A Professional Education course with Maria Ersi Koliris, PsychDprof.
When: February 8-March 29, 2023 / every Wednesday, 18:30-20:30 and one Saturday, 10:00-16:00
Where: Deree – The American College of Greece (6 Gravias Str., 153 42, Aghia Paraskevi, Athens)
Language of Instruction: Greek
Audience: By registration only
Seats are limited to 15 participants
Overview
Mindfulness has long been connected with better emotional regulation, stress reduction and improvement of psychological wellbeing. This introductory course to mindfulness is designed to introduce participants to the benefits of mindfulness and discuss its application to educational settings with a particular emphasis to early formal education (kindergarten to mid-primary school). The course has a strong experiential component based on mindfulness practices; it is part of the mindfulness philosophy to learn to embody the principles that we want to inspire in others, including children. If we wish for our children to have a “quiet mind” we cannot do that while our own mind is restless. Participants will be guided to develop their own unique mindfulness practice and skills and explore how to introduce them to their personal and professional settings.
Who is this course for?
The course is for graduate students of psychology or pedagogy who are/will be working with children and for professionals already involved in school settings (teachers & classroom assistants, administrators, school psychologists, social workers etc) or supporting families in a professional role.
Why Attend?
While professionals are often taught how to teach/interact with children, little attention is paid to how the adult’s own presence communicates –or not- the values and intentions that they wish to pass on to children. This course will help the adults who work/want to work with children or work with parents and families clarify their intention regarding their role, identify particular challenges they are facing, recognize their own patterns of reactivity including reactions to stress and develop the mindfulness skills necessary to support themselves in the environments that they work. It will also include ideas about mindfulness practices together with children. The course will be based on the MBSR (Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction) model, which has a good research evidence for its effectiveness with a particular additional emphasis to interactions with children.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course participants will be able to:
- understand the link between stress and the body
- understand the difference between reacting versus responding when interacting with others including children
- recognize more easily and respond more skillfully to their own emotional reactions including stress reactions to challenging childhood behaviors
- identify sources of support and establish a practice of self-care
Dates & times
Wednesday, February 8, 2023 / 18:00-20:30
Wednesday, February 15, 2023 / 18:30-20:30
Wednesday, February 22, 2023 / 18:30-20:30
Wednesday, March 1, 2023 / 18:30-20:30
Wednesday, March 8, 2023 / 18:30-20:30
Wednesday, March 15, 2023 / 18:30-20:30
Saturday, March 18, 2023 / 10:00-16:00
Wednesday, March 22, 2023 / 18:30-20:30
Wednesday, March 29, 2023 / 18:00-20:30
Certificate of Attendance
In order to be awarded the Certificate of Attendance from the Deree – School of Graduate and Professional Education, participants will need to attend at least 18 out of 22 hours of the course.
Seminar Fees
Regular single participant fee: €240
Members of the ACG Community, Professional Education past participants and the unemployed: €200
Maria Ersi Koliris, PsychDprof
Dr.Maria Ersi Koliris is a counselling psychologist, supervisor and mindfulness trainer. Her first degree is in Social Psychology (BScHons) from the University of Kent which she followed with a Master’s (MSc) and Post-Master’s (Post-MSc) diplomas in Counselling Psychology from City University, London. She also holds a professional doctorate title (PsychDprof) in Psychotherapy by Metanoia Institute/Middlesex University, London. She has a 23-year experience in working therapeutically with adults in a variety of settings including community centres, hospitals, student counselling centres and private practice. During these years she increasingly became interested in the emerging mindfulness-based interventions and sought to understand how they can be used to further assist individuals in developing a sense of wellbeing in their respective environments. She did her doctorate research on how mindfulness can help mental health professionals and completed professional courses in mindfulness training (Training to teach mindfulness; Advanced teacher training in Mindfulness; Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy Specialist-Bangor University/The Mindfulness Network) as well as a number of short-courses, retreats and workshops on the topic by leading professionals in the field. She has facilitated a number of mindfulness seminars and for some years she co-facilitated Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) groups. She is teaching mindfulness courses at Deree college and at the Medical School of the University of Crete. She is also a psychology instructor teaching at Deree College since 2018 on the undergraduate and graduate programmes and a clinical supervisor at the College’s student Counselling Centre.
For more information, please call 210 600 9800 ext. 1532, 1332 or email [email protected].