Heart to Heart: Creating an Infrastructure for Compassion for Our Children

June 8 @ 8:00 am – 9:30 am PDT 

with Gina Simm

6 sessions: once every two weeks, starting Saturday, June 8, 2024
June 8th & 22nd, July 6th & 20th, August 3rd & 17th
8am – 9:30am PT (find your local time here)

With systems in place that are learnable, reliable and full of trust, our children can thrive in the consciousness of nonviolence.

• They can see conflict as an opportunity.
• They can share their inner landscapes with ease.
• They can collaborate.
• They can access tools to self-regulate.
• They can help and support others.
• They can ask for what they need.
• They can hold both the needs of themselves and those of others.
• They can facilitate family meetings.
• They can look forward to holding dilemmas together.
• They can access an array of options.
• They can appreciate how all the creatures of world are inter-dependent.
• They can wake up with joy and sleep in peace.

Gina plans to teach and explore with you how to maximize the connection with children by sharing the systems she developed in her career as a teacher, and to coach participants who want to introduce these systems to their care-giving environment.

This includes learning how to teach children the principles of empathy through children’s literature.

You can listen to Gina introducing her work here: Gina Simm’s book trailer

Here’s what Miki Kashtan has to say about Gina’s book Heart to Heart:

“This little book is an extremely rare combination of a clear, simple, and grounded curriculum to support children in learning how to sustain their humanity and open hearts in a world that’s constantly telling them otherwise, and a way for teachers to fully live, with the children, what the world could look like when we include everyone’s needs in a proactive way. Full of stories, tools, and inspiration, and drawing on years of research, it’s complete within itself, accessible, and profound. Any teacher who wants to counter the climate of dehumanization could benefit immensely from applying the lessons that Gina so deftly shares with all.”

Register here

Gina Simm has been involved in a number of projects in the realm of open-hearted living.

• After a career in early childhood education, Gina published a book for parents and teachers called Heart to Heart – Three Systems for Staying Connected – a Manual for Parents and Teachers
• Gina leads workshops about her book for parents and teachers. She also works with co-housing communities to assist in conflict restoration protocols.
• The principles of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) are at the center of Gina’s work. She has done trainings for groups who are interested in having more effectiveness in connected communication.
• Gina lives in a co-housing community in Massachusetts where she is the leader of a committee called Care and Counsel.
• For more information see Gina’s website:  www.teachingfromyourheart.org

Testimonial

Second-grade teacher Lorrie Heard recently participated in the UMaine Hutchinson Center’s Teaching From the Heart: Nonviolent Communication in the Classroom program, with Gina Simm. Learn about Heard’s experience in the program and how what she learned helped to build community in her classroom and empower her students to express their feelings and needs.