Beyond Us & Them

Peace officer wellness, empathy & resilience (power) training program is an intensive and interactive, cohort-based, three-month curriculum for police and correctional officers that utilizes mindfulness practices, compassion-based communication exercises, and training in wellness-related areas such as stress management and self-care. The power program is a nationally-certified officer training course built on science-based strategies for optimizing physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health. The power curriculum addresses critical topics like burnout, empathy fatigue, moral distress, depersonalization, and pathological altruism. The program combines innovations in neuroscience, practices to strengthen attention and focus, mindfulness activities, along with regular peer-led council huddles, wherein officers gather regularly to unpack the topics explored in the curriculum that are showing up in their lives and work. Over time, these ongoing small groups help integrate the curriculum into agency culture. Agencies working with power find that the program leads to stronger relationships, more positive agency culture and enhanced community relations.

Public council trainings are experiential courses that explore basic elements, modalities, and forms of council practice. Foundations of council training serves as an introduction to learning council. The two-day/16-hour course is offered to the public and brings together those looking to explore their relationship with council in professional and personal contexts. Licensed marriage and family therapists (lmfts), licensed clinical social workers (lcsws), licensed professional clinical counselors (lpccs), and/or licensed educational psychologists (leps) can earn fifteen continuing education credits for completing the course. Deepening council training offers an opportunity to deepen one's practice of council and is geared toward participants who have been facilitating council for some time and are interested in honing their facilitation skills. Living council training, for experienced council practitioners, is an invitation to explore living the way of council. Online social connection councils are offered throughout the month and are hosted by the organization's executive director. All are invited to settle in and listen to one another, without judgment, and to speak from the heart. What emerges is a reflection of shared humanity and collective wisdom. These regularly scheduled online sessions offer a place to come together and connect with community.

Council for schools and educators is a council-based program that supports educational professionals across the spectrum of the educational system, fostering more cohesive and compassionate school communities. The organization provides an evidence-based resource that can be integrated into any educational environment to achieve a high-impact, sustainable shift toward a more cooperative, creative, and engaged learning environment. Council-based programs enhance communication and strengthen connections between colleagues, supporting more resilient, creative, and cohesive teams. Utilizing skills taught in this program, school communities become more cohesive and compassionate, stakeholders engage more deeply, staff develop a greater sense of connection and students feel seen and valued.