thrive flourish grow
I combine 23 years' of experience as an adult educator, trainer and writer with my studies in positive psychology, positive education and positive coaching to help people learn and apply simple interventions to enable them to thrive and increase their happiness. I especially enjoy working with groups to discover and use their character strengths.
My educational background includes a Master of Education, a Master of Arts, a Certificate in Positive Psychology and Positive Education from Wilfred Laurier University and a positive coaching credential from The CaPP Institute. I have several TESL Ontario credentials including OCELT.
My experience with professional burn-out in 2015 led me to reflect on my own lack of self-care and adopt positive psychology interventions which I now share with educators and administrators. Please contact me at palmer.patrice@gmail.com to discuss custom-designed workshops and/or presentations.
Teacher Self-Care Workshop
$20.00 CAD
Saturday, May 25, 2019 Burlington Public Library - Holland Room 2331 New Street, Burlington, ON 9 - 12 noon ...
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Teacher Self Care Workshops
I left classroom teaching due to professional burn-out in 2015 due to a lack of self-care. Teachers need to put themselves first and adopt self-care strategies to reduce stress, build resilience, promote physical health and increase their well-being.
TESL Ontario PD hours awarded for workshops and presentations in Ontario.
Happiness @ Work
Only 13% of Canadians report that they feel engaged at work and 50% report being unhappy in their jobs (Hays, 2016). This needs to change since we spend approximately 90,000 hours at work during our lifetime!
Studies show that happiness increases every positive business outcome. Happy employees are more productive and creative, take fewer sick days and experience less burn-out.
The science of positive psychology provides many simple (and free!) evidence-based interventions that can help people feel more engaged at work, discover meaning and purpose, assess and use their character strengths and increase their well-being.
G.R.O.W. for Well-being
G.R.O.W. for Well-being presentations can be designed for students of all ages. Students learn how gratitude, resilience, optimism and willpower can be cultivated to help them get through challenges.
Character Strengths
Our 24 character strengths (like leadership, teamwork, curiosity, love of learning, zest, judgement, kindness, humour to name a few) make us unique just like finger prints. When we use our character strengths, we feel more engaged and have a better understanding of others and feel happier. Workshops have been given at The YWCA and Career Development Centre, City of Hamilton.
Read my article "Why Teachers need to Care about Self-Care" in the latest issue of Contact. http://contact.teslontario.org/issues/spring-2019/
Teacher Self-Care Webinar
This webinar is free for TESL Ontario members. Self-care is defined and its importance for all educators is discussed plus specific strategies and interventions for self-care; and how to best adapt strategies for self-care at an individual and organizational level.
"Patrice gave an outstanding presentation on workplace happiness at the Rotary Club of Stoney Creek. It was informative and she was very engaging with the audience. I would love the opportunity to hear Patrice speak again and would recommend others attend her events. Thanks Patrice for a great morning! "
Carrie Deon
Rotary Club Member
"Patrice is flexible and a pleasure to work with. She has a good working knowledge of Growth Mindset and knows how to get people thinking about it and applying it in their work."
Anne Marie Madziak
Coordinator and Library Consultant, Southern Ontario Library Service
"The Characters Strengths workshop provided by Patrice to business program participants covered a lot of information, delivered in concise chunks that was easy to absorb. The structure was clear, logical and effective. The main benefits for the participants came from doing the character strengths survey, receiving feedback and interacting with Patrice and other participants. The training helped the business program participants to understand better their strengths related with their business vision and developed their confidence to use their strengths in implementing their entrepreneurial vision in developing their business. "
Victoria Bularda
Business Coach, YWCA Hamilton
"I would like to thank you for your inspiring speech at the North York TESL Conference. I was picturing myself listening to your journey; going through separation and divorce, dealing with a child’s health issues while trying hard to support our students both in language proficiency and their emotional crises. It was a pleasure to meet you. "
Farnaz Saghafi
ESL/LINC Instructor
"Patrice is a very warm and engaging presenter. Patrice had a really matter of fact, practical message for teachers, without too much "new age" stuff. It was a perfect way to end the conference for me!" "Lots of good take away messages from this session". Very, very important topic! It's good to be aware of this at the beginning of my career, so I can help prevent burnout/exhaustion in myself. Amazing and very informative session!" "It was a great presentation. The instructor used relevant examples. It was very helpful to hear her story. Very often schools do not provide adequate resources for self-care. "
Workshop Participants
TESL Ontario Conference 2018
"Thank you for presenting and sharing personal insights regarding character strengths and how they shape our behaviour. This workshop gave participants the tools to better identify their top character strengths and ways to use them to reach career and life goals."
Sadhna Jayatunge
Facilitator, City of Hamilton
"Patrice's passion for learning positive psychology stood out in the Positive Psychology certificate program. She articulated the learning and applied the concepts skillfully throughout the session. I was deeply moved by her willingness to make a difference in her work, family and community by her curiosity to explore ways in which she could apply concepts to find positive ways to learn and grow. I highly recommend Patrice."
Paula Pyne, MBA, RYT
Certified Integral Professional Coach™, Facilitator, Positive Psychology Certificate Program, Wilfred Laurier University
Ways to Well-Being Newsletter
Sign up for my Well-being Ways Blog
I love to write about how we can apply the science of positive psychology to all aspects of our life.
Want to know what your strengths are? Take the FREE VIA Character Strengths Survey
We possess all 24 character strengths (like honesty, humour, kindness, teamwork, judgement, zest, hope, love, leadership) in different degrees, giving each of us a unique profile just like fingerprints! Using our character strengths can increase our overall well-being so find ways to use them every day. It takes just 15 minutes to learn about your strengths. My top strengths or signature strengths: 1) Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence 2) Creativity 3) Curiosity 4) Gratitude 5) Love of Learning
I was honoured to be asked to review my colleague Ruth Pearce's new book.
"Ruth's extensive research from the fields of positive psychology and neuroscience are easily woven into a classic workplace example that we can relate to and learn from. The "Making It Stick" and "Strategies for Success" sections in each chapter are helpful and a great review. The timetable at the end of the book is an excellent tool to get started in developing one's skills as a successful and sought-after project manager so that you "can pull greatness from your team."
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