Wellbeing
CALM - Coaching, Acceptance, Legal Mindset & Movement for Educators
6 days
CALM is a unique synthesis of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), professional coaching, legal mindset tools, and conscious movement — designed to equip educators with a state-of-the-art psychological toolkit for navigating the increasing complexity, conflict, and cognitive demand of contemporary school life.
ACT — a third-wave cognitive behavioural therapy now widely used in high-performance professions including law, medicine, and elite sport — is extraordinarily well-suited to the educator context. Unlike approaches that try to eliminate stress or negative thoughts, ACT builds the psychological flexibility to act effectively even when conditions are difficult. Combined with legal-mindset analytical tools, coaching conversation skills, and movement practices, CALM produces educators who are genuinely resilient — not just coping, but thriving.
Learning Outcomes
Participants to the course will learn to:
Understand the evidence base and core processes of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Apply the ACT Hexaflex model (acceptance, defusion, values, committed action, present-moment awareness, self-as-context) to professional wellbeing
Use cognitive defusion techniques to reduce the impact of unhelpful thoughts and professional rumination
Apply values-based decision-making to complex professional dilemmas using ACT and legal reasoning frameworks
Facilitate structured conflict conversations using coaching and ACT principles
Integrate movement-based ACT exercises (yoga, walking, somatic anchoring) into daily teaching practice
Programme
CALM - Coaching, Acceptance, Legal Mindset & Movement for Educators
Monday - What is Psychological Flexibility?
Welcome, safety contract, and group intention-setting.
Introduction to ACT: history, evidence, and why it is different from positive thinking.
The Hexaflex model: overview of the six core processes.
Experiential exercise: the struggle switch — what happens when we fight our experience.
Present-moment practice: 20-minute body-scan and mindful movement.
Journaling: what do I most want to accept? What am I most committed to?
Tuesday - Defusion & Acceptance
Cognitive defusion: unhooking from unhelpful thoughts.
Defusion exercises: naming the story, leaves on a stream, the radio in the car.
Acceptance vs. resignation: a critical distinction for high-achieving professionals.
Legal mindset module: applying structured analytical thinking to emotional problems.
Afternoon: yin yoga as a practice of radical acceptance.
Partner practice: sharing a current professional difficulty through the ACT lens.
Wednesday - Values as a Compass
Values clarification: identifying what truly matters in professional life.
Distinguishing values from goals: the compass vs. the destination.
The Legal Mindset applied to values: building a case for your professional choices.
Workshop: values-based conflict resolution — when my values meet yours.
Outdoor walking meditation: connecting to values in natural space.
Drafting a Personal Values Constitution.
Thursday - Committed Action & Coaching
Committed action: doing what matters even when it is hard.
Barriers to committed action: how ACT understands procrastination, avoidance, and self-sabotage.
Coaching for committed action: powerful questions that unlock movement.
Structured conflict conversations: a step-by-step coaching framework.
Live coaching practice triads: participants coach each other through a real professional challenge.
Self-as-context: the observing self and why it matters for educator identity.
Friday - Movement as ACT
The body as an ACT laboratory: how movement practices embody the six processes.
Morning Kundalini-inspired sequence: present-moment awareness through movement.
ACT in the classroom: adapting the six processes for student mental health.
Designing a CALM Toolkit: personalised collection of ACT, coaching, and movement practices.
Afternoon: group coaching session facilitated by participants in rotation.
Integration: connecting CALM to real school structures, timetables, and colleagues.
Saturday - CALM in Action
Morning: participants lead their chosen CALM practice for the group.
CALM Toolkits presented: each participant shares their top three tools.
Certificate ceremony: Erasmus+ KA1 completion.
Peer accountability system established.
Closing ACT exercise: writing a commitment to psychological flexibility.
Celebration and departure.
Materials, digital tools & other learning resources
Course participants will receive training and engage in exercises designed to develop their skills as trainers. The provision of additional materials or resources will be determined based on the course structure and the instructor’s approach to meeting the learning objectives
Course package content:
Services and activities included in the course package are those described above. Please note that accommodation, transport, and meals are not provided.
Cancellation & changes:
Common sense prevails when it comes to cancellations, which are analyzed on a case-by-case basis.