Workshops

Amy will design workshops to fit the interests and needs of your school, religious organization or community. She has over three decades of experience in curriculum design, as a middle school teacher and group facilitator of adults, youth, and children. She especially enjoys sparking discussion among participants while sharing new information in creative ways.

See a workshop that interests you personally or that you’d like to bring to your community? Schedule a Clarity Call to learn more. 

Upcoming Workshops:

VISION 2023 WORKSHOP: February 4th 2023 10am-3pm EST

This day-long creative immersion workshop is a gift to yourself.

Join us to focus on:

* What you really want

* How you want to be

*What you want to create in your life in the new year and decade.

 

Click here to reserve your spot. Limited to 16 people due to the deep nature of this workshop.

Most of us have fleeting ideas of what we want for ourselves and our families. But they remain just that: fleeting. It’s hard to take time to step back and be intentional when we are busy taking care of others, working, and attending to the many demands of our lives.

Choosing a Touchstone Word of the Year and creating a Vision Board will help you focus on your personal values, interests, and dreams. Arranging images in a beautiful way provides our brains with deep reminders of what we value and desire in our lives. Those images exert an unconscious power that we only realize later, when we stop again to look at our lives and appreciate what we have created.

HERE’S WHAT OUR DAY WILL LOOK LIKE:

  • 10am-12:30pm EST Guided Meditation, Powerful Reflection Experiences, Choosing Touchstone Words, Sharing with Others
  • 12:30pm-1pm EST Lunch – solo or with the group
  • 1-3pm EST Selecting Images, Vision Board Creation, Next Steps

Click here to reserve your spot!

Reflections from past participants:

“Participating in this workshop was an outstanding investment in myself. As mothers, we often neglect our own dreams in favor of supporting our loved ones. At Amy’s suggestion, I carved out a Saturday to participate and was truly delighted with the outcome. Amy skillfully created a safe and supportive environment as we explored, and ultimately defined, what is most important to each of us. In addition to more clearly identifying dreams and goals, I paused from my busy life to connect with my own self. With Amy leading the charge, you are always in gifted hands and in good company.  I highly recommend this delightful retreat day.” Susie Hill

“It was absolutely delightful to take some time out to just be creative and make a vision board. I loved playing with words and images and seeing how the final product brought me clarity on my life’s journey.  Making a vision board was great because it helped me learn to be patient with and calm about this time of transition in my life. Plus, I just love looking at all these images that give me joy and help me to feel good about myself.” Ronda Yeomans

“I look forward to choosing a word of the year in January and creating a vision board each year. Both help to remind me throughout the year what my goal is and it’s a treat to review both the word and board at the end of the year–and especially my collection of boards over the years where similar themes run through each of them.” Jaqi Holland

 

Popular Workshops: 

MINDFUL PARENTING SERIES on Zoom!

Perfect for parents who want to focus on their parenting in a group setting. 

Do ever lose it with your kids and then feel guilty and surprised at how your emotions got the best of you? You are not alone. This is a 4-part Mindful Parenting series that will help you understand how to become more aware of your own and your children’s internal states. As a result, you will identify ways to respond in more “mindful” ways that bring about connection, clarity, and mutual understanding in your family. You will get to think about real-life situations, practice new ways of thinking and responding, and assess your responses during our classes so that you walk away more confident, competent and mindful as a parent and person. Based on past experience, you will love the opportunity to connect with other parents in this class. Appropriate for parents of children of any age and tailored to the group who joins.

Email me at amy@amybehrens.com to find out about the next time this workshop will be offered in 2023.

 

FAMILY CULTURE & WINTER KICKOFF ONLINE MINI-RETREAT

 

Make your family life more peaceful and fun! You’ll feel more connected, reduce conflict, and enjoy your family more fully.

How do we stay grounded, calm, and clear in what really matters to us? 

What can we do to create happiness and peace in our families and communities? 

 

It all starts with us. When we pause to consider what we want for families and get clear about what’s most important, we can make it happen!  Click here to learn more.

Through our time together, you will:

  • Develop vision and tools for your family
  • Get inspiration to make winter school vacation fun and enjoyable
  • Understand of the “C’s of family culture” 
  • Experience warm camaraderie with a group of like-minded parents
  • Receive expert tips from a parent coach with years of experience working with families
  • Create action steps you can start using right away

Email me at amy@amybehrens.com to find out about the next time this workshop will be offered in 2023.

 

CREATE YOUR OWN PARENTING MANTRAS

Join with other parents to learn how to create your own parenting mantras for the situations that trigger you with your kids. 

In this small online workshop setting, you’ll get personalized coaching to help you tap into your inner wisdom. Plus, you’ll benefit from learning together with our small group of fellow parents.

Learn more here.

 

Join us to:

  • Open up your imagination and generate ideas through guided reflection.
  • Learn a tool you can use again and again.
  • Work through tough situations to gain clarity and wisdom.
  • Experience new mindsets that will improve your life.
  • Know you are not alone in your parenting struggles.
  • Share ideas you can test out with your own children.

Email me at amy@amybehrens.com to find out about the next time this workshop will be offered in 2023.

 

USING CONFLICT AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR GROWTH AND CONNECTION 

Created for parents, teachers and administrators who want to learn to handle conflicts and micro-aggressions in ways that create mutual understanding and growth. Easily adaptable for parent groups or workplace groups. 

Would you like to become more effective at transforming tense situations into opportunities for people of all ages to connect and understand each other? How do you support all students when they have different politics and values? This workshop will guide you through a four-step process that you can use in parenting, teaching, and communicating in all aspects of your life where conflicts arise. Participants will have an opportunity to practice using this process so that they walk away empowered to reduce bias, improve relationships, and increase engagement both personally and professionally.

 

TALKING ABOUT RACE: A DISCUSSION GROUP FOR PARENTS 

This three-part series is great for community groups that has been offered at Temple Shalom in Newton, MA and the Watertown Free Public Library in Watertown, MA. Amy co-founded FORJ: Families Organizing for Racial Justice in Newton, MA – a group that hosts regular workshops for parents on antiracism and cultural competence building.

Do you worry about raising your kids in a “bubble” and wish you had more ways to expose them to new people and experiences? Are you looking for ways to discuss and respond to incidents of racial injustice?  Do you wonder what to say when your child or teen comments on racial or cultural differences in people? How do you talk about race and racism in literature? Join a group of parents and care-givers to share questions, stories and experiences while learning ways to respond with compassion and cultural competence.  Explore the effects of bias and privilege and learn how to reduce prejudice. Gain support in your own work to help build more connected and equitable communities.

 

STAFF RETREAT WORKSHOPS: APPRECIATING OUR DIFFERENCES / MINDFULNESS TO REDUCE BURNOUT / SELF-CARE & LIFE BALANCE / HANDLING TRICKY SITUATIONS

Created for staff retreats for organizations and schools. Workshops designed by request in conjunction with the needs of the group and the staff leader. Most recently offered at Mass General Hospital for physicians in the Neurology Department.

How do you use the varying personality strengths in your organization to optimize your work together? What mindfulness practices build self-awareness, resilience, and energy to reduce burnout and increase fulfillment? How can we build them into our everyday busy lives? How do you create work-life balance and stay in touch with what you love while trying to do work that takes energy and emotional presence? How do you handle attacks, personal stories, and other “tricky” situations in social spaces? These workshops help staff share and develop ideas about how to respond to people in ways that diffuse tension and create connection and support. Participants have an opportunity to look within and share personal experiences and internal struggles to bring their group closer together. Participants will reflect on how to create more energy-giving experiences and clean up energy “drains” in their lives.

Email Amy at amy@amybehrens.com or set up a “Clarity Call”  to learn more! 

Read testimonials from past participants to find out what people are saying about these workshops.

 

Ongoing Workshops:

INTERFAITH WOMEN’S GATHERINGS: Join us on Zoom for monthly discussions on universal human qualities such as trust, presence, kindness, humility, and more. We look inward to reflect on how we are each practicing these qualities in our own lives and consider ways of sharing these ways of being with our family, friends, and communities. Discussions include reflection questions, readings, and action steps. Contact amy@amybehrens.com to learn how to join.

YOUTH PEACEMAKERS CLASSES: Classes for middle school students to learn about human virtues, how to stand up for justice, and how to organize and carry out service projects to benefit one’s community. Contact amy@amybehrens.com to learn how to start your own virtual or in-person group for elementary or middle school students.

Some of Amy’s recent workshops include:

Mindfulness, Brain Science, and Creating Connection:

Mindfulness to Reduce Burnout: Workshop for Physicians and Caregivers

Spiritual Parenting: Bringing Mindfulness and Spirituality into our Families

Mindful Parenting: From Mindless Reaction to Mindful Presence

Brain Science, Mindfulness and Discipline: How to Connect to Increase Cooperation and Understanding

Child and Adolescent Development / Media Influences:

Media and the Mind: The Impact of Media and the Essential Elements of Brain Development

Untangling the Mysteries of Pre-teens and Teens

Conscious Parenting (for Preschools as well as Elementary, Middle and High School age children)

Parenting Well in a Media Age

Sharing Nature with Young Children

Using a Language of Virtues to Bring out the Best in our Children

Workshops for Families and Children:

Peacemakers: Raising Global Citizens – youth groups with an emphasis on building character, skills, and awareness through the arts, discussion, and community service

Family Vision Board Creation: A Creative Way to Bring Your Family Together

Art Exploration: Creative Fun for Children ages 7-12

Sharing Our Identities and Appreciating our Similarities and Differences as a School Community

Racial Justice, Cultural Competence, and Community Building:

Families Organizing for Racial Justice: How to nurture community, connection, and awareness  of race, culture and identity in your child’s school and beyond

Families Organizing for Racial Justice:  Family Conversations on Race and Acts of Courage

Dynamic Diversity Night: Building Cultural Competence and Community

Mindfulness and Non-Violent Communication for Effective Conversations to Reduce Racism

Selected clients and communities served through past workshops:

  • Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
  • Newton Public Schools, Newton, MA
  • Wayland Public Schools, Wayland, MA
  • Waltham Public Schools, Waltham, MA
  • Belmont Public Schools, Belmont, MA
  • The Children’s Cooperative Preschool in Newton, MA
  • Peirce Elementary School, Newton, MA
  • Ward Elementary School, Newton, MA
  • Zervas Elementary School, Newton, MA
  • Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA
  • IDEAS: Initiatives for Developing Equity and Achievement for Students
  • The Watertown Free Public Library, Watertown, MA
  • Temple Shalom, Newton, MA
  • Boston Bahá’í School, Boston, MA
  • Green Acre Bahá’í School, Eliot, ME
  • Empowering Multicultural Initiatives, a project of the EDCO Collaborative, Greater Boston, MA
Amy Behrens Reading to Group Family Vision Board Family Vision Board FORJ Meeting