Self-regulation is defined as the ability to adapt our neurological arousal, emotional state, attention, and behavior to meet our own needs and the demands of the situation.

The ability to be self-regulated is built from many underlying skills over a lifetime, starting in infancy. We learn self-regulation through many exposures to people who help us to feel safe when our brain and body are experiencing stress. Even when we have the necessary foundational skills our ability to self-regulate can change from moment to moment because it is dependent on the state of our nervous system. As professionals working on self-regulation with our clients, we need a variety of tools and a depth of understanding to enable us to empower self-regulation.

To be self-regulated we must be able to notice our own feelings and have the tools to meet our own needs.

The Powerfully You curriculum is a series of lessons designed to teach fundamental skills and concepts that encourage self-awareness and enable self-regulation, leading to improvements in emotional mastery. Powerfully You provides a lens through which individuals can view themselves and others in a positive light. This lens values strengths, individual differences, and sees the whole person from a perspective of compassion and curiosity.  
 

In this training we will explore the contributions of these concepts to self-regulation:

• Interoception and Body Sensing
• Arousal and State regulation
• Coregulation
• Sensory Integration and sensorimotor tools
• Relational connectedness
• Mindful awareness
• Awareness of habits/Body Battery
• Self-compassion
• Inquiry-based thinking

You are your best tool for teaching your clients to be self-regulated. Children internalize the regulation provided to them through co-regulation in the context of a connected relationship.

In Empowering Self-Regulation: Learning to be Powerfully You participants will learn concepts and tools that are applicable to everyone, children, and adults alike. This information will expand your toolbox of regulation strategies to use with your clients, as well as give you information and tools to expand your own resilience and capacity for self-regulation. In addition, there will be outside learning assignments (30 minutes per week) and group discussions to reflect on the therapists’ own capacity for regulation.

Download a copy of the full course agenda here

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Completion of this training qualifies you to be listed as a Powerfully You Provider and provides a discount to the curriculum subscription.

Upon completion of this PD activity, participants will be able to:

• • Describe the theoretical framework of Powerfully You and the evidence informed concepts that are taught in the curriculum
  • Experience and reflect on foundational concepts as they apply to the therapist
  • Identify concepts of self-regulation and patterns of state-regulation and reflect on how they relate to behavior
  • Relate the use of Occupational Therapy’s knowledge and expertise in utilization in class wide or community-based models of intervention and in Social Emotional Learning
  • Implement the Powerfully You curriculum with fidelity in classroom or clinical settings
  • Identify ways of adapting the curriculum to meet the needs of individual clients or populations
  • Create goals that address the student or client’s growth in self-regulation and occupational performance

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Presenters

Heather Spann, MSR, OTR/L                                

Heather Spann completed her Masters in Rehabilitation Sciences in Occupational Therapy from the Medical University of South Carolina in 2000.  She has practiced in pediatrics for over 20 years in a variety of settings including private practice, hospital practice, early intervention, residential youth programs, and schools.  In her previous roles, Heather has served as a clinic administrator and in program development for a multidisciplinary pediatric outpatient rehabilitation center and as a community liaison in grant funding and residential care facilities.  Throughout her career, her passion continues to be clinical practice with a specialty in sensory integration.  Heather has completed extensive continuing education in sensory processing, feeding, and is SIPT certified. Her favorite career highlights include setting up a multidisciplinary developmental intervention and screening program in preschools funded through Duke Endowment and her current involvement in Powerfully You. Heather lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her husband and 2 children.  She owns a private practice serving birth to teen in the natural environment, clinic setting, and a charter school.  She is passionate about learning and continuing to serve in her community as well.  She also currently serves as an Affiliate Faculty for the Medical University of South Carolina.  Heather credits the amazing children, families, and coworkers she has the honor of working and partnering with as some of her greatest teachers.

Amy Lewis, MSR, OTR/L

Amy Lewis is a mom, wife, and pediatric occupational therapist in Charleston, SC, USA.  She is a reformed idealist, a lover of logic and left brain thinking, and a lifelong learner (who has learned to appreciate her right brain, as well).  Amy has a particular interest in psychology, sensory integration, auditory interventions, relational neuroscience, and light touch body work.  She recently completed a 2 year mentorship in Tensegrity Medicine, an approach that treats the whole person from an integrated mind and body perspective, focused on the fascial system.  Amy’s OT career began in the birth to three population, affording the opportunity to hone her focus on foundational skills like postural control and regulation. Early mentors and teachers of great influence include Patricia Oetter, Nancy Lawton-Shirley, Sheila Frick, and Julia and Pat Wilbarger.  Certifications include SIPT, Therapeutic Listening, Rhythmic Entrainment Intervention, iLs, and Safe and Sound Protocol. Recent mentors of great influence include Kim Barthel and Tracy Stackhouse. When transitioning to work with older children and adults Amy maintained a focus on foundational skills and how they support regulatory capacity, while also bringing in her studies of mindfulness, and the practice of self compassion. Amy currently works at Powerfully You, teaching and supporting therapists, and lectures as Affiliate Faculty at The Medical University of South Carolina. Powerfully You is a culmination of  20 years working as an OT, combined with life experiences and learnings, and a passion for being with others on their journey in a way that comes alongside and offers information and tools.
 

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Who Should Attend

Professionals seeking a depth of understanding to empower self-regulation with clients.
 

Attendance Requirements

Participants are required to attend the live-streamed sessions in real time to receive a Certificate of Completion for the program. Participants may miss 1 session during the livestreamed course to be eligible for a certificate of completion and CEUs. A brief CEU quiz must also be completed and passed with at least 80% accuracy for each section to verify competency. The course instructor(s) must be informed of any absences ahead of time. Emergencies or unplanned absences will be handled at discretion of the course instructor(s) and Director of Education.

Video recordings may be made available for review in the case of an absence, however this is not guaranteed due to potential technical issues.

 

Continuing Education 

 

Cancellation Policy

All registrations must be finalized or cancelled for a full refund by January 16, 2023. Registrations cancelled after January 16, 2023 will be deferred to a future STAR Institute course or courses of similar value. In the event this program must be cancelled due to illness, fire, strikes, war, acts of God, terrorism or other causes that would prevent the event from taking place, STAR Institute will attempt to reschedule the event. If the event is unable to be rescheduled, STAR Institute will refund all tuition fees paid.