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 PVI Presents
A One-Day Summit for Educators: 

Body and Brain Brilliance

Saturday, November 16, 2024
11:00am - 5:00pm ET
Educators, mental health workers, helping professionals, and school-based personnel:
Don't miss this opportunity to build capacity, inspire culture change, and contribute to a more compassionate and inclusive educational community by understanding the power of human connection and the nervous system. 
If you are unable to join us for this workshop live in real time, your registration includes access to the recordings for self-paced viewing. 

When a child or adolescent is reacting from survival states, this is dysregulation in the nervous system. To blame a child for behaviors that arise from dysregulation is like blaming the night for being dark. 

-Dr. Lori Desautels

Body and Brain Brilliance

Cultivating Nervous System Awareness
in Ourselves & in Our Students

Join us for a transformative workshop dedicated to fostering a culture of nervous system awareness in schools, focusing on the underlying factors that influence behaviors and discipline.

 

Led by PVI Course Partners and nervous system experts Dr. Lori Desautels and Dr. Niki Elliott, this event will address the global strain on educators and caretakers, the challenges of bullying, isolation, and marginalization, and the need for a more collaborative approach to mental health in educational settings. Tailored for both school-based personnel and non-conventional K-12 educators, this day-long event will offer insights into the collective nervous system's role in discipline, practical strategies for adult nervous system regulation, and innovative approaches to creating equitable and supportive learning environments.
 

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For school-based personnel, educators, social workers, counselors, occupational therapists, and administrators, and those in the helping professions.
Non-conventional K-12 education providers including parents, homeschooling and hybrid school communities also welcome!

 

Questions about this One-Day Summit?

Contact us at events@polyvagal.org

As mindful educators, it's important for us to recognize the ways our bodies unconsciously contract or withdraw from students we have been socialized to fear or reject. These non-verbal gestures inhibit bonding and trust, and disrupt the learning process. 
-Dr. Niki Elliott

About Your Speakers

Dr. Lori Desautels

Lori Desautels, PhD is a PVI Course Partner and has been an Assistant Professor at Butler University since 2016 where she teaches both undergraduate and graduate programs in the College of Education. Lori is a former special education teacher and school counselor. In 2016, Lori created a nine-hour graduate certification at Butler University in Applied Educational Neuroscience/Brain and Trauma. Lori Is the author of four books including her latest book, “Brain and Body Brilliance," published in September 2024. Lori co-authored the social and emotional competencies for the state of Indiana and created a 100-day educational Neuroscience toolkit for educators worldwide. Lori writes for Edutopia and co-teaches in schools where she shares the application of her educational neuroscience research in K-12 classrooms.

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Dr. Niki Elliott

Niki Elliott, PhD is a PVI Course Partner and clinical professor of neurodiversity and embodied equity at the University of San Diego School of Leadership and Education Sciences and is an author, speaker, and trainer in the fields of neurodiversity, mindfulness, holistic education, and healing-centered engagement. Niki previously served as the Director of the Center for Neurodiversity, Learning and Wellness at the University of La Verne’s La Fetra College of Education. An experienced educator, Niki has taught students of all ages, from elementary school through university level over the past 25 years. She presently teaches educational neurobiology, neurodiversity and mindfulness for graduate students earning a master’s degree in Special
Education. Niki is also the founder of the Mindful Leaders Project, a program designed to help teachers, school leaders, parents and other education professionals increase their own personal well-being and social-emotional regulation skills to support children’s academic success. Dr. Elliott also serves on the PVI Board of Directors.

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Crystal Williams

Crystal Williams is a 7th-grade Social Studies teacher at Belzer Middle School. She began at Belzer in the Alternative to Instruction classroom in 2015 as an Instructional Assistant (IA). While as an IA, she returned to school to obtain her Masters in Education.  She is now enrolled in the Applied Educational Neuroscience framework Certification program with Dr. Lori Desautels. Crystal believes in helping students and adults understand themselves to become the person they want to be. She aims to teach others how to integrate educational neuroscience into content areas.​

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Dr. Dustin Springer 

Dustin Springer, PhD believes that it is the duty of our schools to focus on the social and emotional well-being of all in order to achieve excellence beyond our expectations. Dustin is not afraid to speak out against systems that are detrimental to the growth and safety of those in our communities. Currently the principal at Gray Hawk Elementary in the Basehor-Linwood
School District outside of Kansas City, Dustin has served students across grade levels  for the past twenty years both in the classroom and in school leadership. Dustin worked closely with a team to open the first school-based health clinic in Johnson County and partnered with area nonprofits to remove barriers to success for families. It was during this time, that Dustin began a paradigm shift of his own and began to understand the importance of keeping the word “YES” in his heart in order
to better serve his community. Dustin became a Resilience Coach through ESSDACK and began to focus on understanding the impact of adversity on the brain and ways to build resilience within both children and adults. Dustin presently serves on the Board of Gordon Parks Elementary, a trauma-informed charter school in Kansas City, Missouri, and  works closely with pre-service teachers at Emporia State University on understanding the Applied Educational Neuroscience framework and how a basic understanding of the brain can lead to a greater understanding of the human condition.

 

Robert Beltz 

Robert Beltz has devoted over two decades to public education. In that time of service, he has served in his roles of classroom teacher, English Language Development (ELD) specialist, consultant, and county ESL leader. He has earned advanced certifications in Trauma Responsiveness, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Applied Educational Neuroscience, and English as a Second Language. This unique intersectionality has allowed him to build his craft around relational safety in the schools while maintaining authentic connections with students and families long after leaving his
classroom. Robert is passionate about engaging in the complexities of social emotional learning, advocating for marginalized populations, creating systems of collective care for adults, and collaborating with experts who are also committed to bringing about radical systemic change.  Currently, Robert is researching the neuro physical changes that may occur in refugee
and immigrant students, as well as in other children who are displaced from their environments. At the center of this work is the nature of identity in the developing brain, and the adults’ role in validating and affirming this identity for each and every student in their care. As is true for all applied educational neuroscience, this work begins with the adults.​​

Summit Schedule

Saturday, November 16, 2024
Live online from 11am-5pm Eastern Time​  (Convert this meeting time to your local time zone, here.)

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​11:00am - 11:30am ET

Welcome: Drs. Lori Desautels and Niki Elliott 

with a visit from Dr. Stephen Porges, developer of Polyvagal Theory and co-founder of Polyvagal Institute


11:30 - 12:30pm ET 

What's happening beneath student behaviors?

Dr. Lori Desautels


12:30pm - 1:15pm ET

brunch/lunch break


1:15pm - 2:30pm ET 

Supporting nervous system resilience for educators and caregivers

Dr. Niki Elliott


2:30 - 2:45pm ET

break
 

2:45 - 3:35pm ET

Coregulation and regulation of the adult nervous system

Dr. Dustin Springer, Crystal Williams, and Rob Beltz
 

3:35 - 3:45pm ET

break


3:45 - 4:35pm ET

Rewiring our perceptions of discipline

Dr. Dustin Springer, Crystal Williams, and Rob Beltz


4:35 - 4:45pm ET 

break


4:45 - 5pm ET

Closing: Dr. Lori Desautels â€‹â€‹

If you are unable to join us live in real time for this live workshop, your registration includes access to the recordings for self-paced viewing. Recordings will be shared within one week of the live event and will be available for 180 days. â€‹

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Questions about registration? Contact us at info@polyvagal.org

Children at School

Register to Attend this Summit

We’ve introduced a tiered pricing model to ensure that our course is accessible to as many students as possible, regardless of their financial situation. You can choose from the following options:

Supporter Price $109
Standard Community Price $89
Opportunity Price $69

Please choose a pricing tier that reflects your financial ability. 

Everyone receives the same access to the course materials, regardless of what they pay.

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A group discount of 15% off the Opportunity Price is available for 5+ simultaneous enrollments.

PVI is happy to work with your school or district finance office or billing system to facilitate both individual or group registration for this event. Please contact info@polyvagal.org for assistance.

This summit is made possible in part by your generous support of Polyvagal Institute.

PVI is a registered 501(c)3 non profit organization. 

If you are financially able to make a monetary donation to support this and other community programming, we sincerely thank you. â€‹

Learner Agreement

Polyvagal Theory teaches that community is an essential part of the human experience. At PVI, we strive to create a safe learning environment conducive to connection and belonging. Please take a moment to read the following details as you prepare to join this course. 

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Time Commitment

This is a one-day event that is approximately six hours in length.

You will receive an email with the event recording if you are unable to attend live, or if you want to go back and review the content again later. 

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We also invite you to explore the opportunity to connect with other learners and attendees in an online group setting via the PVI Community App. 

Body and Brain Brilliance:
A Manual to Cultivate Awareness and Practices for Our Nervous Systems 


by Dr. Lori Desautels

Body and Brain Brilliance by Lori Desaut

NEW!

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