At the first Self-Reg Summer Symposium (SRSS), back in 2015, most people were new to Self-Reg. So for the first couple of years the program focused primarily on science and theory. And people were eager to gobble it up. Stuart’s talks about the science of Self-Reg: how the human stress system works, and how an overactive stress system affects behaviour, thinking and feelings. People were also keen on presentations about the five steps and the five domains.
Science and theory are still a big part of SRSS. But as time passed, people began saying things like: “The science is great. But how do I actually do the five steps when I have so many other priorities to juggle?” So we began adding panels, short talks and other breakout sessions where people shared their Self Reg learning journeys: struggles, their insights, and how they were incorporating Self-Reg in their personal life, parenting or professional practice. Eventually we started to call some of these presentations Self-Reg Talks.
Leading up to this year’s symposium we are going to share some Self-Reg talks from past years.
To kick things off, here’s a talk from 2021, where Claudio Moschella, an elementary school principal with the Peel District School Board in southern Ontario, shares examples of ways that the five practices of Self-Reg have changed his life and practice for the better. For example, he explains how he has learned to reframe negative thought spirals in terms of stressors that are affecting him at the time.
“When I’m being negative about an event or an individual, I’ve come to realize that it’s not so much the event or the individual more than it is the sum of all my stressors. I’ve learned that, if I manage all the stressors that I’ve come to recognize, I am able to think about that individual or event and I don’t elicit the same negative thoughts.”
You can watch Claudio’s full mini-talk below.
