Dr. Jen Clifden
Educator | Researcher | Burnout Preventionist
The Light You Cast™
Soul & Social Justice in Schools
The Inner Work of
Soul & Social Justice
We believe that if we want to both teach and equip our students with the necessary skills, practices, and habits of mind of SEL, well-being, and anti-racist ways of being in the world that inspire them to live their lives with joy and dignity, we must first be well, find joy in our calling to serve in schools, become skilled in our own SEL competencies, and embody a Presence that engenders trust from our students.
Burnout and compassion fatigue can deeply derail our equity and social justice efforts because these protective states diminish our capacity to care for others, reduce empathy and compassion, and narrow our perspective in such a way that critical consciousness and an honoring of difference is not able to be engaged.
The Light You Cast™ Soul and Social Justice is designed to:
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Engage school personnel with strategies, practices, and experiences rooted in neuroscience, social and emotional learning (SEL), trauma-responsive care, and mindfulness to actualize their individual core competencies of SEL: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.
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Immerse educational caregivers in inner restorative practices, principles, and perspectives that heal and prevent the protective states burnout and compassion fatigue so to reduce the manifestation of "bad-othering" and depersonalization-- ways of being and perceiving others that undermine our social justice efforts.
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Engage school personnel in experiencing and practicing the core elements of the Burn Clean CycleTM to cultivate the 5 elements of Embodied Equity: perspective taking, integrity, self-awareness, truth telling, and unconditional positive regard.
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Explore the intersection between social and emotional learning (SEL), well-being, healing, and anti-racist practices to cultivate SOUL Justice (the inside work of embodied equity) and SOCIAL Justice (the outside embodiment equity-based dispositions).
"This training, while it addresses the very personal needs of avoiding teacher burnout and coping with stress, finds its way into improving our relationships with everyone we encounter on our mission to teach.
Self-love as the cornerstone of racial justice seems simple, cutting edge, and essential all at once."
Minneapolis Public High School Teacher
Core Burn Clean Cycle
The Light You Cast™ Soul and Social Justice illuminates a cyclical process that builds stable and sustainable energy over time where the educator/educational caregiver cultivates a relationship with the self that honors, respects, and witnesses one's own inner diversity, truth, and soul purpose.
Then, as caregivers develop and maintain a healthy and compassionate relationship to the self, especially through pain and stress, they become more skillful in creating relationships with students and those in their school community from a place of authenticity, respect, emotional safety, and unconditional positive regard.
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Your Co-Teachers
The Light You Cast™ Soul and Social Justice trainings are co-taught by
Dr. Jen and Dr. Nuhu.
Core Restoration Practices
Embodied Equity
The Light You Cast™ Soul and Social Justice recognizes that educational caregiver dispositions are not fixed personality traits; they are dynamic and cultivatable. With a growing body of data-driven mindfulness-based interventions and strategic somatic body-healing practices, we can effectively train and support the cultivation of essential habits of mind and dispositions
embodied equity:
Self-Awareness | Perspective | Integrity | Truth Telling | Unconditional Positive Regard
REST
Healing Pillar
Regulate Nervous System
Engage trauma-informed, body-centered "pressure relief valve" practices that harmonize, soothe, and regulate the mindbodysoul system.
RESTORATION
Healing Pillar
Making Meaning | Integration
Consciously metabolize
mental and emotional stress through our signature cognitive - behavioral Burn Clean Process to build resilience, self-confidence, mental agility, emotional literacy, and behavioral patterns that align with core worth and values.
REVITALIZATION
Healing Pillar
Connection with Others
Cultivate social intelligence and relationship skills to see, sense and respond to another's behavioral cues without taking it personally while creating resonate relationship patterns where others feel valued and visible.
Curriculum
The Light You Cast™ Soul and Social Justice curriculum
teaches the science of relationships and is based on:
Healing-Centered Design
Mindfulness
Somatic Practices
Social and Emotional Learning Theory (SEL)
Interpersonal Neurobiology
Trauma-Responsive Care
Restorative Justice Practices
Training Design & Delivery
The Light You Cast™Soul and Social Justice curriculum is offered as a series of in-person trainings where we gather to engage school personnel in exploring the intersection between social and emotional learning (SEL), relational health competencies, healing, and anti-racist, restorative practices to cultivate SOUL Justice (the inside work of embodied equity) and SOCIAL Justice (the outside embodiment equity-based dispositions).
All training sessions include:
Direct instruction on current, evidence-based knowledge and research about burnout and compassion fatigue prevention, human resilience, restorative justice, and relational health practices
Trauma-informed somatic breath and body practices that strengthen the parasympathetic nervous system's relaxation response and calm a busy mind in the midst of working with and alongside students
Beautifully illustrated Put Into Practice training handbook that outlines detailed application practices to integrate into one's daily life both personally and professionally in the school space
Personal reflection and peer connection to facilitate healing-centered communities of practice
"Thank you very much for your incredible workshop today. My staff were engaged, inspired, and felt a sense of healing and restoration.
This training has helped change the mindset of my staff from surviving to striving. My school experienced significant trauma last year as two staff members died from COVID-19. Jennifer and Nuhu created a space for my staff to heal, care, and restore their love for teaching."
Saint Paul Public School Administrator
In-Person Offerings
Foundations Training
In this training, educational professionals become relationship researchers who learn how to strategically stoke their presence through the art of soul justice (healthy relationship with the self) to embody social justice in the school setting by intentionally creating relational spaces of belonging, safety, respect, and unconditional positive regard.
Educators and educational caregivers will become skilled in the personal development of SEL, Embodied Equity, and Soul Care Competencies so to explore how these states of being simultaneously heal and prevent burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral injury while enabling the caregiver to embody equity and anti-racist ways of being.
In our foundations training, together, we will:
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Explore and experience the 3 R's - REST, RESTORATION, REVITALIZATION cycle of educational caregiver mental health, emotional literacy, and soul wellbeing.
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Engage and experience trauma-responsive mind-body somatic healing practices that calm a busy mind, soothe the nervous system, relieve anxiety and overwhelm, and revitalize energy throughout one's entire system
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Reconnect with one's core power sources as a educator: core values, core strengths, core calling, core knowledge, and soul purpose
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Learn how to recognize the obvious and not so obvious stages and manifestations of teacher burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral injury
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Gain awareness of the 8 primary stressors for educators that drive burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral injury and the manifestation of "bad-othering" and depersonalization
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Learn and engage our signature Burn Clean CycleTM process for metabolizing the toxic stress that feeds burnout into fuel that builds embodied equity resilience reservoirs that revive relationship health and resonance with others
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Learn how to concretely engage the (5) core competencies of SEL during stressful moments in schools to intentionally develop the (5) core competencies of Embodied Equity and Soul Health
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Explore the art of boundary setting and learn practical and concrete boundary building techniques that protect the educators most important equity-based assets- compassion, curiosity, and calm
Soul & Social Justice
in Schools
The Restoration - Retention - Resonance Cycle
This is a 5-6 hour training.
Choose which option works best for your staff
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(1 day) 5-6 hour, in-person, training
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(2 day) 3 hour, in-person, training
Connect with Jen for a customized investment quote for the size of your group
4 Core Topics Trainings
Following the Foundations Training, a series of additional (3 hour) training sessions can be offered ala cart style or as a cohesive 12 hour immersive experience.
#1
The Healing Powers of Compassion
How compassion for the self cultivates compassion and empathy for students
#2
Detoxing Toxic Stress
Stress as a catalyst for cultivating Soul and Social Justice
“It’s critical to realize that this epidemic of compassion fatigue is a shared responsibility. Individuals are not going to ‘resilience their way’ out of this.” Oana Tomescu, MD Compassion for the self begets compassion for those in one's care. We believe that educational caregivers can learn strategies, perspectives, habits, and ways of being in relationship to stress and PTSD that stoke self-witnessing, self-compassion, and unconditional positive regard. Compassion heals burnout, secondary trauma, and compassion fatigue, and it is the core energetic element of embodied equity and restorative justice practices. This session sets the foundational concepts of Relationship Revitalization and Compassionate Caregiving. In it educators will: - Learn and practice the 3 core elements of self-compassion while exploring how self-compassion has protective properties that stave off burnout, depersonalization, "bad-othering," and compassion fatigue. - Explore the difference between compassion fatigue, burnout, and moral injury - Experience the C.A.R.E healing module for revitalizing relationships based on deep listening and empathy - Discover one's personal triggers that drive compassion fatigue - Learn an evidence-based C.A.R.E practice for strengthening healthy relationships and social connections in one's classroom (or school) where all feel safe, significant, and valued - Engage and experience REVITALIZING mind-body practices that activate the "soul nerve" and drive connection with those in our care
"Healing is a practice. It's not a one-time thing or idea. If I get up and do a bunch of exercises and repeat them, over time my muscles with get stronger. Healing is a practice just like this." (M. Schroedl) In this session we explore leveraging stress as a catalyst to cultivating soul and social awareness to intentionally create opportunities to be "in-tune" with the self while we "attune" to our students. To create the inner spaciousness necessary to cultivate embodied equity, we must first learn how to strategically detox stress before it sets into the mind, body, and soul system. In this session, we focus our attention on specific practices that educators can leverage THROUGH stressful moments to transfigure toxic stress into moments of self-care and self-healing. Not all stress is created equal. Some stress is good and some is not. In this session we explore the Stress Spectrum while educators learn about how the personally interact with and metabolizes different stressors in different ways. In this session, we explore the toxic stress impact and it's connection to how it negatively impacts student-teacher relationships and the teacher's relationship with the self. Our focus: -What is toxic stress vs. healthy/productive stress? How does toxic school stress create trauma in the body of the educator? -What is productive/healthy stress? -How can we strategically metabolize common teacher triggers into energetic fuel that stokes teacher resilience, mental health, and wisdom? Discover one's personal triggers that drive toxic reactions and learn an evidence-baed H.E.A.L practice for transforming a trigger into healing, insight, and mental health Engage and experience RESTORATIVE mind-body practices that settle and safeguard the body and befriend the nervous system
#3
Creating Micro-Miracle Moments of Equity and Justice
Social Justice for soft souls
#4
Resonance & Relationships in Schools
Creating a relational space in your classroom that nurtures resonant relationships and relational health
"Social justice work, we often assume, is raised voices and raised fists. It requires leading, advocating, fighting, and organizing wherever it takes place--in the streets, slums, villages, inner cities, halls of political power, and more. But what does social justice work look like for those of us who don't feel comfortable battling in the trenches?" (Dorcas Cheng-Tozun) Some of the most profound acts of social justice happen in silent moments of understanding, recognition, and compassion between a teacher and one's students. In this session, we explore the many, many ways teachers and educational caregivers enact powerful yet gentle acts of social justice through compassion, curiosity, and the warm demander archetype. We will explore the anatomy of the "mirco-miracle moment" and how to intentional create these moments within one's relationship to their students while teaching. This session will also allow us to apply all we have learned about the ways different bodies experience stress, hold and heal trauma, and how to "read" student behavior from a trauma-compassionate perspective. Educators will leave this session with a heightened awareness of all the ways they currently embody equity and anti-racist practices through their kind, compassionate, and calm presence while they learn concrete strategies for creating space for micro-miracle moments to be a natural occurrence in their classroom.
"As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our PRESENCE automatically liberates others." (M. Williamson) All relationships are a sharing of energy and information (Dan Seigel, Interpersonal Neurobiology). The light you cast, your presence, is the foundation of creating and sustaining healthy relationships. In order to best know how to sustain and maintain health relationships outwardly, one must know the core inner processes and practices that produce a healthy relationship with the self. If we aspire to create and hold space for our students to grow, thrive, become, and realize their fullest expression of self, we first need to know and practice this resilience and becoming practice for ourselves. In this session, caregivers engage the 4 core elements for committing to their commitment to maintain balance between investing energy inward to grow and develop as a human and soul while shining their light as a safe haven and guidepost for their students. In this session we explore the neuroscience and neurobiology of creating resonance and harmonization between teacher and student in the classroom setting. Educators will leave this session having practiced the 4 elements to creating and holding "relational spaces" that nurture courage, connection, and belonging without losing themselves (and draining their energy) in the process.
Select one or more 3 hour training ala cart style or offer all 4 to your school or district staff
Connect with Jen for a customized investment quote for the size of your group and desired choice of sessions
On-Demand | Self-Paced Offering
The entire (8) module signature curriculum fully online and self-paced can be licensed for just you or your entire school or school district for ongoing, sustained mental health, emotional resilience, relational health, and burnout prevention support.
The Light You Cast™ ONLINE Curriculum can also be offered to complement and deepen any in-person professional development experiences of the in-person The Light You Cast™ Soul and Social Justice professional development experiences.
Outcomes
Through the The Light You Cast™ Soul and Social Justice,
we will enact the cycle of healing and mindbodysoul restoration:
RECOGNITION
Validate educational caregivers need for sustained and systematic support in monitoring and assessing their physical, emotional, mental, and soul health within the system of education and everyday teaching.
EDUCATION & AWARENESS
Explore the 3 R's of educational caregiver mindbodysoul healing and health - REST, RESTORATION, REVITALIZATION; raise awareness of the primary sources of toxic stress in teaching and how to leverage stress to heal (vs. cause soul and self harm); explore the stages and manifestations of burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral injury and how they silently undermine our social justice efforts.
AWAKENING
Discover and engage trauma-informed principles, practices, and perspectives to REGULATE and soothe the nervous system so to RELATE to stress in a healthy way in order to cultivate REASON and wisdom from overwhelm, uncertainty, stress, and anxiety that occurs in education and anti-racist work.
EMBODIMENT
Experience slow and gentle body-based movement poses designed to activate the parasympathetic nervous system to melt tension while providing moderate amounts of healthy stress to boost mental and emotional energy, improve balance and body-awareness, and help to reduce inflammation that leads to disease; cultivate brain-health through mindfulness-based visualizations that activate the self-regulatory part of the brain to soothe stress, alleviate anxiety, and over-ride overwhelm.
RESTORATION
Learn how to engage our signature Burn Clean CyleTM for metabolizing stress into mental strength and agility, emotional health and vitality, value-based self-agency and action, and post-traumatic wisdom.
SUSTAINED SUPPORT
Engage in strategic school-based support and peer networking so to continually manage and mitigate the onset of burnout, secondary trauma, and moral injury while magnifying collective healing and individual restoration and rejuvenation of educators and educational caregivers.
What educators are saying after engaging The Light You Cast trainings
I believe...
“I can re-story a threat to be a challenge.”
“My perception of a situation creates my feelings in that present moment. What I am feeling directly influences what I say and do. I should go into each moment knowing that I have a deep well of kindness, calmness and caring to bring to that next moment or next interaction with students.”
“My joy comes from seeing the beauty of each child when they are learning and feeling successful!! I also feel joy when children come to see me with such love and excitement!!!"
“If I am feeling stressed, just taking a few moments to focus on my breathing will help reset my body.”
“How important gratitude is. Asking how I want to be today and recognizing my breath.”
“That we have to be intentional about creating opportunities to connect with and show compassion for students.”
“Creating micro-miracle moments in the day to stop the fast pace and connect with those in my care - miracles are more like changes in perspective, so I realized I have more control than I thought."
“In order to truly affirm my students, I need to affirm myself first.”
“I am naturally resilient, and that resilience within is cultivated in relationships with others, and hence as a teacher I am critical in building resiliency in my students. Embracing and honoring trauma is at the heart of allowing fear to turn into love.”
"I am enough."
"This training, while it addresses the very personal needs of avoiding burnout and coping with stress, finds its way into improving our relationships with everyone we encounter on our mission to teach. Self-love as the cornerstone of racial justice seems simple, cutting edge, and essential all at once. "
Statistics
40+
school districts and private schools who have engaged and integrated The Light You Cast™ professional development for their educators and educational caregivers
26,000
views of the On-Demand | Self-Paced The Light You Cast™ content and yoga videos by educators and educational caregivers.
17,000 +
hours invested by educators in their mental health, emotional wellness, body health, and soul well-being through the On-Demand | Self-Paced The Light You Cast™curriculum
8,000 +
educators and educational caregivers that have invested in their mind, body, and soul health through
The Light You Cast™ in-person and on-demand experiences
Certificate of Completion
Earn a Certificate of Completion for total number of "clock hours" to submit to their accrediting body for Continuing Education Credit consideration.
