BELFAST – Registration is open for an online professional development program, “Helping to Calm Strong Emotions with Resonant Language.” This four-day workshop, part of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s professional development program, will be held from 4-5:30 p.m. every Wednesday from Sept. 13 to Oct. 4.
Participants will learn practical strategies for helping calm strong emotions in themselves and others. Verbal and somatic strategies will also be demonstrated to deescalate strong emotions during conflict, explore brain activity when trauma is activated and show the practical power of resonant language. These techniques can be easily learned and readily employed to dispel tension during customer service interactions, reduce workplace friction, mitigate conflict between students and minimize stress with family and friends.
This program is designed to benefit people who work with youth, including childcare providers, ed techs, educators, guidance counselors, school administrators, social workers, teachers; frontline workers; people who work in service industries; municipal workers; and parents and guardians.
Program facilitator Peggy Smith, who holds a master’s degree in literacy and language arts from the University of Pennsylvania, is a certified trainer with the International Center for Nonviolent Communication with over four decades of teaching experience. A co-founder of the Maine Nonviolent Communication Network, Smith is at the forefront of bringing empathic thinking and communicating to midcoast Maine.
A stable internet connection and the ability to participate in these synchronous sessions as they are happening is required. Participants will receive a certificate of completion, and 0.6 CEUs/6 contact hours are available, upon request. The program cost is $175 per person.
For more information or to request a reasonable accommodation, visit the program website or contact Kimberly Lai, um.fhc.pd@maine.edu; 207.338.8002.
University of Maine Cooperative Extension: As a trusted resource for over 100 years, University of Maine Cooperative Extension has supported UMaine’s land and sea grant public education role by conducting community-driven, research-based programs in every Maine county. UMaine Extension seeks to build thriving communities and grow the food-based economy, focusing on aspects from production and processing to nutrition, food safety and food security. Extension also conducts the most successful out-of-school youth educational program in Maine through 4-H which offers hands-on projects in areas like health, science, agriculture and civic engagement and creates a positive environment where participants are encouraged to take on proactive leadership roles.
About the University of Maine: The University of Maine, founded in Orono in 1865, is the state’s land grant, sea grant and space grant university, with a regional campus at the University of Maine at Machias. UMaine is located on Marsh Island in the homeland of the Penobscot Nation. UMaine Machias is located in the homeland of the Passamaquoddy Nation. As Maine’s flagship public university, UMaine has a statewide mission of teaching, research and economic development, and community service. UMaine is the state’s public research university and a Carnegie R1 top-tier research institution. It attracts students from all 50 states and 86 countries. UMaine currently enrolls 11,571 undergraduate and graduate students, and UMaine Machias enrolls 763 undergraduates. Our students have opportunities to participate in groundbreaking research with world-class scholars. UMaine offers 77 bachelor’s degrees and six undergraduate certificates, as well as more than 100 degree programs through which students can earn doctoral or master’s degrees, professional master’s degrees, and graduate certificates. UMaine Machias offers 18 associate and bachelor’s degrees, and 14 undergraduate certificates. The university promotes environmental stewardship, with substantial efforts campuswide to conserve energy, recycle and adhere to green building standards in new construction. For more information about UMaine and UMaine Machias, visit umaine.edu and machias.edu.
