Speaker Event for Educators: Heather Boorman

Supporting Wellness in our Gifted Students

September 25, 2019 in Waukesha

This event is geared towards teachers, school psychologists, school counselors and school social workers, however any educator in a PAGE member district is welcome to attend. Space is limited.

Giftedness stretches far beyond academic performance. These children and youth tend to have specific and intense psychosocial needs and traits that make them vulnerable to misdiagnosis, missed diagnosis, behavioral or mental health issues, relational conflicts, and academic underperformance. In this workshop we will briefly discuss factors contributing to the un-wellness of many of our gifted students, and then spend the majority of our time considering interventions to help them move toward greater wellness. Specific attention will be given to modulating intensities, understanding and managing anxiety, and understanding and responding to existential depression. Interventions useful in the classroom, a counselor's office, and at home will be discussed and practiced.

Learning Objective 1: Participants will be able to identify at least 3 factors contributing to psychosocial dysregulation in gifted students.

Learning Objective 2: Participants will be able to identify and implement at least 3 interventions to help gifted individuals manage anxiety effectively.

Learning Objective 3: Participants will be able to identify and implement at least 3 interventions to help gifted individuals regulate mood effectively

Heather Boorman is the founding director of Boorman Counseling in Western Wisconsin. She specializes as a trauma therapist and working with “kids on the fringes” and their families, who live with the joys and challenges of atypical developmental needs. Additionally, Heather is the author of The Gifted Kids Workbookand writes & podcasts at The Fringy Bit, to provide REAL support to parents who love a differently wired child.

This is a free event open to the educators in PAGE's member school districts. Please contact you school district's gifted coordinator for information on how to sign up. Space is limited.

Speaker Event for Parents: Heather Boorman

Cultivating Success in our Gifted Kids

September 25, 2019 in Waukesha

Many people hear “gifted child” and they presume that the child is on the fast track for success. Those of us in the trenches know better! Giftedness comes with joys and challenges, strengths and limitations, successes and failures. And, depending on how success is defined, it could be argued that gifted individuals struggle more. To cultivate true success in our gifted kids, we must increase our efforts to balance talent development and prioritizing mental wellness. Through a combination of personal story, case study, reflection on the current literature, and examples of interventions, this talk will provide reasons to redefine success for our gifted kids, as well as practical strategies to balance the pursuit of goals and achievements with mental wellness.

Heather Boorman is the founding director of Boorman Counseling in Western Wisconsin. She specializes as a trauma therapist and working with “kids on the fringes” and their families, who live with the joys and challenges of atypical developmental needs. Additionally, Heather is the author of The Gifted Kids Workbook and writes & podcasts at The Fringy Bit, to provide REAL support to parents who love a differently wired child.

This is a free event for the parents and educators of PAGE member school districts. Please contact you school district's gifted coordinator for more information.