by Susan Hopkins EdD and Elizabeth Shepherd MSc This article was published as part of Reframed: The Journal of Self-Reg Volume 1, Issue 1 (2017) Hopkins, S. & Shepherd, E. (2017) Masking stress with misbehaviour: A Shanker Self-Reg Lens. Reframe: The...

Susan Hopkins
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Self-Regulation, Self-Control, and the Practice of Shanker Self-Reg®
by Susan Hopkins EdD, Stuart Shanker DPhil, and Rebecca Leslie BEd This article was published as part of Reframed: The Journal of Self-Reg Volume 1, Issue 1 (2017) Hopkins, S., Shanker, S. & Leslie, R. (2017). Self-regulation, self-control, and the...
Self-Reg Havens
As we explore in our Havens 101 Professional Learning Series, a Self-Reg Haven is a place where everyone feels safe in every way: physically, emotionally, socially and culturally. It's important to remember that a Haven isn't just a location. It is people, places and...
A Self Reg Lens on Returning to School during the COVID-19 Pandemic
In this video, Susan Hopkins shows us how the Energy-Centred Teaching Model (ProtECT, DetECT CollECT and ConnECT) can help educators reflect on and manage the challenges of returning to school in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. https://youtu.be/dJNJwVGGCh8 For...
A COVID Scare: 10 Self-Reg Reframes to Bring Safety and Calm to the Kids in Your Care
In this 2-part vlog, Susan Hopkins shares how a COVID-19 scare close to home, compelled her to share a series of 10 Self-Reg reframes for approaching COVID-19 with the children in your care. https://youtu.be/IUeRGy1nVxg A COVID Scare: Part 1 1. Our kids are not...
Self-Reg Diaries with Susan & Siena Hopkins
The MEHRIT Centre’s Executive Director, Susan Hopkins talks with her daughter Siena about our current situation with COVID-19. They chat about how talking with kids helps, and how we can help them (and they can help us) Self-Regulate. Watch the series below or on our...
Four Areas of Focus for Growth-Promoting Relationship Building in Schools
In this vlog, Susan Hopkins applies the Energy-Centred Teaching (ECT) model that she first developed with Dr. Stuart Shanker in 2017 to offer a fresh way of thinking about priorities for the start of the school year. Susan outlines the four frames of ECT–protECT,...
Singing goodbye to my mom: How the five practices of Self-Reg are helping me through my grief
My mom closed her eyes for the last time on a Sunday night last September and she took her last breath almost 5 days later. Over a short series of blogs to follow, I will share some personal reflections on the five steps of Self-Reg as practices that helped me through...
The Time Mom “Went Limbic” Over Some Pancakes
“Can you cut my pancakes for me mom?” “No Siena, you need to cut your own pancakes.” Then came the 9-year-old version of a protest: that slumped over, big sigh drama moment about the unfairness of my response. In a perfectly non-Self-Reg parenting moment I responded,...
Stranger Danger
In this vlog, Susan applies a Self-Reg lens to the question of whether or not giving children the message that strangers are dangerous really makes them safer. She shares her personal opinion that it might be better to help kids develop their own internal compass...
Self-Reg Schools: The 6 x 6 Series
In this series of short videos, Susan Hopkins looks at six role areas in education. She also offers six signs that practitioners in each of those roles are practicing Self-Reg. Watch the series below or on our YouTube channel here. Introduction First, Susan introduces...
Be Who You Are
In this personal vlog, Susan talks about neurodiversity, “weirdness” and individuality. She explains how her thinking about “normal” has changed and broadened over the years, and also relates an anecdote about a situation where her daughter was quite comfortable with...
Roberta Reflects On Self-Reg, Hope, and the Difference One Year Can Make
Towards the end of 3 wonderful days working in Alert Bay, British Columbia, I asked Roberta, one of the most inspiring teachers that I’ve worked with over the last few years, if I could ask her a few questions on video about her Self-Reg journey. Little did I know...
Unmotivated or Hooked? The Worrisome Pull Towards “Just One More Episode”
The other night I “pulled the plug” on Netflix for good. It was an easy decision after I used a Self-Reg lens to reframe a parenting problem I’d been struggling with for several months. Here’s where it started: “Siena, turn off the TV.” “Okay.” Followed by nothing....
Girls, Body Image, and Food
Susan Hopkins initiates a discussion on how best to help girls develop healthy and positive relationships with their bodies and food. She shares some of her own experiences around this issue and talks about the strategies and messages she is using with her...
Supporting My Daughter Through a Big Disappointment: How We Respond to Strong Emotion as a Self-Reg Parent
Susan Hopkins and Stuart Shanker use a situation from Susan’s parenting experience as a teachable moment about the Self-Reg approach to helping children deal with strong emotions. They discuss the difference between the cognitive approach — trying to help the child...
See A Teenager Differently
A Self-Reg Reframe of a Teen “At-Risk” My teenage years remain a blur. I was one of the troubled ones. I was “THAT” teenager—the at-risk kind of kid that neighbours whispered about and relatives avoided asking about at family gatherings. I was THAT kid. My deep...
What If? Series: Reframing Report Cards
Sparked by recent news about upcoming changes to Ontario’s Elementary report cards, Susan Hopkins and Stuart Shanker muse about how reframing the idea of report cards could make them a more enriching and informative experience for parents and students. In this...