Presenting at the Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne MHIS Conferences

Keynote Presentation: Scaffolding for Co-regulation: Why Connectedness is Key! 

Schools are highly stimulating environments, laden with a multitude of sensory and motor distractions and challenges, situations, and social interactions that are difficult to emotionally navigate. It can be a challenging setting for students to effectively employ the metacognitive (i.e., concentrating, reading comprehension, planning, and organizing, problem-solving, self-correcting) and emotional self-regulatory skills required of them to thrive in the school environment. Metacognitive and self- regulatory skills have been found to be key markers that indicate the potential for interpersonal and social competency, adjustment, and academic achievement. Co-regulation is often misunderstood or oversimplified as calmness or self control, and then practiced ineffectively. This presentation will focus on developing an understanding of co-regulation, differentiating it from other regulatory concepts (self- regulation, emotion regulation, dysregulation, up-and-down-regulation). Madeline will also explore the importance and function of emotions; why connectedness is key, and the aim for scaffolding in co-regulation. Grounded in a trauma-informed model for using therapeutic strategies in educational settings, this presentation will demonstrate a number of co-regulation strategies that can be assimilated directly back into your work with young people. These skills will help you to co-regulate with students more effectively in the classroom, school grounds, or therapy space, to increase their potential individual capacity to self-regulate.

Dr Madeline Wishart

Dr Madeline Wishart is a Clinical Psychologist who specialises in nonsuicidal self- injury (NSSI), and people who experience difficulty regulating their emotions and tolerating distress. She has a PhD, along with a Masters in both Professional and Clinical Psychology. Madeline has a combined history of both research and practical experience across a variety of settings. She has worked in the education, community, private and psychiatric sectors as a youth, school, trauma counsellor, and psychologist. In an academic and research capacity, Madeline has been employed as a sessional lecturer and project officer at Victoria University; and a research
officer at Youth Support and Advocacy Service (YSAS) in Melbourne. For the past two decades, Madeline has provided professional training in NSSI and distress tolerance in young people, and she been invited to present at a number of international mental health conferences. Madeline currently divides her time between her private practice – Wishart Psychology; and working in a consultative capacity with schools providing professional development, therapeutic support, and policy development around NSSI and coping skills more broadly.