AMS Cares
Welcome to AMS Cares, a health and wellness initiative of the American Montessori Society.
Below, you will find online content and resources designed to spark thoughtful reflections around cultivating healthy habits, building strong relationships, and maintaining joy in the face of adversity.
We encourage you to lean into this work, and to do so with the support of your colleagues, mentors, and friends. You might consider getting together with a group of your peers to watch the live events, or reserving a monthly time to do the follow-up activities, and watch and discuss the on demand content. If we are truly to flourish as individuals and educators, we must intentionally continue these important conversations around health and wellness and we must support one another in the journey.
At AMS, promoting wellbeing is integral to the work we do and as such, AMS Cares goes beyond a single event or campaign. Please visit this webpage to learn more about how we are focusing on Montessori innovation to move this work forward.
Full Sessions on Demand
Student Well-Being
BY DR. ALEJANDRO ADLER
Columbia University & UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network
Positive Psychology in Action for Administrators
by Emiliya Zhtoivovskaya
Join positive psychology and mind-body medicine expert, Emiliya Zhivotovskaya to identify tools and best practices for creating system-wide positive change. Learn how positive psychology skills and interventions to deepen positive culture and facilitate a space of greater belonging, well-being, and resilience.
Achievement & Vitality
by Emiliya Zhtoivovskaya
Join positive psychology and mind-body medicine expert, Emiliya Zhivotovskaya, for a deeper dive into two pathways for building well-being, resilience, and flourishing. Learn the science of effective goal setting and habit change and how to motivate action within yourself and others. Learn simple strategies shifting how you feel to create greater calm, energy, and creativity when needed.
Relationship & Meaning
by Emiliya Zhtoivovskaya
Join positive psychology and mind-body medicine expert, Emiliya Zhivotovskaya, for a deeper dive into two pathways for building well-being. Learn research-based tools for enhancing the quality of our connections and how to harness the power of meaning and meaning-making to help yourself and others achieve more. Leave the session with simple skills for building high-quality connections, decreasing stress, and empowering others.
Positivity & Engagement
by Emiliya Zhtoivovskaya
In this session, join positive psychology and mind-body medicine expert, Emiliya Zhivotovskaya, for a deeper dive into two pathways for building well-being, resilience, and flourishing. From how to get more “in-the-zone” and into a flow state, to how to increase your willpower, learn powerful and practical tools that you’ll be able to apply immediately.
Download the follow-up activities from Emiliya.
Emiliya Zhivotovskaya
MAPP, MCC
Emiliya Zhivotovskaya is a leading voice in the world of positive psychology and the science of flourishing. She is the CEO and founder of The Flourishing Center, and creator of the acclaimed Certification in Applied Positive Psychology (CAPP) program that’s been offered in 13 cities across the U.S., Canada, and online worldwide.
Dr. Alejandro Adler
Dr. Alejandro Adler directs our CSD’s well-being science and policy initiatives. He is an Associate Editor for two of SDSN’s annual publications: the World Happiness Report, and the Global Happiness Policy Report. He is also the Deputy Director of the Global Happiness and Well-being Coalition and is also an Associate Research Scientist at the Center for Sustainable Development in the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
Sara Knickerbocker
PhD
Sara Knickerbocker, PhD, specializes in educator well-being through her company, Original Educator. She is the former school psychologist for Montessori School of Denver, CO.
By Montessorians, For Montessorians
Welcome to the community crafted section of AMS Cares. On the AMS Connect channel, you will find discussion threads on videos that were made by Montessorians, for Montessorians. Find content related to dance fitness, tapping, meditation, and more. Continue the conversation on AMS Connect today.
We know you have expertise that reaches beyond the classroom and we want to recognize it. Submit your health and wellness video today.
Kim Stegmaier
Meet Our Facilitator
Kim Stegmaier, MEd, RYT, is the Interim Teacher Education Program Director and a Teaching Professor at Xavier University Montessori Institute located in Cincinnati, Ohio. For the past 5 years, Kim lived in Shanghai, China where she served as the Director of Academic Instruction and Senior Teacher Trainer for Shanghai Montessori Education Academy.
Video Submissions: Share Your Expertise
If you have professional experience in an area of health and wellness such as meditation, nutrition, or psychology, we want to hear from you. Community curated videos are created by AMS educators for AMS educators.