Most of Us Were Never Taught the Skill Underneath the Skill.
A 10-session professional development curriculum teaching the adult capacities that make every other training actually work: self-awareness, precise language, boundaries, feedback, validation, help-seeking, and co-regulation.
This isn't about who has "what it takes." It's a training gap the whole field shares — and the data is consistent.
of K-12 educators report feeling burned out, and teachers report frequent job-related stress at close to double the rate of similar working adults.
RAND / NEA, State of the American Teacher, 2025
average annual turnover among frontline human-services and youth-care staff, compared with a healthy benchmark of 12% or below.
Child Welfare League of America; Casey Family Programs
of an employee's annual salary is what it costs an organization to lose and replace them — before counting what it costs the people they were serving.
Nonprofit workforce research, 2025
Almost nobody gets taught this — in any field, at any point in their training.
Self-awareness. Boundaries. Receiving feedback without shutting down. Offering validation that actually lands. Asking for help before you're running on empty. Co-regulating with someone in distress without losing your own footing. These are specific, learnable skills — not personality traits some people are lucky enough to have.
- → Reviews of emotional-intelligence training for educators and healthcare staff consistently find improved wellbeing and reduced burnout risk when the training builds self-awareness and self-regulation directly.
- → A meta-analysis of teacher burnout interventions found that programs targeting these exact capacities were among the most effective tools available.
- → Turnover among frontline youth-serving and human-services staff runs as high as 30% a year — and every departure breaks continuity for the people who depend on a consistent, trusted adult.
- → None of this means anyone is doing it wrong. It means the field never built this training in — until now.
“This curriculum does not assume staff are broken or underqualified. It assumes they care, they are already trying, and they deserve practical, evidence-informed ways to notice their own state, communicate clearly, and build trust with the people around them.”
Jennifer Ulie, Ph.D., AuthorOne throughline, five moves, ten sessions.
Every session builds toward the same outcome: people who can notice their own state, name it precisely, choose a response on purpose, connect and repair with the people around them, and offer real co-regulation without losing themselves in the process.
Notice
Recognize internal, environmental, and relational information before it runs the room.
Name
Use precise, tentative, nonjudgmental language for what's actually happening.
Navigate
Choose a response that fits the goal, the values, and the moment — not just the habit.
Connect
Respond to bids, validate experience, communicate clearly, and repair when it breaks.
Co-Regulate
Use relationship and environment to support access to regulation — for them and for you.
Trust
Not a sixth technique. The cumulative outcome of doing the first five, repeatedly, over time.
Ten fully-built sessions. Nothing left for you to design.
Every session includes facilitator scripts, background research, guided practice, debrief questions, and full-page reproducibles.
Where Are You Standing?
Recognizing and Naming Your Emotional State Before It Runs the RoomNoticeThe Precision Practice
Building the Emotional Vocabulary Regulation Actually RequiresNameKnow Your Window
Understanding Your Own Capacity Before You Reach Your LimitNoticeBids and Misses
The Small Moments That Quietly Build or Break TrustConnectBoundaries in One Sentence
Saying What You Need, Clearly and Without GuiltNavigateCatching the Trigger
Receiving Feedback Without Shutting DownNavigateSay It Plainly
Naming Dysregulation Without Shame, in Yourself and OthersNameThat Makes Sense
The Power of Validation, and the Cost of Its AbsenceConnectJust Ask
When Self-Reliance Stops Being Strength, and What Asking Actually RequiresNavigateBorrowed Calm
The Evidence-Informed Practice of Co-RegulationCo-RegulateChoose the pace that fits your team.
Every session runs 30-60 minutes and stands on its own, so you can run this however your calendar actually allows.
Staff PD Day
Run 2-3 sessions back to back for a single professional development day, with built-in breaks between each.
Monthly Series
One session a month across the year — enough space between sessions for staff to actually practice.
Full-Year Initiative
All ten sessions as a coordinated, sequenced initiative, moving your whole team through the framework together.
Jennifer Ulie, Ph.D.
Jennifer Ulie, Ph.D. is a nationally recognized social, emotional, and mental health expert, award-winning educator and speaker, and systems-transformation strategist. Across more than two decades, she has served as a special education teacher, professor, nonprofit founder and executive director, school board member, legislative advocate, expert witness, and national presenter.
Her work translates research into practical tools for schools, youth-serving organizations, and leaders. Through Mensana Publishing, she helps teams strengthen emotional intelligence, relational trust, communication, co-regulation, and the organizational conditions that allow staff and young people to thrive.
You already show up for others.
This curriculum makes sure you were actually taught how to protect your own regulation while you do it — not because something is wrong with you, but because almost nowhere teaches this.