Unlock Your Teaching Potential
Are you overwhelmed by the constant demands of teaching, wondering if you’ll ever feel balanced again? Do you feel like your identity as an educator has overshadowed the person you once were? Are you craving a way to rediscover your passion and purpose, not just in the classroom but in your life?
Welcome to Unlock Your Teaching Potential, your permission slip to hit the brakes, recharge, and reignite your joy for teaching and living.
I’m Dr. Jen Rafferty, a former music teacher, author, TEDX speaker, mom of 2, and founder of Empowered Educator. I’ve been where you are, navigating the burnout, the exhaustion, and the struggle to find time for yourself especially when life gets lifey. But I also know there’s another way, a path to thriving both as an educator and a human being.
This podcast is where we ditch the old ideas of what you “should” be doing and discover actionable steps to create a life you love. Each week, I’ll guide you through short, impactful episodes created to empower you with tangible tools to reclaim your energy, prioritize your well-being, and transform the way you show up for yourself, your students, and your family.
Together, we’ll rewrite the narrative of being in education from selfless superhero to becoming an empowered educator, one step at a time. Whether it’s embracing mindfulness, setting boundaries, or rediscovering what lights you up, you’ll leave each episode with strategies to help you lead a healthier, and more joyful life...which in turn will allow you to show up as your best self for your students and school communities.
If you’re ready to fuel your soul as an educator, this is the podcast for you!
So it’s time to recharge, refocus, and unlock your teaching potential! Our kids need you.
Unlock Your Teaching Potential
Emotional inclusion: Understanding how adverse childhood experiences can create long-term toxic-stress and trauma with Renee Hettich
Have a question for the show? Text us here!
What does it take to bounce back from a traumatic event? How do you thrive and survive the toxic stress and trauma?
As educators, we often see certain behaviors that can be barriers to success for some students. And the ultimate goal is to help them get past these conflicts and challenges by encouraging them to focus on their future and success.
But most of the time, what our students need is a safe space and adults who will listen and try to understand what they’re going through.
Welcome to episode 31 of Take Notes with Jen Rafferty! In this episode, I’m speaking with Renee Hettich. She is an author, licensed master social worker, and trainer on topics such as resiliency and therapeutic parenting.
Renee opens the conversation about adverse childhood experiences and how they can affect the child’s mindset and behavior long term.
Understanding your student’s behavior is essential to their success. The truth is, we don’t know what each student is going through, but the best we can do is to learn more about how we can help them.
Tune in and find out how you can help your student understand their feelings better!
Stay empowered,
Jen
Let’s keep the conversation going! Find me at:
Jen Rafferty | Instagram, YouTube, Facebook | Linktree
Instagram: @jenrafferty_
Facebook: Empowered Educator Faculty
About Renee:
Renee has been parenting children from adverse histories for over twenty-six years as a foster, adoptive, and kinship parent. She is currently parenting four children who joined her family through inter-country adoption. She cares for children with special medical, learning, developmental, and mental health needs.
Renee has worked in the field of adoption and foster care since 2004 as an adoption social worker and program director supporting families adopting domestically and internationally. In 2017, she joined the Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition as program director. She is dedicated to the well-being of adoptive, foster, and kinships families. She is proud to lead a team of experts who support adoptive and guardianship families in eight counties.
Renee has published articles in Adoption Today and Adoptive Families (national adoption magazines). She is the author of the book My Kids Know More Than Me! 15 Life Lessons from Foster and Adopted Children. Renee is also a trainer on the topics of adverse childhood experiences, the adaptation of the brain from toxic stress and trauma, resiliency, and therapeutic parenting. She has also been featured on radio and podcast broadcasts in regard to parenting children with traumatic histories and with mental health challenges. Renee earned a Master of Social Work degree from Marywood University and has been a Licensed Master Social Worker since 2005. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Audiology from the University of Pittsburgh and a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech/Language Pathology from Ithaca College.
Stay empowered,
Jen
Let’s keep the conversation going! Find me at:
empowerededucator.com/resources
Instagram: @jenrafferty_
Facebook: Empowered Educator Faculty Room