Following on from the successful book club read of Kelly McGonigal‘s The Joy of Movement it’s time to announce our summer book club selection for 2020.

This summers book club read is Permission to Feel, a previous #slowchathealth Book of the Month selection from Marc Brackett, Ph.D. Marc is the Founder and Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a Professor in the Child Study Center of Yale University.

At the start of every semester I survey my students and ask them what content they hope I’ll cover in our time together. Each year the number of students requesting that we talk about mental health, specifically coping with stress, anxiety and depression AND, they want to know what they can do to help their peers. For that reason I sought this book out to help me help my students.

Marc Brackett promises a blueprint for understanding our emotions and using them wisely so that they help, rather than hinder, our success and well-being. Too many children and adults are suffering; they are ashamed of their feelings and emotionally unskilled, but they don’t have to be. Marc Brackett’s life mission is to reverse this course, and this book claims to show you how.

Marc Brackett has launched a book club and will facilitate regular discussions on Facebook Live and has encouraged groups to create their own book club to continue the discussions in their own time. If you want the full experience, and want to hear the author himself then you need to visit marcbrackett.com and sign up.

The author promises to go deeper with Permission To Feel starting June 18^th at 7:00 pm EDT on Facebook Live and we will start out own twitter chat discussion on June 22nd. The Facebook Live sessions will include live readings and engaging discussions. They will also take a deeper dive into the science and learn tools to develop emotional intelligence. Topics will include: What does it mean to be an emotion scientist? How do we develop the skills of emotional intelligence? How do I enhance my well-being? Build and maintain better quality relationships? Make more sound decisions?

Teachers have already purchased their copies and are diving into what promises to be THE social and emotional learning read of the summer.

Marc Brackett was a guest at a community event in my own school district just a few months ago and his presentation was very well received by parents and educators.

If you are still looking to hear more from Marc Brackett then THIS podcast conversation between him and Brené Brown is also something that you will want to hear.

Look out for tweeted images from me like the one below with the hashtag #PermissiontoFeel and let’s keep this conversation going throughout the summer.

You will also find a conversation on the Slowchat Book Club Facebook page.

Tired, bored, stressed students are less productive in school, and so too are frustrated, overwhelmed and stressed teachers. If, like the author promises, we can ‘learn to make our emotions work for us, not against us’, then this book is going to be a very powerful read indeed.