Stance of Curiosity
Episodes
What is the spirit of inclusion and can we sometimes get in our own way of success?
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Joelle and Gillian wade into the murky waters of creating a plan for inclusion for students that are not responding to our best and most creative effo...
Collaborative and Proactive Solutions: Can it work for even our toughest challenges such as truancy?
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Gillian and Joelle sit alongside parents and educators to consider how to support a student who is chronically refusing school. What happens when th...
A dynamic conversation on supporting our youth in moments of stress and overwhelm.
09 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Is it possible that in our effort to mitigate overwhelm, we sometimes remove growth promoting opportunities and reduce healthy stress tolerance? Joe...
Re-Release: Who's Afraid of What? What to do when team interactions get dicey.
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Hello, listeners! So far in season four Joelle and Gillian have experienced some illness and even some getting stuck in the tropics and as such we d...
Plans, Plans and More Plans!
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Dedicated, creative, and hardworking school teams make all kinds of plans to support students. Those plans are created in hopes of inspiring regulat...
What is Alexithymia and how might it be a helpful concept?
16 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Joelle and Gillian explore together the connection between the outward expression of emotion, internal awareness of varied emotional states, and socia...
Finding hope in the midst of chronic stress
09 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Gillian and Joelle take a walk down memory lane to recall all of the helpful strategies and insights that we learned during the immediate aftermath of...
"It's Not Your Fault!" What the movie Good Will Hunting has to teach us as far as the toll of offering support.
02 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In today's episode, Joelle reflects on re-watching Good Will Hunting, the 1997 movie classic, on a recent flight. She and Gillian consider the ...
"Fear Barfing" and "Parallel Process:" Putting words to the difficulty of working with parents.
26 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Joelle and Gillian explore a concept from the world of psychotherapy and how it could play out between a child, their parent, and a school professiona...
Two wrongs don’t make a right but sometimes they do make us feel better. Why??
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gillian and Joelle do a deep dive into justice seeking behavior, which can present as someone treating others the way they were treated or seeking to ...
What really is inclusion and how do we know if we are pulling it off?
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Our lovely and talented guest week, Lauren Hough Williams, offers her expertise as an educator and expert in creating inclusive educational experience...
Productive Venting vs Fear Barfing: Strategies for managing the adult dynamic of working well with kids
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gillian and Joelle talk about the tension that can emerge in professional teams that are in the midst of intense work and limited time for debrief and...
A Curious Look At Depression
13 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Joelle and Gillian discuss what they have learned about depression through their clinical practice. How can we be curious about our own responses t...
What Do We Do With All These Anxious Kids At School?
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In today's episode Joelle and Gillian discuss the nature of childhood anxiety in general and how powerful it can be in creating physical symptoms...
Break The Break Habit!
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week Joelle and Gillian took a look at a pattern where students might learn how to use breaks out of the room to self regulate (great!) but then ...
What do we do about sexualized behaviors and words in schools?
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this week's episode, Joelle and Gillian discuss how we tend to conceptualize, and what we tend to recommend for "breathtakingly inappropr...
Is There A Role for Shame in Shaping Student Behavior?
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gillian and Joelle discuss concepts related to healthy identity formation, belonging, and motivating behavior change. There are many nuances in this...
Who's Afraid of What? What to do when team interactions get dicey
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gilian shares her strategy of processing adult interactions that don’t go as expected, including at times conflict and defensiveness. Stepping bac...
Social Humility: Replacing confusion with curiosity. Featuring Aaron Lanou!
26 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The podcast welcomes our second guest, Aaron Lanou! Aaron is one of Gillian's longtime favorite colleagues and thought partners, and you can re...
What do we think about technology use among kids and teens now?
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gillian and Joelle discuss their ever-evolving professional opinions on technology, social media, and video gaming use among elementary, middle, and h...
Finding Hope in Simplicity and Connection. Featuring our first *guest!*
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Joelle and Gillian welcome their first guest to the Podcast! Meet Roger, a teacher in the Maryland/DC area. Roger shares his approaches to support...
What is PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance/Persistent Drive for Autonomy) and is it a new thing?
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gillian and Joelle talk about the framework of PDA and how it can both reinforce approaches we have long-used very wisely, as well as inspire some new...
Common mistakes to avoid and interpersonal tweaks to try when fostering connection with stressed kids
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gillian and Joelle chat about frequent suggestions that they make to school teams to support students who are strugging to cope effectively. They ta...
Staying Curious and Presuming Competence With Non-Speaking Learners
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gillian offers a version of the stance of curiosity that will guide our approaches with students who are non-speaking. Our culture is so reliant on ...
Let Them Be Special!
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Joelle and Gillian talk about a strategy to support students who are seeking a connection from a teacher in which they have some kind ...
How do you cope when uncertainty and change become constant?
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A liminal experience is a concept related to an "in between" time in which there is both familiarity and disruptive change. Joelle and Gil...
What if it's not the time to have an emotion?
24 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gillian and Joelle explore the theme of being humans in helping professions, and especially in schools when it can be important to stay “on” and p...
Why should play be prioritized in school?
17 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gillian and Joelle talk about the importance of including scheduled time to play in the school routine. Recess is unstructured child directed play a...
How and when to tell kids about an autism diagnosis?
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Joelle and Gillian draw on their years of conducting autism evaluations, and interpreting the results of these evaluations with children and families ...
Vibe Check! Teaching the skills of self-monitoring and situational awareness
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gillian and Joelle talk about the skill of self-monitoring, which is an executive functioning skill in which one can self-evaluate and take a “bird&...
Two More "Go-To" Interventions
27 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Joelle and Gillian continue some “greatest hits” of school consultation, with two more interventions they keep finding themselves recommending in ...
Our Go-To Strategies!
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gillian & Joelle share two of their most common suggestions when consulting with educators and clinicians working with kids. “Step over the be...
How do we know if we are helping or making things harder?
13 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Joelle & Gillian discuss the tension between offering support and skills to help people build stress tolerance for growth promoting opportunities ...
Navigating Impossible Expectations: The Power of Curiosity in Education
06 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In which Joelle and Gillian think they are doing a dress rehearsal for the first episode but surprise themselves and the world by identifying a bit of...
Stance of Curiosity Trailer
05 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What's this? A new podcast where clinical psychologists who work in schools advocate for a more curious, human-paced, compassionate approach to...