A Synergetic Approach to Education 2024-2025

Registration Deadline is November 4, 2024, 12pm MST

Are you a school-based mental health professional questioning how to truly support students struggling with challenging behaviors? Or maybe, you’re finding yourself stuck between educational demands and the real needs of your students? Or perhaps you’re trained in Synergetic Play Therapy and looking for ways to bring your SPT skills into schools or educational settings to make a deeper impact? 

A Synergetic Approach to Education is here to bridge that gap, offering you practical, neuroscience-backed strategies that are not just “another thing on your or others’ plates,” but tools to transform your approach to classroom regulation and student engagement.

How Is This Different from Other Programs?

Unlike traditional educational programs that often overlook the link between mental health and classroom dynamics, our approach integrates decades of experience working at the intersection of education and mental health. This isn’t just about adding new techniques—it’s about fundamentally reshaping how you understand and respond to student behaviors. You’ll learn to implement small but powerful shifts in daily routines that prepare brains and bodies to learn, helping educators see beyond surface-level behaviors to the neurophysiological states driving them.

What Does This Have to Do with SPT?

Rooted in Synergetic Play Therapy principles, this program extends the insights of SPT into the classroom, giving you what you need to empower educators to become external regulators who support students in real time. You’ll discover how to translate the SPT model’s emphasis on regulation, curiosity, and connection into practical strategies that fit naturally into classroom settings. Our unique lens helps educators see their own roles in student dynamics, fostering environments of safety, belonging, and co-regulation that elevate everyone.

What Will You Learn That Makes Us Different?

  • Identify Missing Pieces in School Programs: Discover critical components often absent from current school approaches that keep students stuck in challenging behaviors and learn how to explicitly teach educators how to prepare brains and bodies to learn with “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches.
  • Model Classroom-Wide Regulation: Learn how to demonstrate regulation strategies that benefit all students and teachers, without adding extra workload.
  • Understand Underlying Issues: Help educators recognize the deeper dynamics affecting classroom behaviors in ways that make sense to them, making their interventions more effective and sustainable.
  • Tailor Supports to Educators’ Realities: Establish practical approaches that account for differing student needs while ensuring educators can implement them seamlessly in their classrooms.
  • Address Barriers with Curiosity: Tackle common challenges educators face and empower them to engage with these difficulties using a mindset of curiosity rather than resistance.
  • Prepare Brains and Bodies to Learn: Gain tools to articulate the connection between neurophysiological states and behaviors, equipping educators to support students more effectively.

What You’ll Gain:

  • Practical, Scalable Strategies: Implement classroom-wide regulation that supports every student and doesn’t feel like “one more thing.”
  • Deeper Understanding of Behavior Dynamics: Uncover the root causes of challenging student behaviors and learn how to guide educators in addressing them.
  • Empowerment to Transform Classrooms: Use the principles of SPT to create regulatory environments that allow for dynamic, individualized support.
  • Collaboration and Connection: Model how to balance support and challenge, cultivating resilience in educators and students alike.

This isn’t just another training program; it’s a comprehensive approach to transforming how we see and support student behaviors in the classroom. Join us in moving beyond traditional methods and embracing a Synergetic Approach to Education that meets students and educators where they are—and takes them where they want to be.

“This course has been life-changing for me personally and for so many of the clients and families I work with! I love that your class applies to clinical practice as well! Judith has a brilliant mind and it was an honor to learn from her. I am so grateful. There are moments in your life that are pivotal and I know my Synergetic Play Therapy (SPT) and SPT in schools are one of those pivotal moments for me as a professional and a mom.” – Chey Cochran, LPC

Check out the clip below for a sample of what you can expect during live webinars!

Program Prerequisites:

This program requires that you have taken a Level 1 Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy® program. This includes the completion of one of the following:

If you have not yet completed one of the above programs, you now have the opportunity to meet the prerequisites for A Synergetic Approach to Education by taking the new Fundamentals Course through the Synergetic Education Institute!*

*The Fundamentals Course has been created specifically for individuals who wish to take a Synergetic Approach to Education but have not yet completed a Level 1 Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy® program. This course will take you through key Synergetic Play Therapy® principles, creating a foundation on which to build.

Please note: This course has been paired down to focus on specific concepts to prepare students for A Synergetic Approach to Education, and, therefore, is not a full replacement for the Level 1 Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy® program.  Should your goal be to apply for the Synergetic Play Therapy Certification program, you must complete the entire Introduction program.

If you meet the prerequisites for this program, use the dropdown menu below to select “A Synergetic Approach to Education 2024-2025” to register!

If you have NOT completed a Level 1 program, please select “A Synergetic Approach to Education 2024-2025 + Fundamentals Course”!

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Description

Program Details:

This 23-hour program is designed for school-based and clinical mental health professionals who work in school environments or collaborate with educators or schools, and who have completed a Level 1 Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy® program*. The program includes twelve (12) 1.5 hour LIVE webinars and five (5) 1-hour consultation groups. 

*If you are a mental health professional who works in school environments or collaborates with educators or schools, but have NOT taken a Level 1 Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy® program, you may now enroll in the Fundamentals Course through the Synergetic Education Institute to meet this requirement!

When: November 5, 2024 – April 22, 2025

Live Webinar Class Dates: 
  • Class 1 – Who Are You in the Lives of Educators?, November 5, 2024, 5-6:30pm Mountain Time (Denver)
  • Class 2 – The Neurobiology of Behavior from an Educational Lens, November 19, 2024, 5-6:30pm Mountain Time (Denver)
  • Class 3 – The Process of Developing Self-Regulation: Adding the Missing Elements, December 3, 2024, 5-6:30pm Mountain Time (Denver)
  • Class 4 – Brain-Aligned Strategies and Practical Neuroscience, December 17, 2024, 5-6:30pm Mountain Time (Denver)
  • Class 5 – Developmental Mindsets Paradigm, January 14, 2025, 5-6:30pm Mountain Time (Denver)
  • Class 6 – Creating Regulatory Environments from a Multi-Tiered Lens, January 28, 2025, 5-6:30pm Mountain Time (Denver)
  • Class 7 – Obstacles and Perceived Adult Challenges, February 11, 2025, 5-6:30pm Mountain Time (Denver)
  • Class 8 – Obstacles and Perceived Student Challenges, February 25, 2025, 5-6:30pm Mountain Time (Denver)
  • Class 9 – Moving Through Perceived Challenges, March 11, 2025, 5-6:30pm Mountain Time (Denver)
  • Class 10 – Shifting Paradigms: Utilizing a Regulatory-Focused Approach, March 25, 2025, 5-6:30pm Mountain Time (Denver)
  • Class 11 – Our Role in Shifting Perception, April 8, 2025, 5-6:30pm Mountain Time (Denver)
  • Class 12 – Tying it All Together, April 22, 2025, 5-6:30pm Mountain Time (Denver)

*You will have access to the program content until June 2027 to continue to revisit and apply these teachings to your work!

Where: Learn from anywhere! No commute required!

Cost: $975 USD for A Synergetic Approach to Education program OR $1200 for A Synergetic Approach to Education program PLUS the Fundamentals Course* 

*Please remember that you must meet the program prerequisites to enroll in the A Synergetic Approach to Education 2024-2025 program. If you do not currently meet the prerequisites, you may purchase “A Synergetic Approach to Education + Fundamentals Course” option to enroll.

Click here for payment plan options!

A Synergetic Approach to Education 2024-2025 Learning Objectives by Class:

Class 1 – Who Are You in the Lives of Educators?

  • Explore your role in supporting educators and schools
  • Begin to build a foundational knowledge base to share with educators that supports your role as counselors and therapists working with and in schools

Class 2 – The Neurobiology of Behavior from an Educational Lens

  • Gain insights into deepening educators’ understanding of the neuroscience of learning and behavior
  • Learn strategies for supporting educators using a regulatory lens to look beneath students’ behaviors

Class 3 – The Process of Developing Self-Regulation: Adding the Missing Elements

  • Help educators understand how missing programming elements may prevent students from using skills independently
  • Learn ways to shift daily routines to include critical components of developing self-regulation and reflection

Class 4 – Brain-Aligned Strategies and Practical Neuroscience

  • Discover brain-aligned strategies and how to use the “right strategy at the right time.” 
  • Explore the neuroscience behind why specific strategies are more effective and when to use top-down or bottom-up approaches, as both are vital

Class 5 – Developmental Mindsets Paradigm

  • Learn about the game-changing Developmental Mindset Paradigm and its implications for supporting educators as we reframe “resistance” to meeting educators at their level of readiness

Class 6 – Creating Regulatory Environments from a Multi-Tiered Lens

  • Discover ways to support educators in explicitly teaching students how to access doses of regulation throughout the day
  • Support the implementation of universal approaches in classrooms while offering higher levels of support when necessary

Class 7 – Obstacles and Perceived Adult Challenges

  • Learn ways of empowering adults to recognize their own dysregulation
  • Introduce the concept of the Set-Up, or Offering, to educators and how to use this as a tool in the classroom

Class 8 – Obstacles and Perceived Student Challenges

  • Explore individual differences such as sensitized stress reactions and working with perceptions
  • Examine challenging dynamics that often inadvertently reinforce negative beliefs and behaviors

Class 9 – Moving Through Perceived Challenges

  • Help educators understand the main causes of escalation and how being an external regulator supports moving through challenging moments
  • Examine a support continuum that includes setting boundaries without leading to feelings of shame

Class 10 – Shifting Paradigms: Utilizing a Regulatory-Focused Approach

  • Examine differentiation and the discrepancies in how we approach academic vs social-emotional and behavioral support
  • Develop layered social-emotional behavior support plans that match the neurophysiological states of students

Class 11 – Our Role in Shifting Perception

  • Identify and address common barriers when working with educators and schools and facilitate new layers of understanding
  • Model balancing challenge and support to create new neural templates for educators to help them adopt this approach

Class 12 – Tying it All Together

  • Examine ways to integrate the material in authentic and meaningful ways to you and your setting
  • Develop empowering relationships by applying Synergetic Play Therapy® tenets in our work with educators and schools

“This class has added the piece I felt I was missing from my Synergetic Play Therapy® training, which was how to do this in a school setting with Learning Tools, Behavior support plans, and discovering how to partner with my colleagues. This information will improve how we meet our students’ needs in a school setting. The resources were invaluable!”

– Kyle Berg, School Counselor

Online Consultation Groups: Throughout this program, you will be supported in applying everything you are learning to your classroom or educational setting through group consultation. Upon registering for the program, you will have the opportunity to complete a questionnaire to choose your consultation preferences.

Preview Consultation Group Options Here!

Instructor: Judith Norman, MA, MS, LPC, RPT-S

Judith is licensed as both a Professional and School Counselor. Judith is a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor and is also Certified as a Synergetic Play Therapy® Teacher and Supervisor, and in EMDR therapy, along with being trained in Mindfulness in Education. She has been utilizing the tenets of Synergetic Play Therapy® in educational settings for the past 10 years, leading to the development of social-emotional, trauma-informed programming to support students and educators.

Continuing Education Credit: Participants receive a Certificate of Completion at the end of the program and can also earn up to 3 Graduate credits from Colorado State University Click here for more information!

Refund Policy: Cancellations received one month from the program start date will receive a full refund. Cancellations received less than one month from the start of the program will receive a full refund minus a $100.00 administrative fee. Cancellation once the program begins will forfeit the payment. If an emergency arises, please contact us to discuss.

If you have chosen to enroll in the Fundamentals Course to meet prerequisite requirements, you must complete all Fundamentals Course requirements by no later than November 4, 2024, to remain enrolled in the A Synergetic Approach to Education 2024-2025 program. Should you be unable to complete the necessary requirements by this date, you will be withdrawn from the A Synergetic Approach to Education 2024-2025 program and will forfeit the payment for this program. If an emergency arises, please contact us to discuss.

Additional information

Select an option from the dropdown menu:

A Synergetic Approach to Education 2024-2025 – $975 USD, A Synergetic Approach to Education 2024-2025 + Fundamentals Course – $1200 USD

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