Calm Bootcamp

For 2020 our courses will commence on Wednesday, July 1st and all courses must be completed by 5 pm on Friday 31st July. As per the DES criteria you must complete the required time on the course and your start and completion date will now appear on your Cert for your EPV days. If you buy two or more courses you must only complete one course at a time.

Course places are limited due to DES criteria.

Discounts are limited. Discount applied automatically at checkout.

Enrollments Closed

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About this Course

This summer course aims to give an understanding of why recognising and managing stress in positive and healthy ways is important, for your wellbeing and the wellbeing of children. The importance of a relaxing, calm and kind classroom environment will be explored and practical strategies to achieve this will be provided.

This course will also provide you with a range of coping skills and tools which can be used personally and can be implemented in a whole class setting. The skills learned in this course complement the SPHE curriculum and enable children to learn about their emotional states through engaging with the content in an interactive and immersive manner.

You will be provided with activities and exercises which help children increase their bodily awareness, which will empower them to emotionally regulate in order to ensure a more relaxed, calm and kind classroom environment.

‘Mindfulness’ and ‘Kindfulness’ strategies will be introduced for implementation in your own life and in the classroom. The importance of nutrition, exercise and other positive strategies will be discussed and provided to ensure the sustenance of kind, calm and well beings in the classroom and beyond.

Course Aims:

To identify ways of managing stress as well as recognising and implementing coping skills to alleviate stress.
To empower children to take responsibility for their mental and emotional well-being; to increase awareness of their internal states, to regulate their own emotions and to use appropriate coping tools to reduce anxiety and stress.
To equip children with proprioceptive activities, mindful movement and breathing exercises to build up their ‘Well-Being Well’.
To promote ‘Kindfulness’ (becoming more mindfully kind) and practice self-compassion with a view to improving personal and class well-being.
Learn how to implement Cognitive Behaviour Techniques in the classroom and everyday life. Develop insights into reframing negative thoughts to positive thoughts using Cognitive Behaviour Techniques.
To recognise and foster the importance of a calm, positive and relaxed learning & work environment.
To equip teachers to integrate drama, literacy, PE, Circle Time and ICT to reduce anxiety and promote calming tools.
To use the skills learned to complement the SPHE curriculum and provide ideas for use throughout the curriculum. Learning will also inform School Self Evaluation and encourage a school wide approach with inks/resources to share with parents and the wider community.
Learning will inform School Self Evaluation specifically in the areas of bullying prevention, child protection as well as ensuring the emotional and mental wellbeing of students, teaching staff and all staff working in the school environment. Experiential learning from this course will also positively enhance the Code of Behaviour in the school.
To introduce Goal Setting and Time Management techniques to children and improve on personal practice.
To create an awareness of the importance of nutrition and physical exercise for well-being, stress and anxiety management.

Module 1 - Stress & Anxiety

Recognising stress & anxiety in our lives (define stress, identify stress / anxieties)
How you react to stress (understanding current reactive behaviours, understanding stress and anxieties in your life, understanding effects of stress and anxiety on body, mind etc., neuroscience of stress on the brain and nervous system)
Identifying and recognising to cope with or prevent stress and therefore lesson negative/harmful effects of stress
Relaxation Strategies
Reframing thoughts about stress & anxiety using CBT

Module 2 - Body Awareness & Introduction to Mindfulness

Aim: get out of head and into body. Tune into body in order to increase body awareness and connection with body

Mindfulness: Come to Your Senses
Introduction to other relaxation strategies: Body Scan, PMR (progressive muscular relaxation), Mindful Movement (proprioceptive & neuromuscular movements)
Relaxation Strategies
Attitude of Gratitude
Affirmations

Module 3 – Mindfulness, Movement & Meditation

More mindful movement – yoga exercises, stretches, movements to help with energy levels in the body and help to tune into feedback /messages the body is sending
Beginning to notice busyness of the mind and perhaps beginning to recognise ‘Inner Critic’
Mindfulness – Breathing
Meditation: Loving Kindness meditation
Kindfulness and Self-Compassion

Module 4 – Kindfulness and Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Recognising the importance of ‘Kindfulness’
Practicing ‘Kindfulness’ on a regular basis
Using tools of self-compassion to recognise own levels of stress, as well as an inner critic / negative thoughts
Coping Skills / CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy: changing negative thoughts to more positive thoughts)
Appreciate that all others – including children – have their own worries, anxieties and stresses
Recognise that a calm, positive and relaxed environment is necessary for teacher and children / class to succeed
Kindfulness in the Classroom!

Module 5 – Get Ready, GO!

Goal Setting & Time Management
Work-Stress Management
Nutrition & Stress
Exercise
Kindfulness: self-compassion, recognising Inner Critic, visualise / focus on goal
Reminders / Helpful Hints to keep you on track (& Getting Unstuck)

Bonus Module - Restorative Practice

Free module on Restorative Practice with all Summer Courses

Michelle Stowe brings you an introductory module to Restorative Practice.

More Info

What people are saying

Ciara

The course was very relevant and engaging. I found it enjoyable to complete and looked forward to seeing what each module would bring. The resources were invaluable and I will definitely be utilising them going forward in my teaching.

Maria

This course is FANTASTIC. It is well laid out, the content is engaging. The structure of the course is easy to follow. This course has given me such motivation and enthusiasm to implement what I have learned and apply it to my own life and the lives of those I reach at school. I am genuinely excited to let this way of life creep into my classroom. There are so many practical ideas and I feel that the benefits are endless. This course should be completed by every teacher in the country; it is uplifting and rekindles the passion to enrich the lives of others. Reiterating what was said at the end of module five: Our students need (and deserve) a calm, kind classroom where they can blossom and flourish.

Jean

This was a truly fantastic course. It was full of inspiring, practical, applicable resources and ideas that could be used with any age group. It gave so many different ways to inspire students to take care of themselves and realise the importance of their own well-being. It was so accessible and easy to navigate, understand and apply. The BEST course I have ever completed.

Conor

I was extremely happy with the course, it was very easy to navigate the course/web site, I got some fantastic ideas from the course tutor and other participants, the course content was relevant to me and I will definitely be choosing anokha learning for another course next year.

Teresa

I really enjoyed participating in this course. I have been doing online courses for the last number of years but found this course the most enjoyable that I have participated in. I particularly enjoyed the video presentations as generally I find the online courses very wordy and often tedious to read. The video presentations were motivating and very practical and I look forward to using many of the techniques recommended in this course. The online forum very easy to follow and it was easy to ensure that you were fulfilling the required guidelines as you went along.

Tracey

Calm Bootcamp was a very interesting course which dealt with very important issues facing children today such as stress and anxiety and the ways we, as teachers, can arm children with the tools and techniques to face these daily emotions and feelings. Techniques and tools like “come to your senses”, “mindful movement”, “a gratitude wall”, “positive affirmations”, outlined in the course, can all help children work on their own mental health and become more aware of their own feelings and emotions as well as those of other people. This was a relatable and usable course.

Lydia

I have thoroughly enjoyed the Calm Bootcamp course and would highly recommend it to anyone looking to further their knowledge about mindfulness, kindfulness and strategies to promote a positive mindframe and learning environment. Not only did I learn a variety of practical strategies that I will try in the classroom, but I have also picked up some strategies which I plan to use myself.

Collette

I loved every module of this course, especially Module 4, Kindfulness. I look forward to returning to school and now adding more kindness to my Mindfulness mornings. This course has helped me to stop and think about what is really important in the everyday lives of the children sitting in front of us. I am now more aware of what children need to make my classroom a happier place so that they can feel happy, secure and loved. I also love the bank or resources I have built up over the days and all the websites I have signed up for. Some great new lessons arriving in my INBOX everyday. Thank you once again and I will definitely be doing another course in the near future.

Niamh

I really enjoyed the calm bootcamp course. There were lots of great ideas and strategies for helping children to be calmer, happier, have more self confidence and self esteem. There were so many links to websites which were really useful and I will be using again in the future. There were also great tips on coping with stress or anxiety for me personally, which I found really beneficial.

Ciara Lynch

Course Author - Calm Bootcamp

Ciara has worked as a Primary School Teacher for 12 years and has experience of teaching a variety of classes. In recent years Ciara has worked primarily in a Learning Support/Resource capacity. Her qualifications in Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy, as well as Play Therapy have made her better equipped to work with children experiencing a variety of emotional, mental and behavioural difficulties.

Ciara is also trained as as a Sensory and Proprioceptive activities facilitator and a Mindfulness Practitioner. She has an avid interest in yoga and mindful movement as a means of reducing anxiety and stress and increasing self-care and cultivating positive self-image.

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