Training & Events

Teachers report the highest level of occupational stress in many countries in the world, including Singapore. Navigating the multiple changes as a result of covid-19 has also left teachers feeling drained. Being able to self-care during this time is critical, as teachers cannot continue to function at their best when they are stretched. Join this workshop if you would like to learn how to better manage your stress, increase your energy and show up as your best.

Participants will:

• Learn about the importance of taking care of themselves (self-care)
• Explore the self-compassion framework, including mindfulness, common humanity and self-kindness
• Learn practical and effective strategies to take better care of themselves

Traditionally, discipline might have been to manage misbehaviour by meting out consequences. However, often there is no recourse for wrongdoing, or student end up feeling resentful or guilty. The premise of Positive Discipline, however, is "connection before correction" i.e. in order to empower young people to shift their behaviour, we first form a relationship and then empower them to take responsbility for their actions in a respectful, kind and firm way.

Participants will:

• Understand the 5 criteria of Positive Discipline
• Understand the mistaken goals of student behaviour
• Learn practical and effective tools to discipline more positively in their department and across the levels

Peer support is an important factor to support mental well-being in students. As peers would be going through similar pressures and challenges, students might feel more comforted and trust in them, compared to adult figures. As such, equipping selected students to listen and empathise can be a protective factor. Join this workshop if you would like to learn the skills that you can use to introduce peer support in your school.

Participants will:

• Understand more about the CHEERS model for Peer Support
• Learn practical skills and mindsets they need to have to empathise and support their students
• Be able to teach their students how to support each other using the CHEERS model

What is well-being? Why is it important? How can we improve well-being? The first part of the session will explicate what well-being is and how it is conceptualised across the lifespan. Key arguments for why it is important across different life stages will be presented. The second part will dive down into the speaker's research programme on student well-being. The different enablers and barriers to students' well-being will be elucidated. Furthermore, the speaker will also showcase his lab's latest research on Singapore students' well-being. This research draws on cutting-edge data science and classical statistical approaches and leverages on the public availability of international large-scale assessments such as PISA and TIMSS. The last part of the session will focus on the how of well-being and will delve into practical implications of well-being research in the Singapore and broader East Asian context.

The Mindfulness Initiative @ SMU is excited to offer new rounds of our Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course in 2022. The course is open to the general public and invites anyone who would like to live a life with less stress and more awareness. Beginners are welcome. No prior knowledge or, or experience with, mindfulness practices is required.

By the end of this course, participants will have had the opportunity to learn the following:

• Understand the difference between stressors and stress, consequences of stress, and different ways of reacting towards stressors;
• Learning both informal and formal mindfulness practices
• Learn about what mindfulness is, including the relevance of attention, intention, and attitudes of mindfulness
• Experience a variety of formal and informal mindfulness practices to increase awareness and reduce and prevent stress
• Develop a personal practice of mindfulness