Taes Leavitt

THE BIG HEART JOURNEY: Research-Backed, Mental Wellness Practices to Help All Kids to Feel Safe and Confident

For Grade K-5 Students

There is nothing that Taes loves more than talking to kids about their feelings. Harnessing her experience creating children’s television and music, The Big Heart Journey is an interactive live experience designed to help kids build resilience and develop an informed relationship with their big feelings.

Using research-backed mental wellness and resilience practices, Taes teaches children about the world of their feelings in a language they understand and connect with.

Taes weaves storytelling and experiential learning together, inviting students to participate in active in-the-moment strategies to learn how to move through their feelings in healthy ways.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Self-Regulation: Creating a space between the feeling and the reaction.
• Resilience: Developing their “bounce back.” What to do when life doesn’t happen the way they want it to.
• Mindfulness: Being present and able to tune into what is happening in the moment.
• Social-Emotional: Develop self-awareness & communication of emotions
• Ownership: Connecting to a sense of control and mastery over their emotions.
• Empathy & Community: Connecting to others, kindness & listening skills.

BIG HEART CAREGIVERS: How To Help Kids Understand & Talk About Their Big Feelings

For Educators, Staff, and Parents

What if there was a way to really understand what children need in Big Feeling Moments?

Taes provides teachers and parents with a roadmap for interpreting children’s feelings and, in turn, provides them with the support they need to develop resilience.

Taes’ unique approach of looking at children’s reactions to feelings instead of the feelings themselves creates a transformative and immediately accessible framework to help children (and their caregivers) navigate life’s big emotions.

Caregivers are not only able to see the children in their lives through the framework, but they’re also able to see themselves. A foundational part of the framework supports adults in becoming aware of their own reactions to big feelings and, in turn, realize how their reactions interact in tandem with those of the children in their lives.

By the end of this presentation, adults will be able to decode those big feeling moments through a whole new lens, empowering them to use those Big Feeling moments as opportunities to guide children into safe spaces that create deep connection, learning, and lasting resilience.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

• Self-Regulation: Creating a space between the feeling and the reaction.
• Resilience: Helping kids develop their “bounce back.” What to do when life doesn’t happen the way they want it to.
• Mindfulness: Being present and able to tune into what is happening at the moment.
• Social-Emotional: Develop self-awareness & communication of emotions.
• Empathy & Community: Connecting to children in new ways, listening skills.