RESILIENCE COALITION MEMBER
Creighton University
INSTITUTION
Creighton University, located in Omaha, Nebraska, offers a top-ranked education in the Jesuit tradition for people who want to contribute something meaningful to the world. It’s where students, faculty and staff thrive in a supportive community committed to Jesuit, Catholic values and traditions.
Here, students learn to become leaders through service to others. Together with faculty and staff, they form a passionate community in which they are driven to do more, challenged to make a positive change in the world, and guided by fundamental values of the Jesuit tradition.
Creighton’s education embraces several colleges and professional schools and is directed to the intellectual, social, spiritual, physical and recreational aspects of students’ lives and to the promotion of justice.
NOTABLE INITIATIVES
The Link Between Trauma and Students’ Academic and Social Skills
Research shows a correlation between incarceration and childhood trauma. These findings underly a working partnership between Creighton University and St. Philip Neri Catholic School in the Florence neighborhood of Omaha.
The training program, titled “The Link Between Trauma and Students’ Academic and Social Skills,” asserts that troubled students are often in a state of constant mental arousal because of trauma at home and therefore cannot focus on instruction.
The goal is to identify, through teacher observation, students who exhibit symptoms of trauma and who might benefit from counseling designed to counter trauma’s negative effects.
Resilience: Informing Our Practice to Protect Our Children
Traumatic experiences in childhood can reverberate far into a person’s adulthood, having lasting adverse effects on their physical, psychological and spiritual health. For health care practitioners and social workers who regularly encounter people who have undergone this trauma, being keenly aware of the effects of this trauma is an important part of treating the whole individual. And trauma is also something some professionals sometimes are unwilling or unable to confront in their own lives.
Creighton University’s Social Work Program hosted an event aimed largely at students in the health and social sciences, but also attracting professionals with Creighton community partners like Children’s Hospital, with the objective of helping to create a dialogue on not only trauma, but the path forward for patients, clients and practitioners.
RESILIENCE-BUILDING COURSES
Teaching is a demanding profession. Now, more than ever, teachers are being asked to prepare their students for higher achievement, while taking on greater workloads with fewer resources. This can take a toll on personal well-being, and the stress can lead to teacher burnout. Burnout is an acute challenge in the first years of teaching, and even veteran teachers facing new, higher demands are at risk.
The Resilient Educator: Preventing Teacher Burnout will look at the unique requirements of teaching at the primary and secondary levels and focus on bringing balance to both work life and home life.
This workshop will discuss and provide an opportunity to practice self-care activities that teachers can personally use to enhance resiliency and well-being, for more effectiveness in the classroom and happier personal lives.
In western cultures, the words “happiness” and “well-being” are often used in statements of life goals and are referred to in futuristic, unattainable and elusive ways that are difficult to define and even more difficult to achieve. This online professional development course for educators will explore the science and evolution of happiness and well-being as well as the concepts of “purpose” and “meaning” and how we often resist happiness.
In the course, K-12 educators will participate in a self-reflective journey to define personal happiness and well-being by exploring various definitions and models. Participants can expect to take part in activities and reflective exercises that lead to a greater understanding of self and that fosters enhanced personal happiness and well-being.
Practicing self-care can “fill your cup” and enhance your overall well-being, which can make you more effective in your professional life. The purpose of this course is to create a synergy between participants’ self-care practices while considering their ongoing personal and professional demands.
As part of this course, participants will be exposed to the latest research on self-care, complete reflective activities to explore their current self-care practices, consider stress triggers and rate their potential for professional burnout. Participants will complete the course by creating a personalized self-care plan that will help fill their cup.
Social emotional learning is getting a lot of attention due to the emphasis in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), but what is SEL and how can schools make sure this type of learning is being addressed? Attend this course and get answers to these questions and more. Participants will learn techniques and strategies for promoting a healthy and vibrant culture for all students. In the end, educators will come away with a deeper understanding of how to address the SEL needs of the diverse populations they serve.
CREIGHTON RESILIENCE FACULTY
Beverly Doyle, PhD
Associate Professor, College of Arts and Sciences
Beverly Doyle’s research and publications have focused on managing the learning and emotional needs of diverse students. “How to Teach Troubled Kids“, and “Between the Lines: What Children Say When They Write” are two books written for teachers. Her research focus recently has been to encourage teachers to share their teaching strategies, and behavior management approaches in professional presentations and publications.
Jean L. Hearn, PhD
Associate Professor, College of Arts and Sciences
Jean Hearn has spent much of her career teaching in both public and Catholic elementary schools. Currently she teaches both early childhood and elementary education methods courses. Her passion lies in early childhood education, which inspires much of her research.
Dr. Hearn was recently nominated by the Nebraska Department of Education to participate in a multi-state study conducted by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The purpose of the study is to set a passing score and a set of standards for a test that prospective teachers in the United States must take and pass in order to enter the teaching profession. Hearn is one of only a few people in the United States selected for this national study.