Dr. Jen Clifden
Mental Health Researcher | Professional Educator | Burnout Preventionist
Community,
Integration, Support,
Healing, and Collective Health
The Light You Cast™ Communities of Practice (TLYC | CoP) is where staff gather to engage in a community practice around the core aspects of The Light You Cast™ curriculum. All healing begins with the two basics: SPACE and SUPPORT. TLYC Communities of Practice are designed to do just that right at your site.
Regulating the nervous system, relaxing and reframing the mind, and connecting with others are the pillars for healing and optimal mental health maintenance. The Light You Cast™ Communities of Practice (TLYC | CoP) embodies all three pillars in each and every 60-90 minute session.
Site-based (TLYC | CoP) embody a salutogenic approach to creating space and support to sustain optimal MENTAL HEALTH and WELL-BEING. We foster individual well-being by focusing on collective strengths, common experiences, and hope and possibility while we critically examine the way systemic stressors impact us on an individual and a collective level.
What We Know About
Healing-Centered
Community Support
"Community is how we respond to injustice. It is how we maintain balance. Our journeys are varied, our experiences unique, but the home we seek is the same place: a place of trust, a place of welcome, a place of respect." (Charleston, 2021)
Healing and wellbeing are deeply connected to the contexts in which we live and work. When we sit together and engage in a community practice of soul restoration work, we are able to focus not only on "What happened to you?" but also, "What is right with you?" (Ginwright, S.,2018)
Healing-centered engagement offers an important departure from solely viewing people through the lens of harm and focuses on asset driven strategies that highlight possibilities for well-being. An asset driven strategy acknowledges that people are much more than the worst thing that happened to them, and builds upon their experiences, knowledge, skills and curiosity as positive traits to be enhanced. (Ginwright, S.,2018)
IN-PERSON, On-Site
TLYC | Communities of Practice
The Light You Cast™ Communities of Practice (TLYC | CoP) are 60-90 minute, in-person and at your site.
They are based on a "come when you can" philosophy and occur on a regular basis (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly) to support on-going MENTAL, EMOTIONAL, PHYSICAL, and SELF HEALTH workplace wellness.
To sustain, deepen, and provide a HIGH-TOUCH sustained support option to complement any in-person TLYC professional learning experiences and/or the ONLINE, ON-DEMAND TLYC self-paced offerings already happening at your site.
To engage a SOFT-TOUCH of on-going support to introduce and immerse your staff in The Light You CastTM foundational concepts.
*No additional in-person or ON-DEMAND TLYC trainings are required to bring TLYC Communities of Practice to your site.
We intentionally engage people-centered care practices to create, hold, and protect spaces within our systems of care for human-service professionals to gather, connect, process stressful experiences, renew their energy, and restore their balance and health together.
Every 60 - 90 minute TLYC | CoP creates and holds a protected space where staff engage with core content from The Light You CastTM curriculum and embody the 3 pillars of MENTAL HEALTH and WELL-BEING.
TLYC | CoP Format
REST
Regulate Nervous System
Gather in circle, check-in, engage a somatic body movement practice designed to soothe the nervous system, alleviate tension, enhance mood, and increase the circulation of energy in the body.
RESTORATION
Process & Make Meaning
Discuss a foundational concept of the core curriculum, apply the concept to a current stressor, and engage our signature Burn BalancedTM Cognitive- Behavioral strategy to create meaning, gain insight, and produce widsom.
REVITALIZATION
Connect with Self and Others
Close the circle by providing time for peers to partner-up, strategize support,
and end with a guided body scan and breath work practice that participants can record on their devices and take with them to practice on a daily basis.
The Light You Cast™
Communities of Practice
(TLYC | CoP)
GUIDE Training
The Light You Cast™ Communities of Practice | GUIDEs are site-based staff who are trained in the core principles, practices, and body-movement experiences of the The Light You Cast™ curriculum and are trained to hold TLYC | CoP at their site or support individual clients.
TLYC Communities of Practice | GUIDE training series is ideal for site-based school or staff counselors, mentors, or mental health professionals who want to strategically support the adults they work with and alongside.
The Light You Cast™
Communities of Practice
(TLYC | CoP)
Train-the-Trainer Program
The Light You Cast™ CoP | GUIDE training is designed to provide strategic professional development and coaching support to site-based caregivers who want to guide their peers through
The Light You Cast™ REST - RESTORATION - REVITALIZATION practices within a small group
(or one-on-one) setting.
This training is perfect for those who want to deepen their personal mindbodysoul health practices and who want to create spaces for their peers to feel the power of community health and healing.
The Light You Cast™ CoP | GUIDEs are coached and continually supported in how to create and hold structured, 75-90 minute, small group community circles (or one-on-one mentoring support) that allow for individuals to connect with their body, metabolize a collective stressor though community processing, and engage mental health practices.
CORE CURRICULUM FOUNDATIONS TRAINING
10 weeks
PHASE 1: REST Practices
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Week 1 WELCOME ~ ORIENTATION
(1.5 hours, zoom or in-person) & ENGAGEMENT & PERSONAL PRACTICE- Module 1
(40 minutes) Asynchronous, online engagement of the self-paced The Light You Cast™training
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Week 2 ENGAGEMENT & PERSONAL PRACTICE - Module 2
(40 minutes) Asynchronous, online engagement of the self-paced The Light You Cast™training
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Week 3 ENGAGEMENT & PERSONAL PRACTICE - Module 3
(40 minutes) Asynchronous, online engagement of the self-paced The Light You Cast™training
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Week 4 INTEGRATION & TRAINING - Module 1, 2, 3
(3.5 hours) Synchronous in-person
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Participants share their experience with the modules, the practices, and how they integrated and applied their learning in their current role.
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Strategic Fire Protector training
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Part I: Coming Into & Creating the Space - Breath & Body Focus
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TLYC | CoPTM Guide's Guidebook will be provided.
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Individual Coaching Sessions with Jen
*Participants will receive one-on-one, 45 minute coaching sessions with Jen throughout each of the three phases. These will be held on zoom and are intended for you to receive individual support.
PHASE 2: RESTORATION Practices
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Week 5 ENGAGEMENT & PERSONAL PRACTICE - Module 4
(40 minutes) Asynchronous, online engagement of the self-paced The Light You Cast™training
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Week 4 ENGAGEMENT & PERSONAL PRACTICE - Module 5
(40 minutes) Asynchronous, online engagement of the self-paced The Light You Cast™training
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Week 6 INTEGRATION & TRAINING - Module 4, 5
(3.5 hours) Synchronous in-person
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Participants share their experience with the modules the practices, and how they integrated and applied their learning in their current role.
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Strategic Fire Protector training
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Part II: Creating Boundaries & Engaging the 3 R's Throughout the Circle -- Metabolizing Stress
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PHASE 3: REVITALIZATION Practices
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Week 7 ENGAGEMENT & PERSONAL PRACTICE - Module 6
(40 minutes) Asynchronous, online engagement of the self-paced The Light You Cast™training
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Week 8 ENGAGEMENT & PERSONAL PRACTICE - Module 7
(40 minutes) Asynchronous, online engagement of the self-paced The Light You Cast™training
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Week 9 ENGAGEMENT & PERSONAL PRACTICE - Module 8
(40 minutes) Asynchronous, online engagement of the self-paced The Light You Cast™training
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Week 10 INTEGRATION & TRAINING - Module 6, 7, 8
(3.5 hours) Synchronous in-person
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Participants share their experience with the modules the practices, and how they integrated and applied their learning in their current role.
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Strategic Fire Protector training
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Part III: Engaging the 3 R's Throughout the Circle & Closing the Circle -- Guided Mental Health Practices
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Total hours of train the trainer program = 17.5 hours
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5.5 hours of asynchronous, online engagement of the The Light You Cast™ self-paced curriculum
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12 hours of synchronous, in-person/zoom training
Investment Cost
$600 per participant for 10 week training series & unlimited access to the The Light You Cast™ ON-DEMAND, Self-Paced Curriculum for 1 year.
*Gather a group of interested individuals at a school site or your organization and receive a site-based cohort discount. Contact Jen directly.
Join the 2025
TLYC | CoP GUIDE
Cohort
Are you an individual mental health practitioner or caregiver in an institutional setting who would like to become trained in supporting your clients or staff in the The Light You Cast™principles, practices, and processes?
We are running a TLYC | CoP GUIDE cohort in the spring of 2025!
Please fill out the form indicating your interest. Jen will be in contact with you with more information, dates, and details.
Do you work in a school district or organization that would like to host a
TLYC | CoP GUIDETM train the trainer program for a cohort of interested individuals?
Connect with Jen to learn more about next steps!