Professional development, stacked.

The training content of Totem PD has been curated and refined from the feedback of educators and practitioners on the frontlines. The result? Aligned (stacked) professional learning with ready-to-use tools, engaging content, and ongoing support.

Why We Do It

Kids. Educators. Smiles. Laughter. Learning.

We facilitate engaging trainings and design creative content to help kids succeed. We genuinely care about every kid. The sad ones. The angry ones. The falling-between-the- cracks ones.

Collectively, the team at Totem PD has spent countless hours with kids who are struggling in one way or another. The impact these children have had on each of us has been profound. We genuinely care for kids and we have not only witnessed the despair, rage, and loneliness in their lives, but the joy, laughter, and belonging as well. We infuse our hopeful message into every training. Why? Because we care deeply about the well-being of kids. We know you do, too.

Not Your Mom’s PD…

…Unless her PD is totally engaging, laugh-out-loud funny and loaded with best practices in mental health, special education, and behavior management. We have spent the last decade refining our programs and practices through hundreds of training seminars and evaluations with hard-working educators to deliver, well, pure happiness.

Does this sound too good to be true? We respect that, but we also reject that. Our educators spend their whole professional lives forced to “settle” for the status quo professional development (which is, by all accounts, boring, patronizing, empty, and out of touch.) As a result, educators are often left with only bits and pieces of the tools they actually need to make a meaningful difference in the life of a child.

If we ask our educators to settle, we are essentially asking our students to settle—and that is not acceptable. Instead of the status quo, let Totem PD deliver the goods with:

  • Laugh-out-loud fun and engaging professional learning experiences
  • Best practices in student wellness, behavior management, mental health, and special education
  • Ready-to-use tools and strategies
  • Practical problem solving
  • Customized consultation

We Tackle The Hard Stuff

Totem is not just your average, run-of-the-mill professional learning. We tackle the hard stuff. We tackle the stuff that tends to get swept under the rug, stuff that can be considered technical and complicated in the areas of behavior management, special education, and mental health.

Our Trainers and Authors

We’re fortunate to have such a passionate, creative, and fun-to-be-around team at Totem PD. Our trainers and authors find pure joy in delivering high-quality content and it always shows. We love what we do, we are super geeks about all things mental health, student wellness, student behavior, and special education.

Ben Springer

Author, Instructor, Lover of Mountain Vistas

Christian Sabey

Author, Instructor, Lover of Fishing Holes

Ben Belnap

Author, Instructor, Lover of Secret Swimming Holes

Join the PD Revolution

We bring the knowledge and the joy to every training, guaranteed.

Brian King, Jordan School District

ASPEN has been the game-changer we have been looking for in our district. We are building a culture of safety and optimism with ASPEN at the root of it all.

Deb Fenton, Oakcrest Elementary School

Too often behavior plans fail to include plans for when things cool down. Our students need ongoing instruction in coping skills and Chillax is the only program that delivers.

Janet Hansen, The Ranches Academy

Our Tier 1 classroom management has never looked so good. Everything you hear is true: Happy teachers = Happy Class. Everyone needs this training.

Cade Charlton, Brigham Young University

We train future special educators and we train them in IEP Zen.

Brian King, Jordan School District

ASPEN has been the game-changer we have been looking for in our district. We are building a culture of safety and optimism with ASPEN at the root of it all.

Janet Hansen, The Ranches Academy

Our Tier 1 classroom management has never looked so good. Everything you hear is true: Happy teachers = Happy Class. Everyone needs this training.

Deb Fenton, Oakcrest Elementary School

Too often behavior plans fail to include plans for when things cool down. Our students need ongoing instruction in coping skills and Chillax is the only program that delivers.

Cade Charlton, Brigham Young University

We train future special educators and we train them in IEP Zen.