Cindy Rochstein

"I thrive on being part of the global conversation about changing education and 'how we do school'. Actively looking at the mental and emotional health of all children so I can support them to excel in their minds, happiness, and their futures." 

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Conscious Education is the concept that embraces, 'Helping children learn their world' with my attention as an educator being around education reform, connecting emotional and mental health and learning.

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From the time I first created our charity, Pencils Community, and saw first hand how education differed around the world according to geography, poverty and marginalised groups of children, I knew there was continued work needed in this space.

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Pencils Community was paramount in sourcing much needed resources for the impoverished, both internationally in third world countries and at home in our own national and indigenous communities. But I soon realised, resources alone were not enough. We needed a change in our thinking.

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As time marched on, I learned through my own personal and family lived-in experience of neurodiversity, that the "way we traditionally do education" does not always suit the individuals needs to learn or bring about happiness, especially those on the Autism Spectrum who may also be experiencing anxiety, OCD and ADHD. As society has evolved so has the need for the way in which we educate our children for the world that is.

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Crippled with an endemic of mental and emotional health in all our children, (according to World Health Organisation, 1 in 10 children are diagnosed as clinically depressed by the time they are 18 years old), I set about trying to change the world from within my own world. By starting with the way in which I viewed education and learning from my experiences of traditional "normal" schooling to homeschooling, unschooling, democratic schooling, COVID-19 schooling and independent and religious schooling. I expanded on my experiences to those in my community and have been building in this space ever since.

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My work in this space helps voices and messages be heard, challenges the status quo, creates change and aims to educate and reform.

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Partnering with PALC (Human Behaviour and Trauma Specialists). helps me to continue with my work in empowering and assisting children by providing information and workshops, actual toolkits and practical strategies to use on a daily bases as well as supporting parents, understanding their journey having been through it myself. 

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You can find out more by getting in touch with me or by following my Facebook page, 'Conscious Education'.