Stance of Curiosity

A liminal experience is a concept related to an "in between" time in which there is both familiarity and disruptive change.  Joelle and Gillian talk about the impact of the many significant challenges of public schooling in the past five years including the COVID-19 pandemic, staffing shortages, budgetary changes, and the current political context.  They talk through how to deal with all...

Gillian and Joelle explore the theme of being humans in helping professions, and especially in schools when it can be important to stay “on” and present as fully regulated when in front of students.  When we are experiencing big emotions but can’t show them, this can contribute to something called “allostatic load,” or the stress response our bodies and brains have to try to address a problem and...

Gillian and Joelle talk about the importance of including scheduled time to play in the school routine.  Recess is unstructured child directed play and offers students a time for movement, fresh air, social connection, creativity, and a break from responding to task demands.  Elementary school students also have semi-structured child directed play in which the teacher creates stations in the class...

Joelle and Gillian draw on their years of conducting autism evaluations, and interpreting the results of these evaluations with children and families to share their perspective on disclosing this diagnostic information.  Both note that despite the nervousness parents and psychologists both can feel before letting children know about an autism diagnosis, these conversations are typically somewhere...

Gillian and Joelle talk about the skill of self-monitoring, which is an executive functioning skill in which one can self-evaluate and take a “bird's-eye view” to see how one’s emotions, thoughts, and actions are working to meet their goals.  This goals is related to but unique from situational awareness, which is the skill of recognizing the focus, actions, and energy of a group of people. ...

Joelle and Gillian continue some “greatest hits” of school consultation, with two more interventions they keep finding themselves recommending in their travels this year.  A “parking lot” is a tool that can help with impulsivity and calling out in the group.  Having an idea, then sorting through whether it is a helpful idea for the group in the moment, and THEN figuring out how to “shelve” and rem...

Gillian & Joelle share two of their most common suggestions when consulting with educators and clinicians working with kids.  “Step over the behavior” helps us connect with the need and emotion driving negative behavior, shift engagement to be more positive for all, and protect us from taking on stress that is not ours to own.  “Two by ten” is a strategy of spending two minutes per day for ten...

Joelle & Gillian discuss the tension between offering support and skills to help people build stress tolerance for growth promoting opportunities and validating and supporting those who are experiencing anxiety and trauma response.  Essentially how do we balance nurturing someone who is suffering, with offering them an empowering and consented-to push? Specific approaches of worry time and tri...

In which Joelle and Gillian think they are doing a dress rehearsal for the first episode but surprise themselves and the world by identifying a bit of a mission statement of their work and of this podcast thereby stumbling upon a real episode.  The mission statement: To protect the “natural resources” of the bandwidth, emotional energy and creative thinking of children and adults in schools by add...

What's this?  A new podcast where clinical psychologists who work in schools advocate for a more curious, human-paced, compassionate approach to both teaching and administration?  In this trailer, Joelle and Gillian give their best elevator pitch. Find us on Instagram! Gillian: https://www.instagram.com/clearconnectionpsychology/ Joelle: https://www.instagram.com/joelle.vanlent/