Connected Educators : Wellbeing and Resilience in teaching , a 6-week Zoom Course Oct - Nov 2026
Connected Educators : Wellbeing and Resilience in teaching , a 6-week Zoom Course Oct - Nov 2026
Time: 7pm-8:30pm Wednesdays:
21 October; 4, 11, 18 and 25 November; 02 December 2026
Teaching is deeply important work, but it can leave you stretched thin, reactive and disconnected from your own wellbeing. Between classes, marking, meetings and parents, you may be juggling many different needs, and it’s easy to end up looking after everyone except yourself. If this feels familiar, you are not alone – many educators experience this, whether they are newly qualified or decades into their career.
Connected Educators offers a supportive space to pause, breathe, and reconnect with how you are. You’ll learn alongside a small online group of peers who really understand the pressures and rewards of teaching. Together you’ll explore practical ways to bring more calm, ease and joy into daily life, the classroom, and difficult moments.
Fees: 160€. Register and pay via the Dzogchen Beara website.
This course will help you:
Steady yourself in stressful moments, rather than react on autopilot.
Soften the harsh inner critic that can follow a difficult day.
Develop simple effective wellbeing practices for your life and classroom.
Each session combines mindfulness and emotional-health practices with wellbeing research. There will also be time to reflect, practise and share with colleagues who get it.
Online course
This will be a small, supportive online group, meeting on Wednesdays:
21 October; 4, 11, 18 and 25 November; 02 December 2026.
The €160 fee includes:
Six weekly 90-minute online sessions
A course booklet with session highlights and practices
Weekly follow-up emails with session summaries, guided audio practices, short videos and further resources
No previous mindfulness experience is needed.
What we will explore together
The science of well-being: Understanding the root causes of stress, what helps us thrive, and the evidence behind emotional health practices.
Practical mindfulness and compassion tools: Building a simple daily routine alongside short "on-the-spot" tools for calm and presence.
Emotional regulation: Navigating challenging thoughts and feelngs without reacting on autopilot.
Self-care: Cultivating sustainable ways to care for yourself, while continuing to care for others.
Connected communication: Developing greater empathy, emotional intelligence, and healthy boundaries in relationships.
WHAT DO OTHER TEACHERS SAY ABOUT THIS COURSE?
“magical – heart and mind fully engaged, a valuable experience both personally and professionally”
“enriching, joyful and informative … absolutely recommend it”
“… a rich, strong and safe pathway to the hearts of young people and adults”
“I was impressed by the lightness with which we confronted such deeply profound topics”
“I really appreciated the gentle way we were involved in the course contents”
"It gave me a sense of openness, freshness and acceptance”
“… a nourishing and stimulating experience”
“By training myself to be calm and thoughtful I can help others to be also”
“I can see how kindness and compassion improves our well-being”
“100% worth spending the time participating – it will benefit your health and relationships”
Instructor
Fiona Clarke has been holding retreats, workshops and courses internationally for the past 15 years, sharing tools for well-being and connection with adults and children. Fiona supports school communities to flourish and thrive, using tools for emotional health such as mindfulness, empathy and compassion. She holds trainings with presence, humour, lightness, a sense of common humanity, and a deep empathic connection with others.
Week by Week
Week 1: Prioritising self-care
What is driving the stress in my life
Wellbeing is a skill we can build: what the research tells us
An introduction to mindfulness and mindful listening
Week 2: Out of our heads, into our senses
Reconnecting with the body and what it is telling us
Mindfulness of the senses: the mindful mandarin exercise
Autopilot, distraction and unhappiness
Week 3: Who is the boss, me or my thoughts?
Why our minds cling to the negative, and what we can do about it
Understanding the brain, so we can respond more skilfully
RAIN: a gentle practice for meeting difficult moments
Week 4: Feeling emotions without becoming them
Can I feel a difficult emotion without reacting habitually?
A challenge I face as an educator: the gift of mindful listening
Cultivating positive emotions and noticing the good that is already here
Week 5: Becoming a good friend to myself
Softening the self-critic, and finding a kinder inner voice
What nourishes me? what drains me?
Wishing myself well, as I would a good friend
Week 6: Bringing it back to the classroom
Emotion coaching – helping students navigate big feelings
Emotional regulation exercises for young people and adults
Building a daily practice that fits into a busy life