Our 2023 experts

Kristin Souers
BIO:  For over three decades, Kristin Van Marter Souers, MA LMHC, has dedicated herself to the improvement of people’s lives. She is an award-winning author of Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for creating a trauma-sensitive classroom environment (ASCD, 2016) and Relationship, Responsibility, and Regulation: Trauma-Invested Practices for Fostering Resilient Learners (ASCD, 2019) as well as many other publications and articles. As an independent consultant, Kristin now provides critical professional development, consultation, education, and training services to schools, school districts, health care providers, businesses, and other community organizations.
KEYNOTE:  Fostering a Trauma Invested Learning Environment 

85-MINUTE WORKSHOP:  Availability vs. Accountability: The Purpose of Intervention  

55-MINUTE SESSION 1 & 2:  Regulating and Fostering Resilience in the Midst of Stress
Dr. Matt Dewar
BIO:  Matthew Dewar, Ed.D., is a professional health educator, speaker, and author researching and applying the science of stress optimization and biofeedback for enhanced health and performance. For fifteen years, he explored the impact of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and emotional intelligence protocols on learning, professional development, and leadership in schools. More recently, he has focused on the impact of self-regulation and biofeedback protocols on stress and elite performance. Dr. Dewar is also the founder of Matt Dewar, LLC, and the creator of the Stress Better™ Framework, which he has shared with collegiate and professional athletes, Fortune 500 executives, colleges and universities, and military personnel. Dr. Dewar authored Education and Well-Being: An Ontological Inquiry and The Mindful Breathing Workbook for Teens and has been featured on TEDx, NPR, Thrive Global, the National Wellness Institute, and many podcasts.
85-MINUTE WORKSHOP:  Stress Better™: The Science of Stress Optimization for Enhanced Health and Performance  

55-MINUTE SESSION 1:  Why Teacher Identity and Self Care Matter

55-MINUTE SESSION 2:  Enhancing the "Heart" of Learning: Heart Rate Variability (HRV), Self-Regulation, and Optimal Learning
Carla Philibert
BIO:  Carla is a mental health technologist who convenes communities to address the significant issues facing our educational system.  She develops sustainable mental health and SEL solutions to tackle the challenges of hyper-connectivity and hyper-isolation today’s youth face. Carla works with school stakeholders, from principals to paraprofessionals, to build expertise in mental health paired with digital tools to provide insightful answers. Her work in the mental health and SEL space is impactful. Carla’s innovative online SEL platform, Class Catalyst, is being used by 200+ schools in over 8 states and has resulted in a 23% increase in Chicago Public School students’ readiness to learn with double-digit increases in teacher social emotional competence (SEC). ​
85-MINUTE WORKSHOP:  Everyday SEL: Incorporating Strategies Into ANY Classroom

55-MINUTE SESSION 1:  You've Started an SEL Program: Now What?

55-MINUTE SESSION 2:  The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:  Evaluating SEL Curricula
Eboni Rucker
BIO:  Eboni Rucker is an educator who has been working in the field of Education for the last 14years. I have a vigorous background in education, training in Applied Behavior Analysis and Restorative Justice. With a passion for supporting at risk students, I have spent the last 7 years as a Restorative Justice Practitioner for a high school in the Chicagoland area. I have worked in various capacities in the realm of education from private specialized centers for autism in Chicago, Illinois and Cincinnati, Ohio to public middle and high schools in the Chicagoland area. I have been a member Chicago City Wide Restorative Justice Committee and PEACE S2 - People Engaged in Advancement of Community Enrichment in the South Suburbs, seeking to provide Restorative Justice trainings to local school districts and community stakeholders. I am also an educational consultant for school districts, where I works to assist students sharing their SEL endeavors with their teachers to support more culturally responsive teaching and learning, based upon CASEL learning competencies. I am also a very active member of the National Education Association (NEA) and Illinois Education Association (IEA). I am humbled to have been elected as delegate of the NEA and IEA Representative Assemblies for the last 3 years. She has attended the NEAs Conference on Racial and Social Justice. I am also currently a member of IEA’s Leaders for Just School. With a passion for lifelong learning, she attended Lincoln College, Eastern Illinois University and currently seeking a Master’s Degree in Multi-Categorical Special Education from Governors State University. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, cooking, traveling, watching sports, volunteering and spending time with her family who all are huge football fans.
85-MINUTE WORKSHOP:  Self - Sacrifice Vs. Self Care, Restorative SEL 

55-MINUTE SESSION 1:  Abolitionist Education & Culturally Responsive Teaching

55-MINUTE SESSION 2:  Introduction to Restorative Practices
Julie Smith
BIO:  Julie has been teaching media literacy since 1997. She is the author of "Master the Media: How Teaching Media Literacy Can Save our Plugged-In World" and travels extensively providing media and social media workshops to parents, teachers and students. Julie is on the faculty at Webster University in St Louis and will preach this 21st Century Survival Skill to anyone who will listen..
85-MINUTE WORKSHOP:  Media Literacy: The Hidden Key to SEL 

55-MINUTE SESSION 1 & 2:  What We Need to Know Our Social Media Use & TikTok in Particular
All booked presenters are subject to change without notice.*