Founder, Author & Consultant, The Peace Pad
Partner & Program Manager, Cities4Peace
PeacEd Gateway Co-Lead, Education for Global Peace
Peace + Justice Group Co-lead, Weave: Social Fabric Project (Aspen Institute)
Peace Ambassador, World Citizen Peace
I am dedicated to mainstreaming peace and justice education in preK-12 environments, as well as with people at all ages and stages of life. I founded The Peace Pad, which is for anyone passionate about peace and justice education and wants to make a positive impact in their learning environments and communities. We believe peace education is for everyone! The Peace Pad’s offerings (and my life!) align with Five Peace Actions:
- Seek Peace Within Yourself And Others
- Respect Diversity
- Protect Our Environment
- Reach Out In Service
- Be A Responsible Citizen Of The World
Through The Peace Pad, I share free practices, lessons, digitals, videos, workshops, ideas and resources. I also offer consulting services, welcoming opportunities to collaborate with peace-seeking people, leaders, organizations, schools and learning spaces. This customized peacelearning, aligned to the peace actions, needs and goals are offered in person and virtually and include programs, professional learning, coaching and speaking, as well as content, curriculum & learning design, integration and implementation.
The process of writing the book, Empowering Peace and Justice Education: An Actionable Framework for Elementary Educators and Learners (Routledge, 8/2024), was significant! Co-written with my school principal colleague Dr. Carey Seeley, this professional learning book (physical & ebook) with a flexible framework rooted in hope and empowerment, culturally relevant pedagogy and trauma informed care. Readers are provided compelling research, best practices (for self and with students), opportunities to pause and reflect, as well as comsprehensive implementation guidance and resources. Full of rich peace pursuits, lessons and practices, students are at the center of the peacelearning that connects with language, literacy, whole person learning and provides ideas across content areas. The book also shares perspectives and insights from diverse peacemakers in practice. It brings about a big smile thinking about the implementation of peace and justice education in schools, community and home settings.
I was a peace and justice centered educator for over fifteen years in diverse preK-12 settings. I served in many roles such as teacher, instructional leader, literacy specialist, equity coach and curriculum developer. I received a strong vision in meditation and realizing my purpose to inspire and guide change, I left the school setting and began coaching and consulting in peace education and social emotional learning. My colleague, Dr. Carey Seeley, was leading her elementary school in becoming a peace site and retained me as her leadership coach to support bringing this vision into action.
As we researched and evaluated options for peace education curriculum, it became clear that there were not many options available for engaging, comprehensive and current elementary-aged resources in the field. We decided that we would create a book that would fill an essential void in the primary/elementary peace education and literacy world.
Dr. Seeley also supported me in envisioning The Peace Pad, a consultancy dedicated to bringing peace education to a greater audience. My career, personal experiences and beliefs about the intersections of peace, justice, literacy and mental, social and emotional wellbeing anchor my vision of evolving our educational systems and bringing peace education to people at all ages and stages of life.
I am an advocate for a deep and transformational peacelearning process and understand this is not a small undertaking. A change in the human consciousness and society are already in motion within the larger space-time continuum. Every individual impacts the collective - and the collective impacts the individual. My passion and dedication means taking daily peace action. Sometimes this means finding my balance through rest, nourishment and quiet reflection. The SKY breathwork and meditation, taught to me by Cities4Peace, is a crucial daily practice for my well-being. From my grounded center, I call upon educators, leaders, parents, community members and children to be aware of and engage in their evolutionary role of creating a world in which all people, beings and organisms have their basic needs and rights met and live in harmony with others and planet Earth. Together we can truly ‘be the change’. I feel honored and humbled to help foster these gifts, that overtime, will bring about peace in our world.
Sharing free peace education content is one way I can 'reach out in service'. For example, there is a free series of guided peacelearning videos (10-13min) for each peace action available on the website or Youtube @thepeacepad.
The Peace Pad provides access to a free newsletter for updates and offerings. We share ideas, opportunities, events, resources, videos, practices and programs to support our journey of seeking peace. Peacelearning content is also shared on Instagram, LinkedIN and Facebook.