Cultivating communities of learning and service that realize
Self-Leadership as the foundation for
collective well-being and collaborative action.
Joanna's book is open for Pre-Sales! Available 9.16.2025
Get 25% off at check out with promo code "25 JOANNA"
Bring the gifts of IFS to your life as an educator realizing your capacity to care for yourself and nurture compassionate connections with students and colleagues. Following my IFS inspired PAUSE Model fo Self-Leadership, you will unlock your power to BE different amidst all the demands, expectations and challenges you face daily. PAUSE is the key to transmist social and emotional wellbeing to our children, one interaction at a time, and it starts with you, the Self-led Educator. LEARN MORE HERE
NEW WORKSHOPS FOR SUMMER 2025!
Around the world, PAUSE is unlocking our power to take compassionate and courageous collective action - from parents and teachers caring for themselves as they guide our youth and school communities, to business coaches and leaders pioneering a new way of operating in organizations.
Explore how you can access your own Self-Leadership and uplift your community, one meaningful interaction at a time with the PAUSE Model.
"This is THE model I've been looking for my whole career- finally something that ties it all together, it includes everything (mindfulness, trauma etc.)."
- Professional Development Coordinator
(About teaching during the global pandemic) "This is so valuable to me. How could I have gotten through this without the teachings of Self-Leadership? I have a strategy. I pause. It helps me reset. When things come up I say, "It's Ok. I just need to approach this with curiosity. I can do this. Thank you!"
IMAGINE Communities that Embody Self-Leadership:
Students are motivated and ready for effective learning because they are capable of self-regulation, self-compassion, and collaborative connections with peers, teachers and staff.
Adults (administrators, faculty, staff) are aware of their own reactive responses and capable of self-modulation while skillfully engaging students and coaching them through life challenges.
Families feel welcomed and inspired when interacting with the school and community organizations. They learn skills to bring Self-Leadership into family dynamics.
Organizational Culture and Climate - Leaders, staff and community members together co-create a culture where everyone feels safe, appreciated, and inspired to realize their potential and contribute their best for the good of all.
Self-Leadership has been transformative in my pursuit of growth in education. It has shown me a direction that will be a lifelong journey of finding space in myself to truly be present for my students, colleagues and community. It unlocks the spirit of human connection and should be where conversations about education begin.
Dean of Students, Middle School
OUTCOMES: When applied systematically the Self-Leadership Collaborative infuses the whole school or organizational culture and climate and promises to profoundly inform everyone's capacity to:
• Increase self-awareness
• Self-regulate and express emotions effectively
• Build compassionate and collaborative relationships
• Embrace challenges with courage and confidence
• Contribute constructively to the school and larger community
• Engage deeply in teaching and learning
Current Challenge in Schools:
What Educators are Reporting
We hear reports everyday that the pervasive culture and climate in many schools is characterized by tension, anxiety, criticism and extreme behaviors. Many students struggle with being distracted and emotionally dis-regulated, which in turn means they are unavailable for deep learning.
Teachers share feelings of being disconnected from their visions to prepare successful students. Instead they are themselves often triggered, overwhelmed, even hopeless. Although there are many new initiatives, teachers still feel their toolboxes don’t adequately prepare them to meet the ever growing need.
Fear, overwhelm and rigidity is constricting access to curiosity, creativity and connection, the most essential ingredients for learning. Educators are looking for a paradigm shift.
A Unique Solution for Schools:
Self-Leadership Offers a Paradigm Shift
The Self-Leadership Collaborative provides a vision and practical framework to shift how all community members engage with greater compassion and effectiveness in daily interactions and activities. This is realized through shifts in informal everyday relationships as well as through formal learning activities for adults and students. This model is:
Transformative - inspired by Internal Family Systems, a cutting edge model for realizing optimal well-being and true potential, while facilitating healing for the roots of trauma.
Comprehensive - Informed by neuroscience, trauma research, behavior and culture change methodology, attachment theory, the CASEL model for social and emotional learning, and mindfulness practices.
Systemic – Addresses needs of students and adults at all levels of the school system, from proactive, preventative classroom SEL curriculum, to specialized behavior interventions, to school wide-culture and climate plans, policy and procedures.
Sustainable – Self-Leadership principles and concepts become a way of being that can be creatively adapted and applied within the school, providing tools and practices in relevant ways over time, and avoiding initiative fatigue.
Integrative – We partner with clients to customize the training and implementation of the Self-Leadership Collaborative approach to ensure effective integration with existing curricula and intervention strategies.
Culturally Responsive - This model builds awareness of bias’ and capacity for respectful, restorative relationships.
