This session positions educator wellness as an equity-centered leadership practice essential to thriving, inclusive school communities. Drawing on neuroscience, participants explore how neuroception and nervous system regulation influence decision-making, relationships, and learning environments—particularly for historically marginalized students and staff. Leaders will learn practical, culturally responsive strategies to regulate stress, sustain metabolic capital, and co-create psychologically safe, humanizing spaces. Through interactive protocols using breath, movement, and sensory awareness, participants will experience tools that reduce reactivity and interrupt deficit-based patterns. This session supports equity-minded leadership by strengthening presence, fostering belonging, and building conditions where all students and educators can succeed.

Presenters:

• Bhagavati Mullock, Oregon Department of Education
• Dr. Amy Yillik, COREN/Culture of Care & USC, Rossier SOE (Senior Part-Time Faculty)