By: The MEHRIT Centre in partnership with Trenton Military Family Resource Centre Shanker Self-Reg® has 8 guiding values, which are very well aligned with the goals of Canada’s Military Family Resource Centres. 1. Shanker Self-Reg® is a universal platform (not a...

Self-Reg Community
The Pervasiveness of the Self-Control Paradigm
By: Betsy Lamberson If you were to take a typical scroll through my Instagram feed it would consist of a pretty even mix of posts from people I know and care about to varying degrees, various advertisements and a healthy mix of posts about parenting, spirituality and...
What a Smile Once Taught me about Self-Reg… Four years later
By: Kapila Love Have you ever been struck by a smile? By how it made you feel? I’m guessing that the answer is yes. Allow me to tell you my story of being awestricken by a smile. For the first time since my son’s birth, I had to leave him in the good care of my...
Reframing Ontario’s Six Essential Learning Skills (a.k.a. “I KNOW, Mom!)
By Casey Burgess, Ph.D. When my children hand over their report cards, they always point to the self-regulation section, roll their eyes, and say, "I KNOW, Mom. That isn't what self-regulation is.” They sure are learning. One time, my youngest child surprisingly...
Five Midway Lessons From the Self-Reg Foundations Course
By Kapila Love I found Self-Reg via Facebook posts, and was intrigued enough by the pretty infographics to look further, to Stuart Shanker’s Self-Reg book. From there, it was a rather lovely, slippery slope into the Foundations Course, which commenced in the Fall of...
Self-Reg, Teens and Awareness
By: Laura Cesaroni I love all things Self-Reg and approach the people I work with through this lens. Understanding how the brain, body, and relationships impact experiences and the world they live in has been an effective process to support children, teens, families,...
Liz’s 10 Self-Reg Lessons Learned
By: Liz Shepherd Now embarking on my 5th year with The MEHRIT Centre, I have come a long way in my Self-Reg learning. No longer do I see misbehaviour, but instead stress behaviour. No longer do I view the world through a self-control lens. No longer do I see the world...
The Gift of Virtual Teaching
By Heather Bredin I have always wanted to create a classroom environment that communicates safety and promotes self-expression and respect. But when the COVID-19 virus hit the world, our goals shifted to a different kind of safety: physical safety from the...
My Year of Math
By: Vicki Parnell “You’re doing WHAT? WHY?” “I feel anxious just thinking about that.” With reactions like this, you’d think I was I talking about going skydiving, wrestling with sharks, or conducting some kind of dangerous medical experiments on my body. Nothing that...
Making a Judgement Call
By: Brigid Berry Recognizing stressors can be tricky. We are not mind-readers nor can we memorize a list of possible stressors and access them immediately. Time constraints, distractions and expectations can hamper our ability to readily identify and...
Reframing My “Meltdown”
By: Lindsay Hayes, Program Assistant Mentor, Pembina Hills School Division I love my job, but this week was hard. Really hard. Like so many people around me, the load is feeling heavy. We have a lot going on right now in our professional and personal lives with budget...
Compliance ~ A Principal’s Perspective
By: Arlene Robinson Rules, rules rules... we expect all to comply to the rules of school. This is for the best of everyone right? Sometimes the rules support, but not all of the time - particularly when the rules are not accessible in the moment. Sometimes they...
Step Away From the Stickers
By: Lisa Cranston, EdD Jenni and her mother pull up in front of the school. Jenni started kindergarten two weeks ago and every day when her mother drops her off, the separation is marked by tears and screaming. Jenni’s mom reminds her, “Remember – no tears...
Put Those Tears Away: Notes from the first week of kindergarten
By: Heather Bredin I was standing by the fence, holding a child’s hand. He was crying. Loudly. And he’d been crying loudly for the last 3 hours. “I miss my Mommy!” He choked out for the millionth time. “Mommy is coming soon,” I said flatly. ...
Self-Reg ~ Not Just for Kids
By Lisa Cranston, EdD Just like children, adults have emotional storms and we need that feeling of safety and security found through interpersonal relationships so that we can return to calm. One time this truly hit home for me was when my husband and I were living in...
Reframing Francis
By Sonia Gregory, Teaching Principal, Chief Paul Niditchie School Dr. Stuart Shanker says, “See a child differently, see a different child.” This is such a beautiful concept in Self-Reg. It seems so simple, but what does it really mean to reframe a child’s...
Learning and Letting Go in a Japanese Bathhouse
By Melissa Raine During a recent ski holiday in Japan, I had the opportunity to experience an onsen, a hot springs pool where the venerable Japanese tradition of communal bathing is practiced. Bathers are often but not always segregated according to sex. Strict codes...
“It’s not tight enough!” One Child’s Experience of Tactile Defensiveness
By: Alison Cass Ronald,* age five, is an empathetic and hard working child. His parents have taught him love, kindness and compassion. Each day he works harder than most children in my kindergarten class. Ronald comes to school with a smile on his face—and one of...