A Conversation With Joyce Marter

Why do you believe SEL and EQ are important?

As a psychotherapist and business leader, I believe SEL and EQ are essential life skills to cultivate self-awareness and conscious, compassionate communication to succeed both personally and professionally. Children need to be provided with tools to communicate, effectively resolve conflict and collaborate successfully.

Do you have any personal anecdotes about how SEL/EQ has brought you success in your
personal life/career?

My emotional intelligence is the primary skill I use as a psychotherapist, public speaker, professor and parent. I provide SEL and promote EQ in my presentations, articles and recent book. EQ helped me to succeed as an entrepreneur and to effectively manage my team as well as to effectively serve in leadership roles on state and regional professional counseling boards.

What do you believe to be one or two of the main challenges in education (K-8) today?

Parent/educator/student burnout as a normal response to the stressors of the pandemic and related mental health and family stress/conflict.

Conversely, what do you believe to be one or two of the biggest opportunities in education (K-8) today?

Promoting mental health awareness and providing tools for positive mental health and resilience.