Dr. Jen Clifden
Educator | Researcher | Relationship Scientist
"My husband, who is also a teacher, could not praise this training enough for helping him stay in the job."
Elementary Teacher
The Light You Cast™
It is all connected.
How we are inside directly shapes the impact we make outside.
For educators, leaders, caregivers, and youth workers, their inner state is one of their most powerful tools. When they are regulated, grounded, and emotionally well, they create environments of safety, trust, and possibility.
Those in relationship-centered professions face heightened stress and emotional demands. When chronic stress or compassion fatigue sets in, it becomes harder to connect, attune, and inspire, thus undermining both professional effectiveness and personal well-being. Professional development that strengthens nervous system regulation, mental health, and relational well-being ... in other words, personal empowerment ... is not optional; it’s essential.
The Light You Cast™ strengthens nervous system regulation, mental health resilience, and relational awareness so caregivers stay grounded, present, and emotionally available. By protecting their energy through grounding, boundaries, and restorative practices, they show up with clarity, steadiness, and Presence, making their impact empowering and sustainable.
MENTAL HEALTH is the foundation of "right resilience"; the capacity to navigate challenges, recover from stress, and adapt to change with clarity, balanced effort, and protective boundaries. Just because we are innately capable and can do a lot does not always mean we should.
RELATIONAL HEALTH is the foundation of connection and influence. When our relationships are safe, supportive, and attuned, we can inspire, empower, and uplift others without depleting ourselves in the process. Our relationships, at work and home, become catalysts for healing; not harm.
NERVOUS SYSTEM HEALTH is the ability to return (over and over again) a regulated state that allows you to reduce stress hormones, control inflammation, build immunity, reduce the onset of chronic illness, and redirect energy to heal, repair, and regenerate health.
"After learning TLYC practices, I now go home after work tired but happy and grateful.
There is a big difference between being tired and being burnt out."
Hight School Counselor
TLYC | Signature Practices
REST
NERVOUS SYSTEM HEALTH
Relax and Regulate the Body
Engage body-centered, trauma-responsive practices that gently regulate your nervous system, relieve patterns of tension and overwhelm, and replenis internal energy reserves. These practices invite your body out of survival mode and back into balance.
RESTORATION
MENTAL HEALTH
Making Meaning
Learn our signature, evidence-based Burn Balanced™ stress metabolization practice designed to sharpen clarity, counter the anxiety story, restore emotional balance, and rebuild a healthy sense of agency that helps you direct your energy toward what you can control while releasing the tight hold on what you cannot.
REVITALIZATION
RELATIONAL HEALTH
Connect with Others
Build the social intelligence and relational skills to respond with intention, create connections where others feel deeply seen and valued, and amplify your impact while staying peaceful and present.
TLYC | Signature Curriculum Elements
Trauma-Responsive
Approaches
Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
Competencies
Nervous System Health
Practices
Stress Metabolization
Interventions
Burn Balanced™
A Trauma-Responsive Approach to Stress Transformation, Inner Change Management, and Transformative Impact
Relational health IS mental health. Relationships can either be healing or harmful.
Mental health and relational well-being are about alignment—bringing your values, thoughts, feelings, and actions into harmony—and balance—managing competing demands on your energy. When aligned and balanced, you experience integration, as Dr. Siegel describes: a connected, resilient state that supports clarity, presence, and strong relationships
Stress is inevitable in relationship-first roles, but it can become a catalyst for resilience, social-emotional intelligence, and more powerful Presence in your relationships.
The Light You Cast™ guides those called to empower others through a journey of repeatable practices that strengthen nervous system regulation, mental health, and relational resilience. Participants learn to navigate daily challenges, refine their relationship with stress, and build skills that transform how they care for themselves and others.
The Light You Cast
The source of your capacity to empower others begins with self-empowerment.
The Cycle of Empowerment is a learnable process that every human-service professional can cultivate. The Light You Cast engagements will guide you and illuminate your path to personal empowerment and impact.
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CALLING AWARENESS |
You were called to this work for a purpose. This purpose guides your decisions, strengthens resilience, supports well-being, and helps you create authentic, meaningful connections with others. Together, we’ll deepen awareness of your core strengths, values, and beliefs—the inner assets that anchor your stability and balance.
NERVOUS SYSTEM HEALTH AWARENESS |
Your relationship with your nervous system is the foundation of mental health and personal empowerment. In this work, you’ll build awareness of how your body responds to stress, learn to interpret physical and emotional signals, and practice trauma-responsive strategies to calm and reset an overactive stress response—helping you stay centered and stable in both ease and challenge.
COGNITIVE HEALTH AWARENESS |
How you perceive an experience shapes what you think, feel, and do. In this work, you’ll learn to “see what frames your seeing” and practice strategies for building an asset-based perspective—one that helps your nervous system view uncertainty as opportunity, stress as a challenge (not a threat), and change as a catalyst for growth.
EMOTIONAL HEALTH AWARENESS |
Emotions are messengers. They point us to what we value, need, and care about most. By learning to notice, name, and work with your emotions—rather than ignoring or being ruled by them—you can use them as a guide toward healthier choices, stronger relationships, and wiser action. Through this process, you’ll cultivate the 5 core competencies of adult social-emotional learning—self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness—strengthening your connection to yourself, your response to stress, and your capacity to empower those you serve.
COMPLEX STRESS - BURNOUT AWARENESS |
Burnout awareness is the first step in protecting your well-being and sustaining your ability to thrive and serve others effectively. Burnout awareness means recognizing, understanding, and responding to the early signs of burnout before it becomes severe. You will discover ho to notice emotional, physical, and behavioral signals like fatigue, irritability, or disconnection; understand how chronic stress, overwork, and emotional labor contribute; and take proactive steps—such as setting boundaries, practicing self-care, seeking support, and using stress-resilience strategies—to prevent or recover from burnout.
RESILIENCE AWARENESS |
Resilience awareness is the ability to recognize and strengthen your capacity to adapt, recover, and grow in the face of stress and challenges. You will learn to notice how you respond to pressure, understand the internal strengths and external supports that help you cope, and take intentional steps—like stress-management practices, mindfulness, and building supportive relationships—to maintain balance and thrive in both work and life.
RELATIONAL HEALTH/SOCIAL AWARENESS |
Relational Health & Social Awareness is the ability to understand and navigate relationships with yourself and others. You will learn how to recognize and "read" another's emotions, see situations from multiple perspectives, build trust through compassion and curiosity, and maintain healthy boundaries that protect your energy. These skills strengthen connection, collaboration, and emotional safety, supporting both personal well-being and your ability to empower others without sacrificing yourself.
Grow Your Vision
"Because of this training, I have now proclaimed that I am in my age of restoration—
professionally, personally, and spiritually.
You have helped me more than you will ever know. You helped me get back to myself."
High School Teacher
Core Curriculum
The Light You Cast™
teaches the science of relationships and is based on:
Healing-Centered Engagement
Somatic (mind-body) Practices
Mindfulness
Nervous System Health
Social Emotional Learning Theory
Restorative Practice
Interpersonal Neurobiology
Trauma-Responsive Practices
Where to Start
INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT
Foundational Support
For Everyone
INTERPERSONAL SUPPORT
Focused Support For
PLCs and Target Groups
ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT
Focused Interventions for Leaders and Organizational Health
Provide proactive support, inspiration, and encouragement that reinforces intrapersonal resilience and interpersonal connection through our universal The Light You Cast™ ON-DEMAND training designed for ongoing, individual support and our event specific keynotes or professional development opportunities.
Provide ongoing, in-person support that drives lasting, systemic change through guided community support groups and targeted multi-session trainings tailored for specific roles, teams, and cohorts where all The Light You Cast™ curriculum materials are tailored to the specific needs of the group.
Provide targeted organizational wellness consultation and personalized coaching for leaders to cultivate positive, resilient workplace cultures grounded in care, connection, and collaboration—powered by our signature The Light We Cast™ practices.
What We Know About
Healing and Preventing
Burnout
Healing and preventing burnout is a relational science
Burnout is not only an individual challenge—it is deeply relational. The science of relationship demonstrates that our connections with others directly shape stress, resilience, and well-being. Burnout prevention begins with protecting the mental, emotional, physical, and relational health of human-service professionals. When people are healthy and able to express their strengths and values through their work, burnout symptoms don’t take root.
As a researcher, I discovered decades of studies on burnout’s causes—but little on how to heal or prevent it. My work brings together science-based practices that create a cycle of burning balanced—transforming stress into resilience, mental health, and relational well-being.
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Burnout isn’t a lack of resilience—it’s a sign your whole system (mind, body, emotions, and sense of self) is working hard to restore balance.
Human-service professionals work in systems where demands chronically outpace resources. Research shows burnout is a distinct workplace phenomenon, signaling the urgent need for organizational solutions that protect professional autonomy, agency, and well-being professional development, support, and on-going mental health resources.
Burnout isn’t weakness—it’s the body’s protective signal that energy is out of balance. Symptoms like exhaustion, low self-efficacy, and disconnection arise when unrelenting stress corrodes our ability to function as our true selves.
Like trauma, burnout is complex but not unsolvable. Healing requires systemic support and practical strategies that restore balance, resilience, and connection—at work and in life.
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Burnout is a sign you are burning.
Those who don't care, don't burnout - so the saying goes.
We are caregivers. Giving care is our greatest gift. Yet without balance, renewal, and rest, our capacity to give care can quickly become harmful.
Emotional exhaustion - a core manifestation of burnout comes from feeling emotionally drained, depleted, and overwhelmed, often from prolonged stress, caregiving, or responding to constant emotional demands It shows up as a loss of empathy and nurturing capacity -- the very gift that makes us so effective in our calling.
Because emotions are energy in motion, chronic imbalance between emotional labor and recovery leads to depletion. Over time, this can manifest as depression, helplessness, guilt, or shame—states that push us to withdraw and disconnect.
We can learn how to balance the energy going out while restoring our inner energy reserves. Connecting with the self rejuvenates core mental health capacities which then fuel our capacity to connect with others - empathetically and compassionately.
Connection restores vitality and prevents burnout.
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Burnout is healable and preventable.
Burnout isn’t a lack of resilience—it’s an energy imbalance. Systems science shows that complex systems naturally move toward health, and the Law of Conservation of Energy reminds us that energy neither created nor destroyed; it trans-forms.
Burnout prevention and nurturing healing relationships go hand-in-hand and must occur at both the institutional and individual levels.
Individually - with the right strategies, support, and space, moving through life, work, and relationship stress can be metabolized into strength, healing, alignment, and deeper connection with the self and others.
Institutionally -- systems healing and health require cultural, structural, and leadership shifts that create sustained support, education, and opportunities for energy renewal, rest, voice, choice, psychological safety, and reciprocal relationships.
