Transforming Classrooms

DBT-informed mental wellness workshop designed specifically for educators and given by educators. Build mental health resilience in yourself and learn how to respond to your students' emotions in these difficult times.

Life is hard right now for front-line educators and school wellness programs often overlook their needs. But SILA’s Transforming Classrooms workshops put the focus on educators, helping them to build their own mental health resilience.

If you are an educator, register for one of our workshops and achieve better mental wellness and better outcomes in your classroom by learning how to skilfully manage your emotions.

Our Transforming Connections workshops start Nov. 20 and consist of 12 hours of interactive virtual learning. Our facilitators use Dialectical Behavioural Therapy – informed skills to help educators.

• Build trust, reduce the intensity of their emotions and open the door for problem-solving
• Interpret a student’s behavior by approaching with curiosity, removing judgment, and being in the moment to respond constructively to the current situation
• Build educators’ self-care and mental wellness skills
• Recognize educators’ own emotional vulnerability and reactivity in any given situation to position yourself to interact effectively.

Register here for our workshops that begin Nov. 20. Cost: $200.00

What teachers are saying about our workshops:

This Professional Development experience was one of, if not the most valuable sessions that I have ever attended.

Immediately you begin to change to become a more effective, reflective, relationship and connection building educator but also a more effective, reflective, relationship and connection building person for others as well as yourself.

The SILA Skills Group is a Canadian federally incorporated, not-for-profit corporation that believes in building mental health resilience by fostering supportive, validating, and respectful environments.

Facilitators:

Kelly Maxwell (B.Ed ‘89, M.Ed ‘16) is an elementary school teacher in rural Alberta. After 30-plus years of teaching, her passion for educating continues. She has been, and continues to be involved with professional development within her school district and at local Teachers' Conventions. In the last several years she acquired DBT based skills that transformed her life and her classroom. These skills helped her through challenging interactions with her son who struggled with his mental health. These skills not only transformed her home life, they also transformed her classroom interactions. She is passionate about sharing these transformational skills with other educators through the SILA Skills Workshops.

Rosanna Ruppert is a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) skills practitioner, DBT skills coach for youth and adults and workshop developer for teachers, education assistants, guidance counsellors and child and youth counsellors. She implemented a pilot project bringing DBT based skills to 5 GTA schools, training and coaching teachers, educating parents and tailoring curriculum to accommodate specific needs of schools. Her teaching style and responsiveness make her highly regarded and sought after by schools. Rosanna ran the first-ever DBT-focused conference for educators in the Toronto area attended by 50 teachers and school board staff. Rosanna is committed to teaching these essential skills through the SILA Skills Workshops.