The CareFull Educator

Caring ‘about’ vs Caring ‘for’ ~ do you know the difference?

I have the great pleasure of sharing The Care-Full Educator with a few groups this month, including some Zoom sessions where they get to enjoy my bobble head.

Thankful to see educators interested in and passionate about trauma-aware education for students living with medical stress.

It is no surprise to me that the need for more support in school has found its way as a top priority for young people facing cancer.

exists to support teachers in deeply understanding how to help these young people transition and engage with their schooling during these difficult times.

As a parent of a childhood cancer survivor who continues to face these transition challenges, I’m proud to be contributing research to this important gap.

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Today I learnt that I have ‘High C’ style behaviour. Conscientious: I like correctness and order, and need to work on worrying less about everything!

As a personal development endeavour, I undertook a DISC assessment and hired the brilliant Live in Hope to debrief and coach me through my results. I got SO MUCH out of the whole process and now think everyone should do it, especially professionals working heavily with people (teachers, I’m looking at you).

Thanks, Anna, for the insightful conversations and I promise not to worry about my results 😏

Thanks to the Australian & New Zealand Childrens Haematology/Oncology Group (ANZCHOG) Conference for inviting me to speak today.

My mum travelled with me today but I made her sit in the lobby (sorry, Mum) because I always feel too nervous if I know someone in the audience… then Ellie’s ENTIRE CARE TEAM sat down 😂 Despite being mildly terrified, it was an absolute privilege to share some research, stories, and lived experiences in front of the very people who saved her ❤️

That’s a wrap! 🥳

Round 2 of The Care-Full Educator professional learning has officially closed. This has provided us enough data to complete the study (Wohoo).

We are exploring the best way to deliver story-based trauma learning with teachers and will have a refined version for release later this year.

Across two main cycles, we have explored:
-> online, asynchronous, episodic-periodic
-> online, synchronous, episodic-webinar
-> online, asynchronous, episodic-open

Thank you to everyone who has participated in these cycles and to all those who shared my posts to help with the recruitment.

Thanks to all those who joined my Webinar today to learn about PMTS and how it shows up in the classroom.

Your commitment to be part of today means a lot to me and your insights in the activity logs will be so valuable for future teachers.

Special thanks to my cohost and colleague, Anna from Live in Hope who kept the gears running in the background. Grateful for your friendship and technical skills 😉.

Anyone else feel like they’re chasing their tail in these short weeks??

It’s partly why we have given you an option for how you can participate in this course: self-paced over three weeks, or as a group in a webinar. Here’s the details:

-> Self-paced: you will have received an email today with the link and passwords to the course. If you have any issues, feel free to email me. Otherwise, enjoy!

-> Webinar: I’ll see you online next Saturday at 9am. Please ensure Zoom works on your device and accept my Zoom invitation. You’ll receive access to the website after the webinar.

Thank you, Care-Full Educators, for investing time in this and in yourself. You are making a difference in the lives on students (and their families!) who are experiencing medical stress.

Cherry toothpaste and why it’s a trigger..

I was able to share about this and many other stories today with the Queensland Children’s Hospital allied health oncology team. Sharing lived experience in the aftermath of childhood cancer (along with PhD research) can, I hope, improve outcomes for young people and their families.

My FREE professional learning is still open. Sign up using the links in the bio and I’ll share these stories and more on 10 May during a live webinar.

I’d love to see a few more teachers join my FREE session on 10 May 2025, 9am -12pm (including scheduled breaks because ).

This webinar helps teachers grow their understanding about paediatric medical traumatic stress through story-based learning. I am the facilitator; a registered teacher, researcher and medical mum.

Tag a Queensland teacher below and get them onboard with this opportunity. They won’t regret it.

Register via the link in my bio.