Well suited for parents, caregivers, and those managing busy or demanding lives, this course focuses on understanding how stress accumulates and how evidence-informed practices can help maintain calm and clarity amidst everyday pressures. Participants gain practical knowledge and skills they can readily apply in daily life.

Available Session Times - select from the following sessions:

64661 - Sat 10.00am 16 May 1 day x 6 hrs (Wea Centre) Fees available for this course:(Which Fee?) Standard: A$114.00 Discount: A$103.00 Concession: A$100.00

Select the number of places and click 'Enrol': 1 2 3 4 ENROL

Find the Calm in the Chaos

Course Description

When life feels like a constant marathon, it’s easy to feel like you should be coping better, especially if you’re capable, reliable, and used to pushing through. 

You might be high-functioning and still feel overwhelmed: racing thoughts, irritability, fatigue, sleep disruption, a tight chest, emotional reactivity, or the sense that you’re always behind no matter how hard you work. 

This workshop is designed for career professionals, parents, carers, and anyone navigating major life transitions (wanted or unwanted) who is seeking practical skills and a clearer way forward.

In the first theory block, you’ll learn what stress and overwhelm look like in the brain and body, why the “on switch” can get stuck and where the heck is the off switch, and how attention and nervous-system states shape your emotions, decisions, and relationships. 

You’ll then build practical skills through guided exercises, including grounded attention-training (mindfulness-based, but practical and down-to-earth) and “One Seat” techniques for steadiness under pressure, without needing any spiritual framing.

This course is educational, not therapeutic. Self-reflection is encouraged, but sharing is not required. You’ll leave with a workbook, practical tools you can use immediately, and a simple action plan to support calm, clarity, and sustainable functioning.

Course Structure

This workshop combines lecture-style teaching with guided practical exercises and individual self-reflection. The course is educational, not therapeutic, and there is no requirement to share personal experiences; private reflection is encouraged.

The course fee includes:

• A printed workbook summarising key concepts
• Practical grounding and regulation skills sheets to take home
• A simple action plan template to formulate your pathway forward

Topics covered include:

• Understanding overwhelm: stress vs burnout vs nervous-system overload 
• The science: what’s happening in the brain and body 
• Why you can’t think your way out of it 
• Mapping your personal stress pattern 
• Practical skills: grounding and regulation 
• The “One Seat” approach: finding steadiness under pressure 
• Sustainable calm: boundaries, capacity, and recovery habits 
• Support pathways and next steps.

Course Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Describe the physiology of chronic stress
• Recognise early warning signs and map their personal stress cycle
• Apply practical grounding strategies and use attention-training tools 
• Practise the “One Seat” approach and identify unhelpful coping patterns
• Develop a personalised “what helps me” toolkit
• Identify their natural processing style 
• Create a realistic pathway forward.

Student Testimonials

“My session with Nicole was wonderful. I immediately felt at ease with her and the instant she started helping me through some issues, something clicked. I should have seen her years ago! She has given me some useful strategies to implement. I felt her to be compassionate, knowledgeable and patient. The session was definitely value for money and she was generous with her time. Highly recommended.”

Your tutor is Nicole Powell

Nicole has been teaching at WEA since 2026

Nicole is a counsellor, former paramedic, and long-term meditation teacher with more than two decades of experience supporting people under pressure. She has worked across high-demand environments with first responders, veterans, and high-functioning professionals, and also has experience supporting people impacted by homelessness and addiction through Adelaide’s Hutt St Centre.

Nicole holds a Master’s degree in Addictive Behaviours, a Graduate Diploma of Counselling, a Bachelor of Education, a Bachelor of Arts, and a Diploma of Applied Science. Her therapeutic training includes CBT, ACT, Motivational Interviewing, trauma-informed practice, and mindfulness-based approaches, delivered in a practical, grounded way.

For more than a decade Nicole has taught meditation through the Lifeflow Meditation Centre, leading classes and retreats, and she has completed extensive retreat training including a year-long retreat. 

This combination of frontline experience, evidence-informed training, and sustained attention-training practice allows Nicole to teach calm as a learnable skill, especially for people who feel they can cope with anything except switching off.

MAddBehav (Monash), GradDipCouns (ACAP), BEd (JCU), BA (Flinders), DipAppSci (Flinders)