Dr. Jen Clifden
Educator | Relationship Researcher | Retention Specialist
Engaging - Empathetic - Empowering
Dr. Jen knows service-centered work from the inside out.
As a mother, former public school teacher, teacher educator, and teacher preparation program leader, Jen brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her work. She has not only studied burnout and well-being as a researcher in teacher mental health and burnout prevention at the University of Minnesota’s College of Education + Human Development, she has lived the realities of chronic stress, over-giving, and the slow, intentional work of self-healing.
Jen’s keynotes are grounded in science, story, and deep empathy for those in caregiving and human-service
professions. Designed to spark meaningful change, foster resilience, and restore a sense of purpose, her keynote experiences help participants reconnect with the truth that their Presence is powerful and that protecting their light is not optional, but essential to sustaining their impact.
Participants leave feeling seen, steadied, re-energized, and reminded that they matter, the work they do matters, and their impact extends far beyond what can be measured or easily seen.
Every keynote address includes
Direct instruction on current, evidence-based knowledge and research about the 5 core capacities of mental health, burnout awareness, stress resilience strategies, and adaptive approaches staff can immediately apply at work or at home.
A simple, yet effective, trauma-responsive exercise that strengthens the parasympathetic nervous system's relaxation response, soothes a busy mind, and reconnects your staff with their body's intelligence.
Beautifully illustrated Put Into Practice handouts that outline detailed integration practices they can immediately apply to their professional and personal lives to extend and deepen the keynote conversation.
Engagement and interaction! Every keynote will get your staff connecting to themselves, each other, and to the collective mission that drives their work.
"Your keynote today was fantastic!!
It was just what I needed. I honestly felt like you were talking specifically to me.
I love your style of presenting; you are a lovely teacher and human."
Special Education Teacher
FEATURE KEYNOTE
You Are A Force
As a human-service professional, your Presence—your energy, your way of being—is not just a personal asset. It is the force behind your calling and the medium through which your impact is felt.
Your Presence is the source of the calm, care, and compassion that shape every relationship you build. It is the living expression of your purpose—the quiet power that helps others feel seen, safe, and supported long before a word is spoken.
In this inspiring keynote, participants are invited to reconnect with the truth that protecting one’s mental health and
well-being-ness is not a luxury; it is essential work.
Presence is one of the strongest predictors of youth mental health, relational trust, and learning, yet it is also the first thing eroded by burnout. When burnout takes hold, intuition dulls, attunement narrows, and the work begins to feel heavy rather than meaningful.
Through story, science, and reflection, this highly engaging and energizing keynotes illuminates how burnout gradually drains the very energy that once made service feel like a calling and how tending to one's mental health and personal Presence restores clarity, compassion, and purpose. Attendees leave with a renewed understanding that their Presence is not incidental to their work; it is the work.
This keynote honors those in relationship-centered professions and calls them back to the source of their impact. By tending to the force that fuels their care, participants are reminded that sustaining others begins with sustaining the self so showing up can once again feel like purpose, not effort.
By the end of the keynote, participants will explore and engage the 3 core pillars that create a strong and stable Presence that heals and prevents burnout:
REST | Stabilize and Ground
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Recognize how their Presence functions as a primary force in relationship-centered work and why protecting nervous system stability is essential to preventing burnout.
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Experience simple, accessible grounding practices that support calm, clarity, and regulation in moments of stress or emotional demand.
RESTORATION | Repair and Reconnect
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Learn the stages and common manifestations of burnout and compassion fatigue, understanding them as protective responses rather than personal failures.
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Explore a 4-step process for completing the stress cycle, preventing stress from getting stuck in the body and restoring Presence and relational attunement critical to care giving.
REVITALIZATION | Renew and Reignite
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Reflect on and reconnect with core capacities—purpose, values, strengths, and calling—that root and steady them in their work, even during its most challenging moments.
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Identify practical ways to restore alignment, reigniting energy, hope, and relational vitality so service feels grounded and life-giving rather than depleting.
Let's Connect!
Book a Free (and enjoyable) Consultation
I would love to chat.
We can schedule a 15 - 45 minute discovery conversation where I learn more about each other.
This is a no obligation, no risk discovery conversation to see if my message aligns with your desires for an engaging and informative keynote.
