Joanna Curry-Sartori – Transform Classrooms from the Inside Out: Effective Interventions to De-Escalate Extreme Emotions & Disruptive Behaviors in Schools

Outline

What is Internal Family Systems (IFS)?

If you’ve ever seen Disney Pixar’s film, Inside Out, you’ve got a head start on the IFS approach! In the movie, what Inside Out calls emotions (Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness), IFS calls parts. Each part of you has positive intentions, but sometimes they can be easily highjacked by other people’s behavior. This program will show you how to weave these concepts into your life to better show up for your students and reduce your stress levels.

Apply IFS in Schools

Core Concepts of IFS & Evolution of the School Model

• Current state of students, educators and schools
• Student’s need for connection to self and to others
• Your vision for students & how IFS can help
• IFS Model & core concepts created by Richard Schwartz, PhD
• Development of parts, their positive intent and core needs
• Possibility for everyone to access their optional capacity to function & operate as best self

Apply IFS to You

Showing Up as Your BEST SELF for Students

• Understand our parts – different sides of us manifesting as emotions, perspectives, responses, etc.
• Relate to our parts, explore their source and needs
• Importance and benefits of adults practicing self-care to support well-being in students

Practice:

• Techniques to help you stay out of power struggles
• What to do when your buttons are pushed
• Understand protective response strategies to our own stress (extreme parts of us)
• Techniques on how to respond to upset students
• Understand protective response strategies to stress in students (extreme parts of us)
• Practices to access and operate with greater self-leadership
• Practical solutions to show up as your best self
• Reflective practice for personal awareness, self-care and understanding

Apply IFS to Students

Transform Disruptive, Angry, Disrespectful, and Distracted Behaviors

• Application of model in acute/crisis moments as response tool
• Implications for student behavior and learning capacity
• The effect of trauma and devaluing experiences to create extreme reactions
• How different parts/sides of us manifest as “bad”, disruptive/challenging behaviors in school
• Increase cooperation with teachers and their classmates
• Childhood attachment and the importance of relationships with school personnel

Practice:

• Implement pro-active, preventative practices: individually, relationally, in classes
• Increase awareness of different parts through mindfulness based, “unblending” practices
• Experiential activities which build foundational skills to apply with students
• Small work groups: applying the model with students