Dr. Jen Clifden
Educator | Researcher | Burnout Preventionist
The Light You Cast™ Curriculum
"Light is the swiftest force in the Universe."
- John O'Donohue
The Light You Cast™ is a healing-centered professional development training specifically designed for relationship-based professionals to:
* Reverse the cycle of burnout *
* Protect one's self against compassion fatigue and moral injury *
* Develop and deepen self-sense (mental health, emotional intelligence, agency) *
*Cultivate people-sense (social intelligence, compassion, empathy, resonance) *
What We Believe
Our greatest outcome of impact as professional caregivers
is the capacity to consciously and consistently create spaces of resonance where those in our care feel safe to explore their identity, express their agency, and discover their core capacities as an individual.
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As professional caregivers, our capacity to care and create these conditions for impact are sourced from our inner state of well-being.
What We Know
The well-being of the caregiver in a relationship-based profession is not a luxury–
it is a professional, and deeply personal, necessity.
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Caregivers called to relationship-based professions are gifted with natural talents of creating connection and resonance with others.
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Burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral injury are very real "costs of caring" that not only cost systems over $3 billion dollars a year, they have incalculable costs on the caregiver's mind, body, soul, family, and social system.
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When caregivers burn out, their capacity to create and hold spaces imbued with the light of compassion, hope, empathy, and unconditional positive regard is dramatically dimmed.
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The good news:
Burnout is treatable and preventable.
Core Restoration Practices
The Light You Cast™ curriculum guides the caregiver through interactive and engaging professional development experiences where they learn the
3 R's of burnout prevention - soul restoration
REST
Engage trauma-responsive
body-centered practices that teach caregivers how to harmonize, soothe, and regulate their mindbodysoul system.
RESTORATION
Consciously metabolize
toxic stress into self-confidence, compassion fatigue into unconditional positive regard, and moral injury into agency and purpose.
REVITALIZATION
Cultivate social intelligence, relationship skills, and people sense so to stay out of judgment, recognize the emotions of others, and be in-tune with those in their care.
Curriculum
The Light You Cast™ curriculum teaches the science of relationships
and is based on:
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Healing-Centered Design
Mindfulness
Social and Emotional Learning Theory
Interpersonal Neurobiology
Trauma-Responsive Care
Attachment Theory
Signature Practice
The Light You Cast™ curriculum is designed to equip the caregiver with the necessary information, habits of mind, and practices to process the unique stressors of their relationship-based calling into their greatest personal assets and professional strengths.
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Our signature Burn Clean Cycle™teaches the caregiver how to manage the innate stressors of a relationship-based calling while they learn strategies and practices rooted in neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology to magnify self-awareness, emotional regulation, joy, and hope.
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Burn Out Burn Clean
Outcomes
The Light You Cast™ curriculum engages our research-based cycle of healing and mindbodysoul restoration:
RECOGNITION
Validate the caregivers experience of being called to a relationship-based profession that is intimately connected to the core of who they are and acknowledge the need need for sustained and systematic support in monitoring and assessing their physical, emotional, mental, and soul health.
EDUCATION & AWARENESS
Learn the 3 R's of caregiver mindbodysoul healing and energetic health -
REST, RESTORATION, REVITALIZATION; raise awareness of the primary sources of toxic stress in relationship-based professions and of the stages and manifestations burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral injury
AWAKENING
Discover and engage trauma-responsive principles, practices, and perspectives to REGULATE and soothe the nervous system so to RELATE to stress in a healthy way in order to cultivate REASON and wisdom from pain, uncertainty, stress, and anxiety.
RESTORATION
Learn how to engage The Infinite Well-Being ModuleTM, our signature practice for metabolizing stress into conscious care and awareness, mental strength and agility, emotional intelligence and vitality, and value-based self-agency and action.
EMBODIMENT
Experience slow and gentle body-based movement poses designed to melt tension while providing moderate amounts of healthy stress to boost mental and emotional energy, improve balance and body-awareness, and help to reduce inflammation that leads to disease; cultivate brain-health through mindfulness-based visualizations that activate the self-regulatory part of the brain to soothe stress, alleviate anxiety, and over-ride overwhelm.
SUSTAINED SUPPORT
Engage in strategic school-based support and peer networking so to continually manage and mitigate the onset of burnout, secondary trauma, and moral injury while magnifying collective healing and individual restoration and rejuvenation.
"Because of this training, I have now proclaimed that I am in my age of restoration— professionally, personally, and spiritually, and you have helped me more than you will ever know. You helped me get back to myself."
High School Teacher
Where to Start
The Light You Cast Curriculum™ is designed to suit the varying needs of organizations and institutions. Start with a single talk or workshop, deepen your learning with more immersive, targeted programs, and sustain & broaden organizational impact with online courses
Introductory Options
(in person or online)
Deeper, Multi-Session Work
(in person)
Self-Paced & Sustaining
(online only)
*Available August 2024
Includes single booster sessions, half-day, or full day professional development sessions.
Includes more targeted, multi-week development trainings for groups and cohorts.
The online curriculum is self-paced and can be licensed for your entire organization or staff.
Evidence of Impact
Qualitative data collected from participants who completed
The Light You Cast™ curriculum demonstrates their capacity to metabolize the stress of their profession into a catalyst for growth, self-actualization, and social and emotional intelligence.
I believe...
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“I can re-story a threat to be a challenge.”
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“My perception of a situation creates my feelings in that present moment. What I am feeling directly influences what I say and do. I should go into each moment knowing that I have a deep well of kindness, calmness and caring to bring to that next moment or next interaction with students.”
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“My joy comes from seeing the beauty of each child when they are learning and feeling successful!! I also feel joy when children come to see me with such love and excitement!!!
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“If I am feeling stressed, just taking a few moments to focus on my breathing will help reset my body.”
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“How important gratitude is. Asking how I want to be today and recognizing my breath.”
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“That we have to be intentional about creating opportunities to connect with and show compassion for students.”
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“Creating micro moments in the day to stop the fast pace and connect with those in my care - miracles are more like changes in perspective, so I realized I have more control than I thought."
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“In order to truly affirm others, I need to affirm myself first.”
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“I am naturally resilient, and that resilience within is cultivated in relationships with others, and hence as a teacher I am critical in building resiliency in my students. Embracing and honoring trauma is at the heart of allowing fear to turn into love.”
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"I am enough."
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"This training, while it addresses the very personal needs of avoiding burnout and coping with stress, finds its way into improving our relationships with everyone we encounter on our mission of care. Self-love as the cornerstone of racial justice seems simple, cutting edge, and essential all at once. "
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