Adults go first. Our nervous systems hold the stories of our childhoods, and those stories can become activated when we are working beside dysregulated children and youth. In this webinar, Dr Lori Desautels will address Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for educators, mental health professionals and caregivers. Dr Desautels will share practices that support adult nervous system health and therefore the children and youth we serve. Also, the critical benefits of embodied awareness and neuroplasticity will be explored, in order to create a felt sense of safety inside our environments for children and youth who carry pain-based behaviours into our classrooms, organisations and communities.

Applied Educational Neuroscience framework invites us to take a courageous deep dive beneath the surface of visible behaviours, shifting our focus from traditional compliance to a nervous system-aligned understanding of discipline. Rather than simply managing reactions, we will view behaviour through the lens of the autonomic nervous system, recognising that "acting out" is often a physiological response to stress or perceived threat. This session emphasises that true well-being is a shared experience; we will explore evidence-based practices for co-regulation that support both adult and youth stability. Crucially, we will place a heavy focus on the adult nervous system - examining how our own internal awareness, focus, and self-talk set the emotional temperature of the room. By prioritising the adult’s capacity to stay grounded, we create the safety required for children and youth to thrive.

Key Learning Outcomes:

Participants will leave this session equipped with the following knowledge and skills:

The Biology of Behaviour: A breakdown of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) and how to identify when a student or child is operating out of a state of survival (fight/flight/freeze) versus a state of safety.

The Power of Co-Regulation: Practical strategies to use your own nervous system to stabilise a dysregulated child, moving from isolation tactics to connection-based interventions.

Adult-First Focus: Techniques for increasing adult self-awareness and monitoring internal self-talk to prevent "emotional contagion" during high-stress moments.

Reframing Discipline: How to shift the goal of discipline from temporary compliance to long-term neurophysiological reorganisation and emotional safety.

Micro-Moments of Connection: Simple, low-prep practices to build relational safety and "doses" of regulation into the daily routine.

Dr Lori Desautels has been an Assistant Professor at Butler University, Indianapolis since 2016 where she reaches undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the College of Education. Prior to joining Butler, she served as an Assistant Professor at Marian University, where she founded the renowned Educational Neuroscience Symposium, now in its 16th year and attended by thousands of educators and educators worldwide.

Dr. Desautels is also the author of several acclaimed books on educational neuroscience and behaviour, including Connections over Compliance: Rewiring our Perceptions of Discipline. Her expertise and engaging teaching style have made her a sought-after speaker worldwide. Lori first joined us from Las Vegas in 2024 to deliver Connections over Compliance as a live webinar to her first-ever New Zealand audience. Following another hugely successful webinar in July 2025, Compass Seminars is proud and excited to welcome her back as part of our 2026 programme.