Dean's Seminar Highlights Power of Care 'Inside and Out'

Tusk the Pig feels empowered, and he wants to help others feel strong, brave and important, too. In his cozy office, he makes sure every patient knows just how special they are. 

Tusk, who takes readers on his life's journey — starting with the day he was born to working hard to land his dream job — is the main character in a children's book written by students who participated in this spring's College of Education and Health Professions Dean's Seminar. They, along with several other student teams, let their creativity shine as they produced unique group projects, each designed to demonstrate their knowledge of a specific trauma-informed care principle taught in the eight-week course. Tusk the Pig was, of course, focused on empowerment.

The Dean's Seminar course, titled "Caring for Our Future Professionals Inside and Out," introduced strategies for maintaining personal well-being, equipping students with the power to sustain themselves in demanding "caring professions" careers that tend to center on supporting others. Dean Kate Mamiseishvili, who started the spring and fall seminars as part of her WE CARE strategic plan three years ago for students from various programs and disciplines, attended the students' end-of-course presentation day. They gifted her with several of their projects, including the Tusk book and a small-scale bridge illustrating the importance of "using collaboration to bridge opportunity." Its new home is on the coffee table in the dean's office.

"As a K-12 teacher educator, I hear daily from pre-service and in-service teachers about the challenges they face supporting students with diverse needs," said Bonnie King, one of the seminar's instructors. "The Dean's Seminar reinforced our vision for interprofessional collaboration and revealed even more common ground as our students from three different colleges worked side by side across disciplines."

King, a teaching assistant professor of childhood education, teamed up with Glenda Hux, assistant professor of occupational therapy, to teach the course. The two taught the course through an interprofessional lens, utilizing Hux's experience in occupational therapy and King's perspective as a teacher educator.

The pair developed a curriculum that would help students better understand how to care for themselves in future careers in the caring professions. An introduction to trauma-informed care principles, the impact of nervous system dysregulation and the cultivation of healthy boundaries all helped prepare students for their future roles.

"Their discussions reflected how engaged students were in examining how trauma affects the nervous system and what that knowledge means for caring for others and ourselves across professional contexts," Hux said.

Kathryn Niestoeckel, a graduate student studying clinical mental health, said the Inside Out seminar prepared her better to serve her future clients.

"Exploring the intersection of education and healthcare broadened my perspective and reinforced my commitment to interprofessional collaboration and multimodal approaches," she said. "Learning from Dr. King and Dr. Hux, each bringing expertise from their respective fields, increased my understanding of real-world practice and inspired me to continue engaging in research and applying it across the caring professions."

Niestoeckel's group presentation focused on the principle of safety and demonstrated how a strong understanding of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs can help professionals care for themselves and others.

King called teaching the seminar a "dream come true" and said she and Hux were eager to keep up the work they started while teaching the course. 

"We are excited to continue creating experiences that strengthen interprofessional learning and help future professionals thrive in the complex, compassionate work of caring for others," she said.