Nathan is a practitioner, researcher, consultant and facilitator walking alongside families, children, schools, organisations and communities within education, disability and child protection.
He has a passion for ways of relational practice, developmental trauma and family restoration. His research areas include the intersubjectivity of practitioners working with confronting behaviour and volatile substance misuse for children.
Nathan presented at the 2019 Trauma Aware Schools Conference in Brisbane and is presenting at the 2020 International Child Trauma Conference in Melbourne.
To have Nathan and his team work alongside you in your schools, go to www.journeyandconnection.com.au, or contact him directly at nathan@journeyandconnection.com.au
Nathan is a practitioner, researcher, consultant and facilitator walking alongside families, children, schools, organisations and communities within education, disability and child protection.
He has a passion for ways of relational practice, developmental trauma and family restoration. His research areas include the intersubjectivity of practitioners working with confronting behaviour and volatile substance misuse for children.
Nathan presented at the 2019 Trauma Aware Schools Conference in Brisbane and is presenting at the 2020 International Child Trauma Conference in Melbourne.
To have Nathan and his team work alongside you in your schools, go to www.journeyandconnection.com.au, or contact him directly at nathan@journeyandconnection.com.au
Elizabeth Diacos: 0:01
Welcome to the Get out of Teaching podcast presented by Larksong Enterprises. I'm your host, Elizabeth Diacos. On the show, we'll look at the Who? What? Why? Where, When and How of moving out of your Education career and into a life you love. We'll meet ex teachers, delve into what we love about teaching and how to translate that into something new. We will talk to people who can support and inspire us as we make the transition and work on identifying the legacy we want to leave in the world. So come along for the ride as we get out of teaching Episode 9 Hi, everyone and welcome to this episode off to get out of teaching Podcast where I'm speaking with Nathan Gallagher. Hi, Nathan. Welcome to the show,
Nathan Gallagher: 0:50
Hi Elizabeth.
Elizabeth Diacos: 0:51
So, Nathan, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? Like where you live, what work you do and how you help teachers.
Nathan Gallagher: 1:01
Okay, so I live in Logan, which is in the south of Brisbane in Australia and the work we do with teachers is working with them to ground themselves and ground to trauma and attachment in the classroom. So, grounding to individual need of children in their classroom and being the best that they can be and supercharging their use of self in relational practice. Essentially, it's about using the science of reciprocity and, using the power of relationship to be the best we can be and create opportunities for kids to flourish.
Elizabeth Diacos: 1:39
Okay, so So when you say the science of reciprocity, I'm not familiar with that, that phrase. Can you explain what that means?
Nathan Gallagher: 1:46
Okay, So people often talk about in teaching or in human services...People often say relationship is at the core... Relationship is at the centre of what we do. And so we started a process when we began working with schools of, asking ourselves, "What does that actually mean for our practice?" What does it mean to have relationship at the centre? And so we started doing a deep dive into relationship and the science of reciprocity. So relationship is not something that we do just to be nice or something that we do just to be good people, reciprocity and the way that we treat our relationships is a part of human survival. It's a critical part of human development, so we find ways to work using every element of relationship we possibly can in the way we do things.
Elizabeth Diacos: 2:38
Okay, so in a classroom setting, what would that... how would that look?
Nathan Gallagher: 2:45
So in a classroom setting, our self-cycle in air has three components. We start with grounding, so grounding is the process of connecting ourselves to anything that enhances our relationships. So grounding, to ourselves, understanding ourselves, which we're going to talk about really soon and grounding ourselves to the Other. So a child in a classroom with a unique need, whatever that need is, whether that's attachment- trauma related or whether it's a ADHD or there's another executive functioning issue with that child in their story...and the next step is intending, so really stepping out and seeking clarity within ourselves about what we intend to do in terms of how we, how we teach the strategies we use, how we use our relationship. And then the third part of that cycle is called "attending", which is where we actually do the bit that we do, sitting with them... the way we communicate the strategies that we use in the classroom.
Elizabeth Diacos: 3:51
Okay, so I'm going to just hark back to a moment in my teaching career, which for some reason popped into my head as you were talking about that where I've herded my little grade one class into the classroom and as I get in...So this is like 20 seconds between the first kid and the last kid, because I used to time them. One of the earlier entrants to the room has straddled another one and has his hands around the other kid's throat... It wasn't a usual occurrence, but I must admit I wasn't expecting it from six year olds. What do I do? How do I manage that situation?
Nathan Gallagher: 4:32
Well, there's a little button that pops up in a cloud, and it's called a silver bullet and you just smash it and the whole thing disappears.
Elizabeth Diacos: 0:00
(laughter)
Nathan Gallagher: 4:40
No, it's... Look. It's really difficult in those situations, right and, there are no silver bullets to dealing with all, all variances of behaviour and how kids communicate in the classroom. And sometimes sometimes it can be really, really challenging and really difficult and we use a tool called the Effective Wellbeing Scale when we work with teachers, and I guess the Effective Eellbeing Scale is about seeking a little bit of clarity about where we are on the scale of wellbeing as educators, as practitioners as humans. Ad, on one end of the scale for us is a concept called the supercharged self, and the supercharged self has six elements to it. So when we're at our best, we call it our supercharged self, and that's when we have supercharged regard for ourselves and supercharged expectations for ourselves and others and our level of well being , our emotional jug is primed and ready to attend to these kids, and we call it the supercharged self. And, so there's six elements to that. So the first one is how we understand ourselves through e self concept... so what we bring to interactions and it's really, really important to really gain some clarity about that. Unpack our world views, our beliefs, our perspectives, what happened when we were kids and how has that impacted us as adults and educated. So "self concept" is really the first one. Then we step to caring, so not caring, appreciating ourselves. You know, self compassion is one of the most important things that we can consider when, when looking at how we interact with kids in the classroom and the third one is caring for ourselves. So once, once we've got a reasonable self-concept, which ,which most people have, most people can talk to that for themselves. And we've really stepped through appreciating and having compassion for ourselves. And when we can't solve that piece of behaviour that's happening in the classroom, completely forgiving ourselves, it's absolutely okay. There's no, there's no professional in the face of the planet that can wipe confronting behaviour, no, behaviour that worries is is always going to be there in the classroom.
Elizabeth Diacos: 7:10
Yep, absolutely. I talked to so many teachers who are... that's one of their main reasons for wanting to leave the profession is that they're just so... they feel out of, out of their league dealing with the behaviour management. And also they feel unsupported by, you know, the next level of hierarchy who are meant to be helping them to manage that. And I know...cause I have seen it in action that the next level of hierarchy often don't know what to do either. And, so everyone's floundering around in the darkness, going "I don't know what to do next". So, sorry I've interrupted you... Keep going
Nathan Gallagher: 7:45
No, that's OK. And that's a really, that's a really good point. And when we talk about granting ourselves ,the reason we have a really purposeful point of grounding, being the first part of our self-cycle that we use, a "JNC " ...it's vitally important to understand that we're all making assessments every single day, every single moment we make assessments in our brain. We have perspectives on things that are happening in our classroom, and when you boil it down, the process of assessment is going from not.. not knowing what's going on to travelling the journey of, knowing what's going on, right, so grounding's really important. And so there's certain.. there's a communication tool kit... an inter subjective tool kit for understanding different inputs the behaviour for kids...
Elizabeth Diacos: 8:36
So hang on, just let me stop you...What's inter-subjective? What does that mean?
Nathan Gallagher: 8:39
Ah, yes, I popped that word in there! Inter-subjective, basically means...and, t's one of the core elements of what we do when we work with schools and work with educators... It basically means that we've got ourselves and we've got another person that we're interacting with, and that third space that we create with relationship in the middle. That's our inter-subjective space. Okay, so we contribute to that ourselves, and the child contributes to that. And it's in that third space of relationship that we can really create Change and acceptance and identity.
Elizabeth Diacos: 9:17
Okay, okay. Interesting Keep going!
Nathan Gallagher: 9:22
Yes. So the process of grounding ...So if that child who is behaving in that way has a story that includes an executive functioning unique need like, for example, a diagnosis of ADHD. Or, you know, most teachers would have heard of oppositional defiance disorder (ODD), and there's all of these disorders... and what we find is when we break them down, there's all these patterns in kids stories and we work most commonly with attachment-trauma. So people would have heard of attachment disorders... reactive... terms like reactive attachment. They're all they're all disorders that sit above different unique and intricate patterns of kids stories and so grounding ourselves to the needs of those kids. So behaviour is behaviour is not something that's good or bad. Behaviour is just communicating a need, right? So the more that we can ground ourselves to the needs of that child, the more, that we can know what we're intending to do in that moment and know what we ...Know, then, what we're going to use as our attending.
Elizabeth Diacos: 10:32
Yeah, OK, Yeah, that does make sense. So actually, I taught that that student in grade one, and then I had them again in grade three. And I remember it was it was a young man... He was watching me to make sure that I was fair to the point of, like, every single interaction with every other kid in the class. He wanted to make sure that I treated them in the same way that I treated him. So, I... he made sure that I was, if I picked up his behaviour for something, that I also picked up their behaviour for something and in what he was like, eyes on me like a hawk, and I did everything in my power to make sure that his days felt like there was justice. That was obviously one of a really strong thing for him. That sense of justice,
Nathan Gallagher: 11:17
the old social justice radar.
Elizabeth Diacos: 11:19
Yeah, well, he had it really full-on strong, but, you know, I mean he was right. Why should I expect one behaviour from him in something, and allow tolerate the same behaviour from another student? It's not...That's not fair either. So I totally got it. But gee it was hard to, you know, knowing I was being under constant scrutiny from this student, we actually kind of settled on a bit of a truce by the time we got to grade 3. Thankfully..
Nathan Gallagher: 11:45
Oh, good. Yes, it's absolutely fascinating. You know, relationism, is such an important concept in this space, and it's important to..you know that social justice radar, that need for consistency... we...You often hear... big events of worrying behaviour, you know, when kids are behaving in a way that confront us or worries us. We'd often, we often talk about crisis, and we talk about behaviour management in a way that we need ot shift their behaviour to correcting them. If that makes sense...
Elizabeth Diacos: 12:22
Yeah...absolutely, it does,
Nathan Gallagher: 12:24
...and we... So we call those moments instead of "crisis moments" or "behaviour management moments". We call them CALM's, and that stands for critical and learning moments, and the reason we do that is because it's a critical and learning moment. for that child. So they're, they're demonstrating their need, their developmental need in that time, and so they're throwing a radar out. So we talked about the social justice radar... they're actually throwing a radar out to us, and they want to see what comes back, and it's a critical... it's a critical part of child development is throwing that radar out... And so it's a critical learning moment, critical and learning moment for the child. But it's also critical learning moment for us as educators because what we do in that moment and what we do in every moment that comes in the future, that's the same, is going to be critical to how our relationship develops with that child. And, you know, it's such a beautiful thing to hear you say that that child was really seeking out what you were going to do in terms of other kids behaviour because he's invested in that relationship with you, you know, just like we've got supercharged expectations and regard for kids... They've got the exact same thing for us. They're throwing that radar back and they want to see what we do because they're invested in that relationship.
Elizabeth Diacos: 13:43
Yeah, you make a really good point about that.
Nathan Gallagher: 13:47
So we call them CALM's, and y'know, critical and learning moments. And that's because when we consider ourselves and supercharging ourselves "calm"'s a really good word to reflect rather than "crisis" because it takes a calm brain to calm a brain, is a saying of Dr Bruce Perry's... Yeah. and it's... So It's really important that we shift from crisis in behaviour management to a calmer space where we really step through the process of what we're going to do. And y'know, see clarity for ourselves. Because not only is that wonderful for the child when we're the best we can be, but it's wonderful for us and our well being.
Elizabeth Diacos: 14:28
Yeah, absolutely so if someone's really feeling like... if a teacher's feeling overwhelmed by all of the dynamics that are playing out in the classroom. And as I said... a lot of teachers, this is one of the main reasons why they want to leave the profession because they're just overwhelmed, and feeling trapped and disempowered often because they're not able to give the consequences, for instance, for difficult behaviours that they might think are appropriate. What would you... How would you help someone in that situation to navigate through that and still show up a their best self?
Nathan Gallagher: 15:14
So , we would go through the Effective Wellbeing Scale with that teacher and along the scale, there's a whole heap of elements, and we can actually identify where we're at on that Effective Wellbeing Scale and then put strategies in place to shift us back... back along the scale. The one thing I would say, though, is teaching is one of the most amazing professions on the earth, and it's also one of the most complex professions on the Earth. Because it's not just about making sure, you know, us within ourselves is effective and ready to go, ready to attend. It's also that critical web around us. You know, it's not just self compassion and self care, but team compassion and team care. And you know, the story that we often hear is that I want to be the best I can be in my classroom. But I'm feeling stressed. I'm feeling not supported. I don't feel like the teamwork, both horizontally and vertically is working for us, and that's a critical part of what we teach... is it's not just about looking after yourself, but it's about creating a culture of self- and team-care and that effective system of communicating through worrying behaviour. So, for example, you can have a teacher that goes "Right. I'm going to really delve into the concept of a calm, critical and learning moment, and I'm going to apply all of these strategies". You know, these eight steps, all of these things that fill my toolkit. If that child walks out of the classroom and experiences a different response from another teacher or a teacher aide, or you know someone on lunch duty or a deputy principal, then often a lot of that work off consistency and predictability and routine is undone, and, it's not undone intentionally. But basically the more that we can work together in our system... and school systems are a vital system, you know. You know, myself and my business partner Mark with J&C we've worked across the human services and we've worked across child protection as well as education, and it's most common that we find that all of those systems are not in place for consistency for kids, and (sorry, I've lost my train of thought)
Elizabeth Diacos: 17:44
So you said that it's common that these systems aren't in place, for consistency. And I mean, I've certainly seen that play out myself. I know that, like I had one colleague who would dim the classroom lights to try and create this sort of calm space. But then her class would come to the art room, which is this bright, open, airy space... Very different environment. Or they go to the gym, which is a massive space with a high ceiling and, you know, open space next to it. And so, in the different contexts, these different student behaviours would play out, and also the teachers are different. You know, the teachers behave differently in those different spaces. But is that a bad thing? I mean, isn't there... Isn't that part of just navigating the world like to be able to.... You can't...like, the world's not consistent. You walk out your front door and there's.. there's another environment there, from inside the house. So how do you... how do you help students navigate those different environments and still function? Because, as a teacher, I think it's... y'know we still want to function, and we want to do our job well no one wakes up in the morning and thinks I'm going to make some kid's life a misery today. I don't think anyone thinks that.
Nathan Gallagher: 19:01
Yeah, And that's the beauty of the complexity of relationship. Right? You know... we're going to travel through all different environments. We're going to travel through all different relationships in our life and there's critical learnings in that. And you've got to find a way to, you know, in a in a school context, in a school community or any other community, you've got to find a way to... particularly with kids with unique needs that need that... you know, they need a supercharged consistency and predictability in response to some of the things that were going on in their brain and what they're communicating to us... you've got to find a way to really nourish that consistency in that area and also nourish the beauty of having different relationships and different teaching styles and different educations. You know, it's a fine balance to get those two right
Elizabeth Diacos: 19:51
Yep. Yeah. Okay, so... So where would you say your work sits, like ...Do you work with the, like, the administration of a school? Do you work one on one with teachers like, how does your work fit into the context of a school?
Nathan Gallagher: 20:07
Yes, so most...most of our work is done with a group of y'know varied people in a school community in one room. So, from administrators to TA's, to admin staff and teachers as well, all in the same room. And that's a...That's a vital part of what we do, because it's not just about classroom to classroom. If there's a behaviour occurring around the admin office or there's a behaviour occurring around the Deputy Principal's office, for example, then consistency needs to come through all of those levels as well ..and that's what we've learnt over years and years and years of supporting children with unique needs, is the more that we can create that web of consistency rather than just one single delivery.... the better it is for their development.
Elizabeth Diacos: 20:55
Right? Got it. Okay. Okay. So now we were going to do a little exercise together. Can you walk me through that?
Nathan Gallagher: 21:02
Yes, so, one thing that we worked through with educators is a process called "ME" planning. And it's basically most people would have heard of a self care plan, so really being purposeful about self care, and we use a tool called a ME plan to do that. So the very first thing that we get teachers and teacher aides and admin stuff to do is draw or write, in any way whatsoever. Some people are good visual artists. Other people are really good at explaining... other people, are good at writing dot points about themselves and is basically a self portrait.
Elizabeth Diacos: 21:40
Okay,
Nathan Gallagher: 21:41
so... so developing their self concept. You know,
Elizabeth Diacos: 21:45
oh, hang on....if someone's listening to this while they're driving, can they do that? Can they still do it now? Like in their head?
Nathan Gallagher: 21:51
They could do it now, absolutely. And that's the beauty is You don't even need a piece of paper to do me planning, you know, it's just It's just a purposeful way, to really...And have a... have a little bit of a deep dive and consider what we bring to interactions and how we look after each other so people could do it in the car. People could do it on a piece of paper. People could do it lying in bed at night.
Elizabeth Diacos: 22:14
Okay, so go on, go ahead, tell us what we need to do!
Nathan Gallagher: 22:17
All right, so we start with a self portrait and often often that's a a fun part of the ME planning that is not often included in self care because, actually being able to represent yourself in any mode that you want to, whether it's, you know, drawing a funny portrait of yourself literally, or whether it's writing words that are important to you and what you value.. is a really important process. So we start off with that. The second thing that we do, is really narrow down. What's your fuel? So when you're not feeling so well within yourself or when you're feeling really good within yourself, it's important to know what fuels you to be the best you can be and we talk about what's your fuel? So in the teaching environment... in your work, what is it that fuels you to do what you need to do? Does that make sense?
Elizabeth Diacos: 23:13
So I assume we're not talking about chocolate chip cookies right now?
Nathan Gallagher: 23:17
Ah, So but, you know, if a choc chip cookie first thing in the morning is what fuels you, then that's absolutely fine.
Elizabeth Diacos: 23:25
So I guess mine, mine would be coffee definitely. That's definitely a bit of a thing on and then....Sorry. It started raining in my background, so there might be a bit of background noise now... But also, I think for me...Actually, personal connection is a really good ...something for me that really sort of, I guess, feeds my soul. So, actually, I'm loving doing all these podcast interviews with people because I get to have all these human connections, which I really love. And so, because I work from home often don't get to y'know actually make people face to face, like in the room. But I love these conversations. So I guess then that's, they're my drivers. But probably the human connection is a bigger one. Even than coffee, Amazingly, but yes. Is that the kind of thing you're talking about, Nathan?
Nathan Gallagher: 24:13
Absolutely. So what is it? What is it about your work that drives you to do what you do? What do you passionate about? Most people...most people will start to talk about that human connection. You know, some people talk about sticking with a child and seeing an outcome for them. You know, seeing a change in their wellbeing is really exciting. People identify so many different things, but it's important to take a breath. And remember what your fuel is, to continue...continue doing what you're doing,
Elizabeth Diacos: 24:45
Right! Okay, So So if you're.. if we continue with, ah, this exercise where we're identifying the sort of the characteristics that make us be our best self and also identifying the things that that fuel us, what else do we need to look at?
Nathan Gallagher: 25:04
So then we look at three things... we look at, what we're going to do for ourselves...well, what we already do. You know, some people already have a lot of self care strategies. So it's important that, when we're considering kids development, we're considering it, considering our own. So what are we going to do for our bodies? What are we going to do for our physical well being? What are we going to do for our relationships? Our social well being,
Elizabeth Diacos: 25:31
right...
Nathan Gallagher: 25:31
And what are we going to do for our our brains? To keep our brains operating well and... mindfulness. So we look at those three areas and we start to develop and start to fill out the... all of the things they're going to do in that space for themselves. And sometimes people identify things they already do. And it's really, really good. And other times there's other things that you can, you can fit in there to look after those three things for yourself.
Elizabeth Diacos: 25:59
Okay, so So can you give us some examples of what that might be? But you know, well what... Maybe if you don't want sharing something that you sort of that are your things that are good for your own, sort of, self care and self compassion
Nathan Gallagher: 26:14
Yeah, so everyone's different and, so physical wellbeing is is one of the first ones, right? So that might be, how exercise fits into your your daily routine and it doesn't have to be running around the block. It might be ...it might be getting up- And you can do this with kids too, right, through brain break so it might be getting up and doing some star jumps or giving yourself a big shake. Ah, and You know, there's so many things that people do for their physical wellbeing. Some people go to the gym every morning. Some people hate the morning and they go to the gym at night. Some people walk the dog... anything that you can do to nourish your physical well being
Elizabeth Diacos: 26:58
Right? OK, I've got it. So I go to the gym, although I've just suspended my membership for a few weeks because we're doing some renovations on our house and we need to vacate for a bit. But I go for a walk on the creek except not today, because it's pouring with rain. But that's something that I really love to do. It's probably not as good, like full on intense physical exercise as the gym, but I think that it's good in other ways. Like I get a lot of thinking done while I'm going on that walk by the creek on. So that for me is really something that kind of, I guess, gives me a bit more..a clearer head, actually, which is really important,
Nathan Gallagher: 27:36
which is really good for your mind as well, not just for your body. So nourishing the mind is such an important thing, and the mind is a beautiful one because it's something that you could do with kids in the classroom, right? So for some people, it might be taking a moment, even if it's five minutes to lie in their hammock if they've got one or making sure that they've got enough time to read a book or lie the bath because that's good for physical well being...but it's also good for the mind. But mindfulness is something that you can do for yourself and kids together in the classroom. You know, there's a myriad of mindfulness techniques, stuff that you can do in your routine with kids that can really help kids to settle and lock into learning and being the best they could be. But it helps you as well as an individual.
Elizabeth Diacos: 28:26
Can you give us an example? And if you're driving like don't get too Zenned out? But maybe, can you give us a minute or two of something , an exercise? That might be a useful thing to incorporate into classroom practice?
Nathan Gallagher: 28:39
Yeah, absolutely. So you can, you can have a process where someone in the classroom is going to pick the brain break activity that we're going to do today, right? So that might be we often use and so, probably for all the kids, mostly, but we often use strength cards right so this could work in the classroom and it could also work in team meetings. For example, so strength cards have one strength per card, and you can lay them all out on the ground. All these different strengths. And you can ask your kids to go pick a strength that they have seen in one of their friends in the classroom or one of the other kids in the classroom... they can pick that up...
Elizabeth Diacos: 29:23
which cards you use, because I know there's a few different ones on the market. I myself have even created a set. But I just wonder if is there one that you like to use?
Nathan Gallagher: 29:31
Well, I'm going to be using yours now you've created a set...
Elizabeth Diacos: 29:35
nice okay, But I mean, I know there's the Bears ones, and the orange ones...I've forgotten who made those...they're really nice with photos. So there were different ones on the market for sure.
Nathan Gallagher: 29:47
There's lots of different ones on the market, the bear cards of fantastic because they're really... they're really visually accessible,
Elizabeth Diacos: 29:54
The kid friendly.
Nathan Gallagher: 29:56
Yeah, really kid friendly, and it's fascinating, right? Watching that experience. So we go through that activity when we're working with schools and doing sessions about self care and ,so picking a strength, and we do two things: The first thing is we get get teachers to partner up, and it works best if you're with someone who you don't know that well, you know from another another faculty, another department, Okay,
Nathan Gallagher: 30:49
...and so you can pick one or two strengths and then tell that person a time that you've seen them use that strength recently and what you observed. And that's the first thing. And people are always surprised to hear that, often from people who aren't their best friends in the school environment. And it's amazing what that does to our brains on our well being and our self concept when we hear about those things,and the
Elizabeth Diacos: 0:00
Yeah,,,
Nathan Gallagher: 30:49
and, second thing is, we then make a pledge. So we we then think about the things that we're going to do to support that person's self care and allow them to use that strength over the next term or over the next week or over the next fortnight. So this is what I'm going to do for you to allow you to be the best you can be, and it's fascinating, right, because then you've got a whole group of people making pledges to people they wouldn't normally make a pledge to to support their self care. And if you... when you continue that process in team meetings, you know when you're having department meetings, it means that it really helps to encourage and nourish a process of team care as well. So we....
Elizabeth Diacos: 31:33
That's a lovely idea... I love the sound of that. So it's really about creating these connections that are outside of the the places where you feel the... kind of the most comfortable where you get to be your true self. You're actually allowing someone. to, come into that and notice what's great about you and and also keep an eye out for it. So actually noticing those those qualities
Nathan Gallagher: 32:02
Yeah, it's a fantastic activity to do with kids and it's a fantastic activity to do with teachers and and other staff.
Elizabeth Diacos: 32:11
Does it ever backfire...and I can imagine that might backfire in the staff room where people might really struggle if they don't know someone well? How do you get around that?
Nathan Gallagher: 32:20
So...it hasn't backfired yet. However, I think the trick there is, so when you're doing that activity, so there's there's an endless amount of strengths, you know? So we have a resource that has a whole list of strength you can use in that scenario. And the more strengths that you have listed to choose from ...you can choose your own, but the more, the more prompts, the more ideas you have strengths that are you know inherent characteristics of human beings the more you can pick one. And ..
Elizabeth Diacos: 32:52
yep,
Nathan Gallagher: 32:53
it's important to remember that there is always something you can pick out, that someone's done really well, there's even though you might think there's a brick wall there, there's always something you can notice about another human being that they've done really well. Even if you're in a moment of conflict, right? Even if that person and you don't really get along, how amazing is it in that context to actually go: "You know what? This is a strength you did really well". And so instead of focusing on some stuff that has frustrated us in a relationship or some stuff that's made us feel annoyed, how incredible is it to pivot off a strength for that person? What we often find is that relationship then, y'know is on the road to repair, and that could be one of the positive byproducts of it.
Nathan Gallagher: 33:41
That sounds like a great idea, To...I can think of a few colleagues who used to work with it that, where had we turned that around and not just tried to address the behaviour, but actually look for the good in that person, that could have been a really nice way of moving forward. And if my... I remember being in a kind of mediation meeting with another colleague, if the admin at the school had had the... the wherewithal and the knowledge to actually facilitate that, that could have been a really powerful growing experience for everyone. Yeah. Okay, so... So, Nathan, if someone wanted to work with you, who would How would they get in touch with you? What would they need to do? And what might that look like?
Nathan Gallagher: 34:33
So they could go to journeynconnection.com.au, or send us an email at hello at journeynconnection.com.au. So we do a... we can do a few things with school, so we do a thing called the three o'clock sessions, which is basically six tailored sessions, and we go through, we step through child development and we step through attachment trauma, so working with trauma in the classroom. And so we work through environmental mapping, which is ...so your physical environment in the classroom to support kids and also our relational environment. So things you can do before big behaviour occurs and then we also touch on.... We do a large session on attending to worrying behaviour... behaviour that worries us. And we stepped through the eight stages of a CALM, a Critical and Learning Moment. So, we can, we can, talk to schools about what they need in that space and tailor one session or up to six sessions or or even focus on one particular part of a session for schools. It's whatever the school needs.
Elizabeth Diacos: 35:39
So the three o'clock session. So that's like the end of the school day. Maybe when normally there'd be a staff meeting scheduled or something like that you would run professional development. But, you're in Queensland. So what's the area that you cover?
Nathan Gallagher: 35:54
So we cover anywhere from as far south as the Gold Coast, right up to Sunshine Coast and out to Ipswich and the whole of Brisbane s o. We can... We can also go further than Ipswich . We can go to Toowoomba. If... sometimes we travel, but also people can access us online as well. So if you go to the website, you can do all of the sessions all of the six sessions, apart from the final wrap up session as an online webinar as well, so you can access and purchase that on the website as well.
Elizabeth Diacos: 36:26
Okay, so then if you wanted to do the final bit, how would you do that?
Nathan Gallagher: 36:31
So the final bit is a wrap up where we put all the sessions together. So if you do the online Webinar version of the all five sessions in a row, then we can do the wrap up as an online weapon after the schools were
Elizabeth Diacos: 36:42
Oh, I see. So you would actually, like, just have a video conference kind of set up for the school?
Nathan Gallagher: 36:48
Absolutely.
Elizabeth Diacos: 36:49
Oh, .that's amazing. So even if you were anywhere in the world, you could do that...
Nathan Gallagher: 36:53
anywhere in the world. Yeah.
Elizabeth Diacos: 36:54
Fantastic. Awesome. Nathan, thank you so much for talking with us today on the Get out of Teaching podcast. I have one question for you before we wrap this up. What would you say your legacy is that you want to leave in the world.
Nathan Gallagher: 37:11
It's a good question. So, at J&C we have a vision that all Children and all families and all adults, including those with unique needs in their stories are, healing and flourishing and and they're accepted and have a sense of belonging wherever they are. So I guess we talk a lot about trauma- informed, practise and trauma informed education. And what we do is work in a way that trauma-informed language and approaches are so important, they're vital and they're growing every single day. What we want to do is shift the perspective to, instead of being just trauma informed, being healing-informed. So we're actually on a road to kids flourishing rather than just accepting their trauma. So I guess the legacy we would like to create is that we we build relational practise and make it accessible for teachers and practitioners. So we can focus on healing for these kids and create a sense of help, or help them to discover their own sense of identity and belonging.
Elizabeth Diacos: 38:17
Oh, that's an amazing legacy to leave in the world. Thank you so much for sharing your story today, Nathan. And for your wisdom and insight..I really appreciate it. And I've really enjoyed talking to you.
Nathan Gallagher: 38:28
Thanks. Thanks, Liz
Elizabeth Diacos: 38:31
You've been listening to the Get out of Teaching podcast presented by Larksong Enterprises with your host, Elizabeth Diacos. Do you know someone else who could benefit from hearing more stories of hope and transition from teachers all around the world? Please take a moment to share this and other episodes via your podcast app. Each share helps me reach listeners just like you, who can benefit from this content. The Get out of Teaching Podcast is proud to be part of the Experts on Air Podcast network for show notes and other resources, please visit larksong .com.au/podcast.
Elizabeth Diacos: 0:00