Peaceful Schools & Families

Educators are reporting significant learning disruptions in classrooms all across America today due to emotional activation in both students and staff. We also know that many caregivers are grappling with these same emotionally active experiences in their homes. People are looking for tools to support young people in safe & healthy ways as they move through tough times.

The Peaceful Schools and Families approach is the work of
becoming a trauma-responsive educator, leader, or parent.

In 2019, the ESSDACK Resilience Team participated in a trauma-informed workshop hosted by the Family Peace Initiative that focused on understanding how and why cruelty is passed to others and, more importantly, what we can do about it. Upon leaving the two-day event, we knew we needed to transfer this work to the world of education and families.

The resulting professional learning is designed to equip you with a working knowledge of:

our primary emotions
understanding how cruelty is passed
identifying personal tripwires that cause dysregulation
personal beliefs/attitudes that perpetuate the passing of cruelty
the process of building resilience in others

The professional learning series leads you toward mastery in the use of the inquiry process called the Art of the Internal-Focused Dialogue. Used when others are emotionally dysregulated, this strategy will de-escalate those we serve or parent. It’s a profound tool that will support you in becoming a master co-regulator.

Ultimately, this work creates leaders in your classroom, home, or organization who understand how to be coaches skilled in the art of Affective Communication.

There are multiple applications of this work that promote a regulated classroom and resilience-oriented environment for all students.

We’ve developed a trauma-responsive classroom approach using the Family Peace Initiative, a youth curriculum designed for Tier Three secondary students, and a Peaceful Families curriculum used across Kansas to help families become trauma-responsive parents.

Core concepts you will uncover:

the Art of Internal-Focused Dialogue
trauma-informed check-in to build emotionally regulated classrooms and homes
self-disclosure as a tool for trust
primary colors of our emotions
the power of enlightened witnesses to build resilience
discipline versus punishment
use of vulnerability to create safety and trust
the golden shadow and the shadow belief systems
our shadow messages that promote the passing of cruelty to self or others
how cruelty is passed
emotional tripwires and where they come from
the Art of the Emotional Funnel to de-escalate and affectively coach situations and environments
emotional doorways to co-regulation
how to recognize the destructive power of shame and how to neutralize it

Peaceful Schools and Families Workshop Series

The ESSDACK Resilience Team offers professional learning with a two-part series designed to provide you with the tools you need to implement the Peaceful Schools and Families curriculum in your school and community.

This series is a safe place for adults to focus on their own emotional health and wellness, positioning them to better guide others in the process.

Level I training supports a deeper dive for individuals into the application of trauma-responsive approaches and settings. If you’re looking to facilitate groups in your school or organization, we recommend digging back into Level I a second time and then exploring Level II.

In both workshops, we ask participants to experience first-hand the most emotionally active parts of the curriculum used with students or families. Vulnerability and personal disclosure are built into the series. This gives you a working understanding of what the activities feel like and, more importantly, the power for creating the personal change the activities hold.