About the Founders
Sue Anderson and Victoria Tennant
Sue and Victoria developed two early childhood education programs, which are successfully implemented throughout Washington State:
Healthy Beginnings, Nurturing Young Children's Growing Minds™
(Prenatal – Age 5) 2000, 2003.
Calming Ourselves in Stressful Moments™, Helping Children
and Their Caregivers Manage Stress, 2004, 2006.
Both programs were created within Comprehensive Health Education Foundation's (C.H.E.F.©'s) Children and Families Initiative. Victoria was the creator and lead writer of both programs. Sue, C.H.E.F.'s former Healthy Families Initiative Director, led the program development process, working with Victoria and a team of health and education partners.
These programs weave together child development research, educational neuroscience, psychology, health education, and practical strategies. Both programs provide a training model for professionals who work with children and families.
Victoria and Sue are creating the Third Edition of Calming Ourselves in Stressful Moments™, available through Mindfulness Education 4 Life™.
About Victoria Tennant, M.Ed.
As an educational consultant for over thirty years, I have built an outstanding reputation for quality learning materials and inspirational presentations. I write and present curriculum that translates neuroscience into an understandable language. I am best known for making abstract information interesting by engaging the audience in meaningful, multisensory, and enjoyable ways.
My work as an educator is on the leading edge, bridging research and practical applications for educating and parenting today's children and teens. I created one of the nation's first graduate-level courses for educators on the brain and learning: Teaching the Whole Child: Applications of Brain/Mind Research in the Classroom (1980-1996). I also designed two curriculums to teach children about the brain and learning. In addition to developing early childhood programs, my topics include: social-emotional intelligence, stress management, learning styles, multiple intelligences, the change process, and the teenage brain.
I have been privileged to work as a 4MAT® learning styles consultant, a Brain Gym® instructor, and a content editor for two high school books on brain development published by McGraw Hill. For a number of years, I was a facilitator and lead instructor of an innovative Master's in Education program for City University.
Practices to foster self-awareness, empathy, and stress management were a core part of the curriculum in my ten years as an early childhood classroom teacher. To read real-life examples of how my young students applied these concepts in profound ways please go to ©Heart Stories.
I enjoy a private practice as a Resonance Repatterning® certified practitioner, established in 2002. Resonance Repatterning® is a unique, energy-based system for reducing stress and creating positive change. The process emphasizes the mindfulness skills of a calm presence, noticing a “felt sense” of the body, and deep, heart-centered listening.
About Sue Anderson
As a community health leader for over 25 years, I have built an outstanding reputation for developing and providing quality programs to promote health and learning. I direct projects/ initiatives, lead educational design/implementation teams, and provide training services and support to educators. My greatest strength is my ability to collaborate with team partners. I deeply respect and listen to what each individual has to offer and provide ongoing inspiration, coaching, and support.
My current work with YMCA as an Executive of the Washington Pioneering Healthier Communities Initiative is to supervise and implement policy systems and environmental changes to prevent childhood obesity.
In 2012, I was one of only eighteen to receive national recognition from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for “inspirational and motivational” leadership of the Healthy Des Moines Technical Advisory Committee and for exceptional health-related outcomes to the city of Des Moines, WA, and throughout the region.
In my seventeen years with Comprehensive Health Education Foundation (C.H.E.F.®), a national nonprofit organization, I consistently received high ratings. As training director, I supervised national trainers and worked with national distributors. I led the design team on C.H.E.F's Children and Families Initiative and managed the development of three highly successful early childhood programs used throughout Washington state.
I collaborated on the design of five award-winning health education programs while working at Roberts, Fitzmahan & Associates. Programs included Here's Looking at You (K-12 drug prevention program) and SKILLWISE (K-12 social skills program).
I have personally and professionally focused on the mind, the body, and health throughout my life. I practiced meditation to help me with academics and sports in high school, became a licensed massage practitioner, and participated in a month-long retreat led by the pioneer in family therapy, Virginia Satir. I am inspired by the mindfulness practices of Thich Nhat Hanh.
"Healthy Beginnings is an excellent guide for exploring early development. It presents the facts of early brain development as they are currently understood in the field of neuroscience. A wonderful aspect of the guide is how it applies best care-giving practices to the developmental stages in order to support the neurological growth of young children."
—Kathryn Barnard, Ph.D., Director,
Center on Infant Mental Health
and Development at the
University of Washington
"I have done many (Calming Ourselves in Stressful Moments) trainings for early learning professionals for the past two years. Each time, the teachers are very excited that they have some hands-on tools that they can use with the children in their daily lives. The activities in the book are very useful. Some teachers said they can use the same activities for themselves."
—Cam Do Wong, Community Health
Educator, Seattle and King County
Public Health—Kids Get Care, Seattle, WA
