, and burned out, power gets consolidated further away from vulnerable students and staff, creating a feedback loop of fear and distress in the community. This session takes a critical look at what and who is inherently prioritized in public schools, who is chronically stressed by the system, and what can be done about it.