Join us for a purposeful discussion with Dr. Anne Gearity about the essential role of kindness in education. Indeed, building a culture where staff maintain a disposition for kindness just may be the most effective and cost-efficient approach to providing effective and learning-focused special education services. Dr. Gearity will examine how adult states of mind impact student well-being and performance, how attitudes translate into behaviors, and how intentionally organizing interventions, including restorative practices that combine kindness with expectations, can improve student and staff engagement.
Anne R. Gearity, PhD, has joyfully collaborated with educators for decades, hoping to bridge learning and well-being for students and staff. She is a mental health provider, working with children, adolescents, adults and families. In addition, she has consulted to numerous school districts and mental health agencies, focusing primarily on development, stress and trauma, and changing intervention models to support positive experiences. She is currently faculty in the UMN department of psychiatry, teaching new child psychiatrists. In collaboration with Washburn Center for Children, she authored Developmental Repair, a manual for intervention with highly stressed young children that has been adopted and applied in many settings.
