Dear PE professional,

The PEAI executive takes great pleasure in announcing our annual conference for 2015 – ‘Protecting the Mental Health of Teacher and Student’. The event this year will be held in The Crowne Plaza Hotel and DKIT Sports Dome in Dundalk on October 2nd and 3rd. We hope that all of you can come to Dundalk to engage with a conference focused on your own wellbeing and the wellbeing of your students.

There are two documents attached for your information.

1. The first is our conference brochure. Here you will find the where, when, how much, etc.

2. The second document is an information sheet on our practical workshops…this will provide you with an overview of each and every workshop being presented. There are 28 excellent workshops this year so chose wisely!

Finally to this years programme. Friday night will be all about you, the teacher. Dr Claire Hayes, clinical director of Aware.ie will talk about the wellbeing of the teacher, stressors in our lives, and how they can be identified. Following a practical activity run by PEAI executive member Catherine Kiely, Dr Hayes will then go through some practical techniques to deal with stress and anxiety, calling upon her extensive experience as educational physiologist, lecturer, author, researcher and secondary school teacher.

Saturday will then be all about our students. The morning will begin with an extremely insightful session by Dr Matthew Herring on the association between physical activity and anxiety. Matthew will then go on to outline the role the physical educator can play in helping students deal with anxiety, a keynote which will be followed by an intriguing practical workshop on the area.

Matthew will be followed by a moving address by former Munster and Irish Rugby player David Corkery. This keynote will contextualise the struggles that can be experienced by anyone, and outline how we as PE teachers play such an important role in protecting the wellbeing of our students.

The day then moves into practical mode, with 28 practical workshops run over four sessions. This is not only the first time the PEAI have provided the opportunity to attend four practical workshops, but there has also never been this much choice. For more information please see the attached documentation.

On a final note, we will be hosting our AGM on Friday evening at 7pm. The PEAI executive go to great lengths on your behalf each year and it would be greatly appreciated if you could attend our AGM to show your support or put yourself forward for a role on our executive group.

Hope to see you all in Dundalk.

Kind regards,

Fergal Lyons
PEAI President