Practical Ways to Integrate Wellbeing into Special Education for Teachers and Students

Educators are the backbone of our educational system; championing their well-being is imperative to assuring special education students achieve a high-quality life. The current disability support workforce is experiencing a crisis in recruitment and retention. Applying positive psychology interventions has improved job satisfaction for multiple social service professions, including general educators and healthcare professionals. This session will include immediately applicable ideas for educators to implement for themselves and their students. Ready-made materials are available for all.

Katie Curran, MAPP. Katie is the Chief Wellbeing Officer of Proof Positive, a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading the science and skills of happiness for individuals with autism, and their communities. Katie has over 20 years of clinical experience working with autistic individuals. She’s widely recognized as a creative force when it comes to autism intervention, developing strategies and tools that fuse Positive Psychology with ABA to improve wellbeing.

Jamie Evanko, MS. Jamie first discovered the potential of positive psychology to benefit her students, teams, and personal life while teaching, and it quickly became a passion. As an educator, she knows positive psychology practices can foster not only academic growth but also emotional wellbeing among her students – because she’s experienced and implemented it first-hand. As Proof Positive’s Manager of Customer Success, Jamie applies her expertise and leadership in education to ensure anyone using Proof Positive resources has the highest-quality implementation support.

Patricia Wright’s, PhD, MPH, commitment to ensuring all individuals with autism have access to effective services and support has guided her work for more than 30 years. Her expertise started with her earliest responsibilities as a special educator and is now serving the autism community as Executive Director at Proof Positive, seeking to spread the science and skills of happiness.