• Professional Development

Professional Development

Professional Development Fueled by Friendzy:

Teaching skills for good. Skills for life.

Support the well-being of your staff and students with custom, expert-led professional development and build stronger relationships, foster resilience, and create classrooms where every student can build skills for good, skills for life.

  • In-person and virtual sessions

  • Practical tools

  • Built by educators for educators

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Why professional development matters

Invest in your people. Transform your school.

Professional development with Friendzy isn't just a day away from the classroom—it's a day that sparks change. Our sessions equip educators with research-backed strategies and powerful tools to lead with connection, build resilience, and create thriving learning environments.

Who it's for

Designed for Educators, Leaders & Support Staff

Our sessions are trusted by:

  • Individual schools looking for targeted, impactful learning

  • School networks, diocesan groups, and local education authorities (LEAs)

  • Multi-network teams with regional or district-wide goals

Whether you're focusing on a single team or bringing together multiple campuses, each session is customized to meet your specific objectives.

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Creating a Culture of Connection

How do we build belonging across a school campus?

This session equips all educators with simple, school-wide practices that strengthen relationships, increase engagement, and create a culture where students and staff feel seen, known, and valued.

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Mastering the Art of Difficult Conversations

How can feedback build trust, not tension?

Our #1 selling PD! Whether celebrating a win or navigating a tough topic, how we give and receive feedback shapes our culture. This session equips staff and leaders with practical frameworks for approaching conversations—both positive and challenging—with clarity and compassion. Learn how to strengthen trust across your team, engage parents with confidence, and model respectful communication with students. Through real-world scenarios, partner activities, and hands-on practice, you’ll walk away with communication skills you can use immediately with students, colleagues, and families.

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Bounce Back Like a Pro: 4 Moves to Build Real Resilience

How do we build capacity to thrive under stress?

Explore four foundational practices that help both students and staff bounce back from challenges and stay grounded during tough seasons. Life throws curveballs, and everyone needs the skills to hit them out of the park. Support growth through change and challenge. This session offers concrete strategies to help build confidence, overcome stress, and bounce back stronger, smarter, and more resilient than ever.

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Leading with Strength: Applying CVI to School Culture

How can we build stronger teams and reduce staff burnout?

An expansion of the CVI session, this workshop offers practical tools for using CVI to clarify team roles, improve communication, and create a values-driven culture that lasts.

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Attunement and Co-Regulation: Modeling Calm for Your Classroom

How can we bring our best selves to the classroom?

Discover how teacher tone, posture, and presence shape student behavior. Learn to model emotional regulation and create a ripple effect of calm in your classroom.

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Lead with Connection–The Heart of Resilient Schools

How can EQ in educators transform your school?

This keynote explores how meaningful relationships drive school performance, culture, and belonging. Designed to energize large groups, this session introduces four practical habits of resilient school communities. Ideal for conferences and system-wide events.

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Strength-Based Leadership: Unlocking Your Core Strengths

How can leaders and teams thrive by understanding what they bring to the table?

Using the Core Values Index (CVI), this session helps leaders and educators discover their innate strengths—and how to lead from them.

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I Manage Me: Self-Regulation Strategies That Work

How do we keep our emotions in check when it's challenging?

Empower students to manage their emotions and behaviors through co-regulation and self-management tools. Build a classroom culture of calm, clarity, and accountability.

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Bounce Back Like a Pro: 4 Moves to Build Real Resilience

How do we build capacity to thrive under stress?

Explore four foundational practices that help both students and staff bounce back from challenges and stay grounded during tough seasons. Life throws curveballs, and everyone needs the skills to hit them out of the park. Support growth through change and challenge. This session offers concrete strategies to help build confidence, overcome stress, and bounce back stronger, smarter, and more resilient than ever.

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Teaching the Overwhelmed Student: Simple Tools for Stress & Anxiety

Can we teach our students how to self-regulate stress and anxiety?

Explore how stress manifests in student behavior and learn calming techniques rooted in mindfulness and emotional safety.

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Classroom Clarity: Boosting Focus Through Visual Routines and Language

What can classroom cohesion look like in your school?

Streamline classroom expectations with visuals and common language that help students feel safe, supported, and able to focus.

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More Connected, Yet Less Present: Restoring Attention in a Digital Age

How do we find connection in a disconnected world?

Unpack the impact of tech overstimulation on focus and relationships. Gain strategies for helping students (and yourself) re-engage with learning and one another.

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Brain Basics: Regaining Focus & Calm

What if regulating emotions well could be your superpower?

Learn how the brain responds to stress and how to create classroom routines that bring students and staff—self-regulate and stay focused. Great for transitions, test days, and challenging behaviors.

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Invisible Backpack: What Students Carry and How We Respond

What if we could recognize the unseen stressors our students carry?

Recognize unseen stressors students bring to school and how those impact learning. Build tools for trauma-aware instruction that strengthens trust and connection.

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Talk It Out: Helping Students Navigate Conflict

What if your students were empowered to resolve conflict well?

Ever felt like your classroom was a mini soap opera? From lunchroom drama to group project tensions, conflict is part of school life—but it doesn’t have to derail learning. This fun, interactive session will teach you how to guide students through conflict with empathy and accountability. Includes tools for teaching forgiveness, compromise, and effective communication.

.

Creating a Culture of Connection

How do we build belonging across a school campus?

This session equips all educators with simple, school-wide practices that strengthen relationships, increase engagement, and create a culture where students and staff feel seen, known, and valued.

.

Mastering the Art of Difficult Conversations

How can feedback build trust, not tension?

Our #1 selling PD! Whether celebrating a win or navigating a tough topic, how we give and receive feedback shapes our culture. This session equips staff and leaders with practical frameworks for approaching conversations—both positive and challenging—with clarity and compassion. Learn how to strengthen trust across your team, engage parents with confidence, and model respectful communication with students. Through real-world scenarios, partner activities, and hands-on practice, you’ll walk away with communication skills you can use immediately with students, colleagues, and families.

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4Rs of Resilience

What are real ways we can be resilient in our lives?

Discover the 4Rs of resilience, learn practical tips for implementing in your own life, and how to empower others to do the same.

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Teaching the Overwhelmed Student: Simple Tools for Stress & Anxiety

Can we teach our students how to self-regulate stress and anxiety?

Explore how stress manifests in student behavior and learn calming techniques rooted in mindfulness and emotional safety.

.

Leading with Strength: Applying CVI to School Culture

How can we build stronger teams and reduce staff burnout?

An expansion of the CVI session, this workshop offers practical tools for using CVI to clarify team roles, improve communication, and create a values-driven culture that lasts.

.

Strength-Based Leadership: Unlocking Your Core Strengths

How can leaders and teams thrive by understanding what they bring to the table?

Using the Core Values Index (CVI), this session helps leaders and educators discover their innate strengths—and how to lead from them.

.

The Relationship Revolution

Can we build a culture of connection in the classroom?

What students need most in this generation is connection. Explore how to foster connection in every corner of your school—from classrooms to cafeterias—through intentional systems, practices, and presence.

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Be the Spark: Reigniting Your Why

Why do we as educators do what we do?

A bold reminder that your presence is power. Perfect for closing or opening a conference, this session is a celebration of the impact educators make daily—with reminders, stories, and tools to keep the fire lit.

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Data That Speaks: Using Student Self-Report to Shape Success

What if we could turn data into positive action?

Use quick, meaningful student reflections to check emotional pulse and adjust your strategies. Make student voices a vital part of classroom well-being.

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The Educator’s Edge: EQ Over IQ

Is EQ really a superpower for schools?

Emotional intelligence isn’t soft—it’s strategic. Learn why the most effective educators lead with emotional insight—and how to build self-awareness, empathy, and regulation in yourself and your students.

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Lead with Connection–The Heart of Resilient Schools

How can EQ in educators transform your school?

This keynote explores how meaningful relationships drive school performance, culture, and belonging. Designed to energize large groups, this session introduces four practical habits of resilient school communities. Ideal for conferences and system-wide events.

91% of Educators rated our sessions excellent and found the speakers highly knowledgeable!

Every Professional Development Session includes:

  • Custom design aligned to your school’s culture, goals, and needs

  • Facilitators with real classroom experience and deep expertise

  • Interactive formats that promote collaboration and shared learning

  • Practical tools and strategies you can implement immediately

Format options

Format

Duration

Starting Cost

Best For

Virtual Essentials
Zoom/Teams

2 hours

$1,000

Small teams or refreshers

In-Person Signature
On-site

Half-day

$3,500

Full-staff PD or networks

Keynote Experience
Conference

60–90 min

$3,500–$5,000

Large groups or summits

Custom quotes available for multi-school or district events.
*On-site sessions may incur additional travel costs.

Friendzy’s PD gave me strategies I used the next day—and my students noticed the difference.
Educator Cadillac Area Public Schools
The attendance was so high that it makes me wonder if this topic demands an intensive 2–3 session series. Fantastic plan and role-play opportunities!
Educator
I love the ease of access to the digital resources, especially the digital companion slide decks.
Katie Holt School Counselor, St. Benedict at Auburndale High School
Lots of audience participation. Good practical information and advice.
Educator
The digital companions and teaching guides make it so easy to teach. My students very much enjoy our Friendzy lessons.
Molly Thornhill Preschool Teacher, Immaculate Conception School
This company is amazing! Very beneficial content!
Educator
Students are engaging with the material. I love the workbook layout. And the customer service is top-notch!
Shannon Hooper School Counselor, All Saints and St. John Vianney Catholic Schools
The impact it is having on my classroom and student relationships is amazing.
Kindergarten Teacher

Meet your facilitators

Joy Roberts.

Joy Roberts

Ed.D., Co-Founder

Julie Widman.

Julie Widman

Ed.D., Co-Founder

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Whitney Stovall

M.S., NCC, Lead Partnership Specialist

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Nicole Chandler

School Success Specialist, Facilitator & Speaker

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Ali Suranovic Stoner

Lead Content Developer, Facilitator & Speaker

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Laura Reyes

Lead Project Manager, Facilitator & Speaker

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Holly Winchell

Senior Director of Innovation & HR, Speaker & Facilitator

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Jessica Scales

School Success Specialist and Facilitator

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Lisa Lawrenz

Director of School Care, Facilitator & Speaker

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Megan Majchrowicz

Lead Partnership Specialist, Facilitator and Speaker

    Frequently Asked Questions

    • No, you do not need to purchase the Friendzy curriculum to book a Professional Development session. Our Friendzy Fuel Sessions are a standalone product that benefit all educators.

    • Yes! We offer scalable formats for networks and districts.

    • Virtual sessions can be recorded upon request.