In This Together copertina

In This Together

In This Together

Di: Becky Dawson
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A proposito di questo titolo

In This Together, the place where we explore all things wellbeing in education. Join us as we dive into honest conversations, share practical strategies, and uncover the insights you need to foster a thriving environment for both staff , students and everyone in their lives. Get ready to feel inspired, supported, and ready to make a real difference in your community!


All rights reserved. Igiene e vita sana Psicologia Psicologia e salute mentale
Episodi
  • Positive Psychology in Education With Melanie Gentles | In This Together

    Positive Psychology in Education With Melanie Gentles | In This Together
    Apr 17 2026

    Description

    Positive psychology practitioner and school leader Melanie Gentles joins Becky Dawson to explore how evidence-based wellbeing can transform school cultures. This episode delves into the science of flourishing, moving beyond "fluffy" concepts to practical applications that support both staff and pupils. By prioritizing character strengths and authentic human connection, Melanie demonstrates how schools can move from simply performing to truly thriving.

    Listeners can expect an insightful deep dive into Positive Education, a proactive framework that provides tools for navigating challenges while building resilience and happiness. Melanie discusses the "third wave" of positive psychology, focusing on how community, culture, and systems underpin individual wellness. The conversation highlights the vital link between staff wellbeing and pupil outcomes, emphasizing that educators must experience these interventions themselves to create truly safe and supportive environments.


    Take Aways


    • Prioritise Staff First: Wellbeing initiatives must start with staff; when educators experience positive psychology interventions personally, they can more authentically model and teach them to pupils.
    • Leverage Character Strengths: Identifying and using signature strengths (via the VIA survey) increases engagement, boosts energy, and helps both adults and children move from "languishing" to a state of flow.
    • Shift to Strengths-Based Feedback: Moving away from a deficit model to strength-spotting builds pupil confidence and fosters a growth mindset.
    • Embed Wellbeing in the Curriculum: Schools can weave wellbeing science into existing subjects—like exploring character emotions in English or data on sleep hygiene in Maths—rather than seeing it as a time-consuming "add-on."
    • Foster Systemic Autonomy: School leaders should move away from micromanagement and "yoga and cake" solutions, instead creating coaching-led systems that allow staff to work within their areas of strength and interest.


    Don't forget to follow us on your podcast platform and give us a rating and review to help more educators find these crucial conversations. Share your thoughts, comments, questions, or brilliant work by emailing the team at teamwellbeing@twinkl.co.uk.


    Chapters

    00:00 - Introduction – Meet Melanie Gentles, positive psychology practitioner and school leader.

    01:19 - The Journey to Positive Psychology – From educational psychology aspirations to discovering the science of flourishing.

    04:53 - The Power of Positive Education – Why wellbeing is a proactive tool, not just a reaction to crisis.

    06:06 - Debunking the "Happy" Myth – Understanding that positive psychology isn't about being happy all the time.

    07:52 - Discovering Character Strengths – Exploring the 24 universal strengths and the VIA Survey.

    10:14 - Beating Languishing – How using strengths helps educators find "flow" and avoid burnout.

    12:21 - Strength-Spotting in the Classroom – Practical ways to name and praise character in pupils.

    15:51 - A Science of Wellbeing Curriculum – Lessons from Australia’s Geelong Grammar and the PERMA model.

    19:32 - Making Time for Wellbeing – Creative ways to embed wellbeing into a packed school timetable.

    24:40 - Advice for School Leaders – Moving beyond "cake" to systemic autonomy and coaching.

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    30 min
  • The Neuroscience of Wellbeing With Evelina Dzimanaviciute | In This Together

    The Neuroscience of Wellbeing With Evelina Dzimanaviciute | In This Together
    Apr 10 2026

    Evelina Dzimanaviciute, an organizational development consultant and founder of Elite Mind, joins host Becky Dawson to bridge the gap between latest academic research and practical applications in schools. This episode explores how neuroscience and behavioral science can transform staff performance, self-regulation, and mental health. The discussion dives deep into managing stress through ancient wisdom and modern data, reimagining the school environment to boost resilience, and the critical importance of aligning individual values with organizational purpose.

    Translating complex science into tangible school improvements, Evelina explains the "Wellbeing Compass" and why educators often hit burnout by failing to listen to their bodies. The conversation challenges traditional views on therapy and coaching, offering a proactive toolkit for building internal resourcefulness. Whether you are a headteacher looking to improve staff retention or a teacher seeking immediate stress-relief tools, this episode provides a roadmap for a healthier, purpose-driven career in education.


    Takeaways
    • Box Breathing as a Diagnostic Tool: Beyond simple relaxation, use the "box" method to identify which "energy" (Water, Air, Fire, Earth) you lack based on which part of the breath is hardest to hold.
    • Environmental Boundaries and Neuro-Anchoring: Avoid "contaminating" spaces; eating lunch in a classroom keeps the nervous system in a high-performance state rather than allowing it to enter "rest and digest" mode.
    • The Resilience of Purpose: True purpose isn't just about feeling good; it serves as a "North Star" that provides the resilience needed to sacrifice and keep going during difficult times without burning out.
    • Biophilic Design in Schools: Recreating natural environments by bringing in plants, natural light, and fresh air is essential for aligning our biological rhythms with our work life.
    • Building Internal Resourcefulness: Shift away from "passive" labels like "anxious" or "depressed" toward skill-based wellbeing that focuses on habits, financial management, and physical strength.


    Follow & Review: If you found these insights helpful, please subscribe and leave a review on your favorite platform to help other educators find us!

    Get in Touch: Share your wellbeing stories or questions with us at teamwellbeing@twinkl.co.uk.



    Chapters

    00:00 - Introduction - Becky introduces Evelina and the intersection of science and performance.

    01:26 - The Science-Education Gap - Why it takes decades for research to reach schools and the mission of Elite Mind.

    03:49 - Understanding the Stress Mechanism - How our "zebra" brains react to modern stressors and imagined scenarios.

    06:33 - Box Breathing & Ancient Wisdom - A deep dive into the 4-count breathing technique and its neurochemical effects.

    11:12 - Reimagining School Environments - The impact of physical space on teacher resilience and the danger of "blurred boundaries".

    14:45 - Bringing the Outdoors In - Using natural light, plants, and grounding to improve neurobiology.

    17:03 - The Wellbeing Compass - Measuring the "unmeasurable" through data and behavioral habits.

    23:21 - Coaching vs. Therapy - Why combining future-oriented coaching with therapeutic self-awareness is the key to growth.

    27:48 - Living and Working on Purpose - Aligning individual values with organizational strategy to prevent turnover.

    32:42 - Environmental Influence & Final Thoughts - Knowing when to change a system and when to move to a new environment
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    35 min
  • Executive Function & Wellbeing With Victoria Bagnall | In This Together

    Executive Function & Wellbeing With Victoria Bagnall | In This Together
    Apr 3 2026
    In this episode of In This Together, host Becky Dawson sits down with Victoria Bagnall, an acclaimed educator, executive function coach, and author of The Neuro-Inclusive Educator. Victoria shares her journey as a neurodivergent teacher and specialist tutor, explaining how understanding the brain’s "management system" can transform classroom outcomes. The conversation delves into the critical link between executive function and wellbeing, offering a roadmap for shifting from compliance-based discipline to a neuro-inclusive pedagogy that fosters student autonomy.Victoria explains that executive functions—skills like organization, task initiation, and emotional regulation—are often inhibited when a child is in a "protective state" due to stress or trauma. By prioritizing wellbeing and psychological safety, educators can help students access their prefrontal cortex for higher-order learning. This episode explores how co-regulation, interoception, and explicit strategy modeling can empower all learners, regardless of diagnosis, to become self-aware and independent "self-starters".TakeawaysExecutive function as the foundation for learning: These skills encompass organization, time management, and emotional regulation, which are essential for academic success and life beyond the classroom.The link between wellbeing and brain function: When a child feels unsafe or stressed, the brain diverts energy away from executive functions toward survival instincts, often mislabeled as "defiance" or "laziness".Shifting from compliance to autonomy: Rather than using shame to control behavior, educators should foster student autonomy and self-awareness, allowing young people to take responsibility for their own learning journeys.The power of co-regulation: Teachers act as caregivers whose own nervous systems impact the classroom; by practicing self-regulation, educators can naturally help settle the energy of their students.Explicit modeling of strategies: High-impact teachers share their own struggles and humanize the learning process by explicitly modeling how they start difficult tasks or manage their time.Developing interoception: Helping students become aware of their internal body signals is a prerequisite for self-regulation and accessing learning states.Sharing is CaringVictoria recommends the Smart but Scattered book series by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare, which provides tailored strategies for children, teens, and adults. Additionally, she highlights the Self-Determination Cups activity. In this exercise, students color in "coffee cups" to represent their current levels of belonging, competence, and autonomy. This tool helps educators identify hidden barriers to engagement and design interventions that build students up rather than undermining their sense of belonging through traditional punishments.Connect with us:Follow the podcast on your favorite platform and leave a rating or review to help other educators find these vital conversations.Have thoughts or questions? Email the team at teamwellbeing@twinkl.co.uk.Chapters00:00 - Introduction - Becky Dawson introduces executive function coach Victoria Bagnall.01:55 - Defining Executive Function - Victoria explains how her own neurodivergence led her to study the brain's "management system".04:54 - Neuro-Inclusive Classrooms - Why what is good for neurodivergent students is brilliant for everyone.06:26 - The Wellbeing Connection - Understanding how "threat" states in the brain take executive functions offline.08:36 - Co-regulation in the Classroom - How a teacher’s own regulation sets the tone for 30+ students.12:18 - High-Impact Strategies - Modeling the "humanity" of struggle and using body scans to settle a class.14:52 - Interoception and Trauma - Learning to read body signals as a prerequisite for self-regulation.17:20 - Language Matters - Shifting the conversation from "misbehaviour" to "unfilled skills".18:32 - Autonomy and Metacognition - Developing "self-starters" through an autonomy-based pedagogy.21:15 - A Social Experiment with Time - How Victoria taught her six-year-old the foundational sense of time.25:28 - Moving Beyond Curriculum - Why an executive function "curriculum" isn't enough without psychological safety.28:54 - The Dream School Model - Shifting school culture over 10 years to treasure wellbeing and autonomy.32:44 - Sharing is Caring - Recommended resources, including the Smart but Scattered series and Self-Determination Cups
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    35 min
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