What Happens When Sixth Graders and Elders Learn Together

In Saskatoon, Canada, a group of sixth graders spend their school year outside their normal classroom and at the Sherbrooke Community Centre, engaged in conversation and activities with the long-term care residents who live there. One day, they might be found journaling, another learning new technologies, or writing limericks with the “elders,” many of whom […]

A Playful Way to Help Children Learn Resilience

I sat around a table with a group of fourth graders learning to be mentors for younger students, and a girl looked at me and said, “Now whenever I am upset, I have Buddy and Snuggles in my head.” Buddy the dog and Snuggles the bunny are two of the five resilience habit animals that […]

4 Parenting Lessons I Didn’t Learn in Graduate School

I spent nearly a decade in various professional roles that led me to believe I was a “child expert” before ever becoming a parent myself. Before becoming a mother, I had values and expectations that felt thoughtful and well-intentioned, but then I experienced what I can only describe as aggressive humbling from the moment I […]

What We Can Learn From Accidental Pharmaceutical Discoveries

While I’m not a psychiatrist and I do not prescribe medication, I am intrigued by psychiatry and pharmacology. Perhaps I would work as a psychiatrist or pharmacologist if I weren’t so in love with serving traumatized individuals and families using EMDR therapy and emotionally focused therapy. One particular fascination of mine is pharmaceutical breakthroughs. As […]