This learning community series provides participants space to explore emotion-related practices that support social and emotional learning. Participants in this series will deepen their understanding of emotions, empathy, coaching, and trauma-informed practices over five 2-hour sessions.

Foundations of Self-Awareness of Emotional Development | March 16 The ability of adults to support young people in identifying and managing their emotions starts with the adults’ ability to do the same. In this experiential workshop, participants will deepen their understanding of how people interpret and feel emotions; how they personally experience hot buttons and emotional activation; as well as explore self-regulation.

Emotion Coaching | March 18: Emotion Coaching is an approach to young people’s emotions that accepts and validates the emotions, while still providing guidance and tools, when needed, to support young people’s emotion management skills. Participants are given a step-by-step guide to emotion coaching and given opportunities to practice their emotion coaching skills.

Cultivating Empathy | March 23: By incorporating and modeling empathy, youth workers can add value to their programs and promote positive skill-building for young people. In this session, participants will practice strategies for supporting empathy-building, including active listening skills that model empathy and encourage young people to express their emotions in a healthy way.

Trauma-Informed Practices | March 25: During this workshop, participants will explore how the Weikart Center’s Pyramid for Program Quality has a direct connection to creating a trauma-informed setting.

Final Reflection | March 30: Come together as a cohort to reflect on this professional development series and look forward to your future as a leader.