Heart-Centered Connections with Dr. Niki Elliott and Jo Ann Mundy

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Niki Elliott to our Okemos event studio to highlight her work and celebrate her book, Heart-Centered Connections. This event is perfect for parents, caregivers, and teachers who are looking for a research-based guide for supporting children who are misunderstood and marginalized.
Dr. Elliott will be in conversation with Jo Ann Mundy.
We love seeing who is planning to join us! Your RSVP helps us prepare to host you. You can RSVP here: https://events.humanitix.com/dr-niki-elliott-sbok
About the Book:
A transformative guide for anyone working with the child who is left out, left behind, or labeled “difficult.”
Heart-Centered Connections teaches the best practices to support kids who are misunderstood and marginalized—those who are neurodivergent, have a learning disability, or are trauma survivors. They have extraordinary potential waiting to be unleashed.
Heart-Centered Connections is based on decades of groundbreaking research with over 1,000 child-serving professionals—principals, teachers, foster care program directors, social workers, and parents. Dr. Elliott offers seven pillars that will help you create environments where kids can achieve their full potential. Children mirror adults’ emotions, which is why the first pillar is Self-Awareness. What is your state when you engage with the child? Other pillars include Interpersonal Awareness, Neuroinclusive Spaces, Activated Genius, Engaged Learning, Mindful Communication, and Heart-Centered Repair. You will learn how to:
- Increase your ability to handle stress so you remain composed when a child acts out
- Establish stronger bonds, even with kids who initially seem defiant
- Teach in a way that creates joy and confidence
- Design neuroinclusive environments in which youth of all abilities can flourish
- View the child from a new perspective, offering them choice and dignity
- Help the child settle their nervous system state so they can focus and learn
In this practical book, Dr. Elliott brings clear guidance and a hopeful message: when safety, compassion, and trust come first, real learning can begin. Heart-Centered Connections shows you how to create that foundation.
About the Author:
Dr. Niki Elliott is a clinical professor and director of the Center for Embodied Equity and Neurodiversity at the University of San Diego. A leading voice in neurodiversity and trauma-informed education, she has trained thousands of teachers, school counselors, and helping professionals worldwide to better support children with learning differences, mental health diagnoses, trauma histories, and behavioral challenges. Her work integrates educational neuroscience, polyvagal theory, mind-body practices and embodied equity to build emotionally safe, inclusive learning environments. Dr. Elliott serves on the Board of Directors and teaching faculty of the Polyvagal Institute and is the author of Heart-Centered Connection: 7 Essential Skills for Helping Neurodiverse and Marginalized Children Thrive.
About the Conversation Partner:
Billlie-Jo Ann Mundy is a former co-Executive Director of ERACCE (Eliminating Racism and Creating/Celebrating Equity), working towards the institutionalization of racial justice in public and private institutions throughout southwest Michigan. As a founding mentor of the Chuma and NIA Projects, Jo Ann encourages the celebration of identity, purpose and sisterhood in adolescent women of color. Additionally, Jo Ann is a founding member of the Three Rivers Area Faith Community (TRAFC), an ecumenical faith-based social justice network of churches striving to build a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-lingual and multi-generational anti-racist faith community where she completed her doctoral thesis Sacred Actions to Bring Racial Reconciliation. Jo Ann enjoys over 35 years of pastoral ministry. Jo Ann delights in reading, music, her guitars and computers, but, most of all, the young people in her life.