1. David Smith, PhD University of Ottawa Contact: david.smith@uottawa.ca
Teaching with Acceptance and Commitment: Relationship skills for bullying prevention

2. SECs and bullying prevention
School effectively prevent bullying
Positive School climate: “the norms, values, and expectations that support people feeling socially, emotionally, and physically safe” (Cohen et al, 2009)
Positive Classroom climate: teacher attuned, students engaged, effective classroom management
Teacher-student relationships: warm, caring, supportive, positive expectations for success
Teacher social-emotional competencies and well-being

3. SECs and “burnout cascade”*
Teacher with low SECs
Students off-task and disruptive
Classroom climate deteriorates
Teacher demoralized and burns-out emotionally; negative attitudes toward students and teaching
Teacher is emotionally reactive, uses punitive classroom management strategies causing more disruption
Jennings & Greenberg (2009)

4. SECs: What are they?*
Self-awareness
recognize and understand one’s thoughts, feelings
self-knowledge: strengths, limitations
Self-management
regulate emotions, thoughts, behaviours
control impulses and self-motivate
Responsible decision-making
make constructive choices in consideration of ethical, safety and social norms
*Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL, 2016)

5. SECs: What are they? perspective taking, empathy
Social awareness
perspective taking, empathy
sensitivity to human diversity
Relationship skills
build and maintain healthy, fulfilling relationships
communicate clearly, navigate conflict effectively

6. Teachers’ SECs go MIA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIJqbSkb5Jk

7. Teaching with Acceptance and Commitment (TAC)
An adaptation of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) *
combines ideas from mindfulness and behaviour therapy
Used in counselling, executive coaching, organizational development
Observe difficult thoughts and feelings and respond to them thoughtful and intentionally guided by values
*For a readable overview of ACT, see Harris (2006)

8. The Triflex* Be present Psychological Flexibility Open up
Make contact with inner experience
Psychological
Flexibility
Open up
Make room for all thoughts and feelings without resistance
Do what matters
Values-guided action
*Harris, R. (2009). ACT made simple. Oakland: New Harbinger

9. Open up Accept (be with) my experience without judgment:
Be present
Open up
Do what matters
Psychological
Flexibility
Open up
Accept (be with) my experience without judgment:
human minds produce all manner of thoughts and feelings
Allow feelings that show up in my experience to flow freely through
Unhook, detach, step back from difficult thoughts:
see thoughts as just thoughts, not the literal truth

10. Be present Contact with the present moment: Be here now
Open up
Do what matters
Psychological
Flexibility
Be present
Contact with the present moment: Be here now
Engaged with what I’m experiencing right now
The observing self: the self as pure awareness
Vs. the thinking (or conceptualized) self

11. Do what matters Know what is important to you:
Be present
Open up
Do what matters
Psychological
Flexibility
Do what matters
Know what is important to you:
What do you want to stand for as a teacher? What do you want your teaching to be about?
Use values to determine your goals
Take action to achieve goals
Act intentionally, not automatically

12. Psychological flexibility
Be present
Open up
Do what matters
Psychological
Flexibility
Psychological flexibility
Being fully open to experience without defense as it is, not what it is says it is, and acting deliberately on basis of one’s values

13. Additional resources
rgood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_teachers_need_social_emotional_skills
Jennings & Greenberg (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of Educational Research Spring, 79(1), 491–525.
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL 2016). What is SEL? Retrieved from:
Harris, R. (2006) Embracing your demons: An overview of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Psychotherapy in Australia. 12(4), Retrieve at: content/uploads/2012/11/Russ_Harris_A_Non-technical_Overview_of_ACT.2006.pdf