Settling the Storm: Distress Tolerance Skills for Moments of Emotional Overwhelm in the Classroom

This is a two-part professional learning series for educators who want to build their confidence and clarity when responding to student distress.

Module 1 lays the groundwork and must be completed before attending Module 2, which builds on those foundations with practical, in-the-moment tools.

Why can’t we just feel whelmed? Not flooded. Not shut down. Not about to explode. Just… whelmed.

That’s the function of distress tolerance. It doesn’t fix the feeling, but it gives students something to reach for in the feeling. A way to ground, distract, or steady themselves just enough to choose a better next move.

This workshop series equips educators with practical, psychologically informed tools to support students through moments of emotional intensity, responding in ways that reduce impulsive reactions and gently redirect emotional momentum, while preserving a sense of safety and flow in the classroom

MODULE 1

Between the Trigger and the Response: Understanding Student Distress and What Calms It in the Classroom

Presenter: Dr. Madeline Wishart

Before a student can regulate emotion, they must first learn to tolerate it.

For many young people, even mild discomfort can feel intolerable, pushing them outside their Window of Tolerance and into reactive states like fight, flight, or freeze. In these moments, distress becomes the driver, and behaviour often turns impulsive, disruptive, or withdrawn, affecting both learning and safety.

We’ll explore the distress paradox, how efforts to avoid discomfort can actually amplify it, and how patterns of up- or down-regulating behaviour become strategies to manage an internal world that feels overwhelming.

Drawing on principles from Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), we’ll unpack what makes distress tolerance harder for some students, why sitting with discomfort matters, and how this capacity supports long-term resilience. We’ll briefly touch on co-regulation, not as a shortcut to calm, but as a relational anchor that scaffolds students back toward steadiness.

You’ll leave with a clearer understanding of what distress tolerance is, why it matters, and how it underpins every other form of emotional support.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Form an understanding of the fundamental concepts behind distress tolerance, and how it differs from emotional regulation
Build insight into the Window of Tolerance and how it informs student behaviour during emotional intensity
Understand the distress paradox and why avoidance strategies can amplify emotional sensitivity over time
Reflect on how personal beliefs about distress influence the way you respond to students in emotional distress
Recognise how students' perceptions of their own distress affect their ability to cope
Support students to tolerate their distress, while staying within your professional boundaries and protecting your own wellbeing

DR MADELINE WISHART

Dr Madeline Wishart is a Clinical Psychologist with a special interest in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), and young people who experience difficulty in regulating their emotions and tolerating distress. She has a PhD, along with a Masters in both Professional and Clinical Psychology. Madeline has a combined history of both research and practical experience across a variety of settings. She has worked in the education, community, private and psychiatric sectors as a youth, school, trauma counsellor, and psychologist. In an academic and research capacity, Madeline has been employed as a sessional lecturer and project officer at Victoria University; and a research officer at Youth Support and Advocacy Service (YSAS) in Melbourne. For the past two decades, Madeline has provided professional training in NSSI and distress tolerance in young people, and she has been invited to present at a number of international mental health conferences. Madeline currently divides her time between her private practice - Wishart Psychology; and Psych Voice, where she delivers professional development, supervision, and evidence-based workshops designed to equip professionals with practical strategies for working with young people.

With an academic background and extensive experience supporting individuals engaging in NSSI, including as a school counsellor and psychologist, Madeline understands the unique challenges of working with young people. Her workshops are comprehensive and highly practical, offering strategies that can be directly and immediately incorporated into your professional practice.

CPD Hours

Self-Identified CPD: Participants may claim 75 minutes of self-identified Continuing Professional Development (CPD) upon completion of this module.

‼️Please note this event is live and will not be recorded

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👉 Stronger outcomes start with shared learning.

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