Why I Do this Work
I remember when I started working with students, feeling like every behavior was a reflection on me. Like administration was watching, judging. I was fighting to control the situation instead of taking a step back and responding to it.
It took me years to figure out what actually works. Years of trial and error, piecing together the tools, building the framework.
That is why I am here. So it does not take you years.
What you are doing is not easy. Post-COVID, the weight educators are carrying has multiplied. Students are dysregulated. Power struggles are constant. When everyone reacts... everyone loses.
It does not have to be that way.
I am here to give you the tools now.
Dr. Abigail Rebeske, EdD, MSW Trauma-Informed Education Consultant | Keynote Speaker | Faculty, GCU
​
Who is this For?
This work is for you if you are a superintendent, director of student services, or professional development coordinator who is watching your staff burn out while the behaviors keep escalating.
You know something has to change. You have tried new programs and added more supports, and your team is still saying, "We're tired of the behaviors."
The problem is not your staff. It is the model. This is how we fix it.
What Makes this Different?
The Rooted & Resilient™ Framework:
Most professional development gives educators a new strategy and sends them back into the same broken system.
Rooted & Resilient™ does something different: it starts with your school's own data, builds a picture of exactly what is happening and why, and then gives your staff the tools to respond rather than react.
The work moves through five phases: Awareness, Learning, Connection, Regulation, and Thriving.
Each phase builds on the last. By the time your team reaches Thriving, trauma-informed practices are not a program you're running. They are part of how your school works.
The insight that changes everything.
When a student is dysregulated, the typical response is to send a support person to remove the student from class. That student learns one thing: behaviors get me out of here. The behaviors continue.The Rooted & Resilient™ model flips this. The support person takes the class. The teacher works directly with the student. That relationship becomes the safety net. Over time, the student stops needing to escape because the classroom itself becomes a safe place. Attendance goes up. Academics follow.Built for your district, not for anyone elseThere is no pre-packaged curriculum here. Every engagement starts with a conversation about what your schools are seeing and what your data shows. Two schools in the same district can look completely different. The training is built to match.
EmpowerEd & Thriving in Action
This is what a training day actually looks like. Educators in the room, working through real strategies together... not a lecture, a conversation.
​
Dr. Rebeske works through de-escalation strategies with a group of educators. Real professional development, built around your school's specific needs.
​
A district PD session in action: educators around a table, working through trauma-informed strategies together. This is what the room looks like when the learning is actually happening. This is a PD session where staff walk away with tools they can use Monday morning.
Behind the scenes at the 2026 Conference... from prep to podium, with a full auditorium in the background. Dr. Rebeske brings this work to stages across the country.
What Educators Say...
Feedback from educators across the United States (in-person and virtual sessions).
Majority of attendees: 5/5
"I definitely will take away the idea of the 'Invisible Backpack' that students carry with them from home, as well as how teachers need to create safe places with teaching styles that allow them to foster student-teacher relationships."
"Be Who You Need on Your Worst Day."
"I will be mindful and take a moment to think before reacting to situations."
"Proactive instead of reactive responses. Talk one on one to determine triggers."
"Many tools and shift in perspective of how to guide a child going through a hard time."
"Remember you can't fill their cup if your cup is empty."
"Effective presentation. Lots of takeaways."
Speaking and Training Topics
Dr. Rebeske delivers keynotes, workshops, and full professional development sessions tailored to your audience... From paraprofessionals to district leadership in PreK-12th Grades.
Topics include (but not limited to):
- Building Calm Together: De-escalation for Paraprofessionals (Parts I & II)
- Data Analysis to Decrease Behaviors and Increase Attendance and Academics
- Developing Student Mindsets and Growth Mindset
- Secondary and Vicarious Trauma / Educator Burnout
- Holistic Wrap-Around Approach (K-8 and High School)
- Helping Students Move from Surviving to Thriving (college transition)
- Preschool De-Escalation for Parents, Teachers, and Students
- Trauma-Informed and De-Escalation Techniques
- Addressing Anxiety and Perfectionism in Teen Girls
- De-Escalating Student Behaviors and Coping Strategies (Teacher Edition)
- Mandated Reporter Training
- Time Management for School Social Workers & Counselors
- Mini Lessons & Small Group Instruction
Don't see exactly what your district needs? The consultation call is where we build it together.
How We Work Together
Every engagement begins the same way:
- A conversation about what your schools are seeing,
- What your data shows,
- and what your staff needs most right now.
From there, the work is built around you.
Single Session Training
- A standalone keynote, workshop, or PD session on one topic from the list above, or something we design together. Available from $250/per session training. A strong starting point for PD days, conferences, or staff meetings.
EmpowerEd Consultation Package
- A focused, on-site day for administrators and educators. Includes a review of your school's data, a personalized implementation conversation, and a trauma-informed care training session for your full staff. Best for schools exploring this work for the first time or addressing a specific need quickly.
EmpowerEd Immersion Package
- A multi-day, comprehensive engagement for PreK-12 schools and districts. Covers trauma's impact on learning and behavior, interactive data analysis sessions, hands-on workshops, and individualized implementation support. Designed for schools ready to make real and lasting change.
EmpowerEd Partnership PlanThe full Rooted & Resilient™ experience.
- Four months of sustained work: data review, custom training design, coaching through implementation, outcome tracking, and follow-up. For districts that want systemic change, not a one-day event.
Engagements are scoped in the free consultation call, where we look at your timeline, your staff, and your goals together.
There is no standard package that fits every district, and pricing reflects the scope of what your schools actually need.
​
About Dr. Abi
Dr. Abigail Rebeske, EdD, MSW, has spent nearly two decades working directly inside the systems she now trains.
She has been a school social worker, a police officer, a family victim advocate, and a faculty member at Grand Canyon University.
Her doctoral research focused on equity in education through the lens of trauma-informed care, and it is that combination of lived experience and rigorous scholarship that makes her trainings land differently with educators.
She is not here to tell you what is wrong with your school. She is here to sit with you in the data, identify your strengths, understand what your community is carrying, and build something that actually works for your staff and your students.
Ready to Bring this work to your School or District?
​The hardest part of this work is not learning the content. It is finding someone who understands your school, your data, and your staff well enough to make it stick. That is exactly what the consultation call is for.
Let's set up your free consultation to discuss the needs of your school community.
To Empower and Thrive!
​
You can fill out the form below and schedule through Calendly a time that works for you to meet.
​