Instructors by Specialization

Abbi Kruse

Certified Instructor

Abbi is the founder and Executive Director of The Playing Field, an early childhood program serving children experiencing homelessness right alongside those from far more advantaged families. Prior to this role, Abbi served in a variety of ECE settings including the University of Wisconsin Preschool Lab, Head Start, and community based programs.

Amanda Bagwell

Certified Instructor

Amanda Bagwell is a wife, teacher, consultant and mother of four.  She has an undergraduate degree in business and a Master’s Degree in Special Education.  Amanda is a certified educator in 3 states and has been teaching since 2004.  She became a Conscious Discipline Certified Instructor in 2011 and has even taught Conscious Discipline internationally.

Amy Decker

Certified Instructor

Amy Decker has been a Conscious Discipline Certified Instructor since 2010. She conducts Conscious Discipline classes, book studies and empowerment groups focusing on the latest research for wiring up children’s brains to help parents and caregivers use connecting activities to instill impulse control, willingness, cooperation, and self-regulation. She also works with school center’s staff, training and coaching them how to implement Conscious Discipline’s brain-based strategies and techniques into their teaching practices.

Amy Niemeier

Certified Instructor

Amy Niemeier has been an educator for seventeen years and is currently in her seventh year as principal of Slate Run Elementary School. Amy holds her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Indiana University and Education Specialist degree from Indiana State University. After seeing the positive impact Conscious Discipline had on her personal life as a wife and mother as well as on children, families, and the school community since 2013, Amy has made it her mission to share Conscious Discipline with others.

Amy Speidel

Master Instructor

Amy Speidel comes to you as a national presenter with Loving Guidance, Inc. She is also a certified Parent Coach, working with families within a pediatric practice. Amy first used Conscious Discipline as a teacher, and witnessed a transformation in her students. She now aspires to support all adults who come in contact with children by sharing Conscious Discipline® with them through practical, user friendly seminars and workshops.

Amy Zolessi

Certified Instructor

Amy Zolessi has a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Elementary Education and Spanish. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. As a parent of three young boys and an early childhood educator for 10 years, Amy Zolessi knows children. She understands the challenges of parenting and teaching first hand and how Conscious Discipline can help parents and educators deal with those challenges. As a teacher, she inspired her staff and implemented Conscious Discipline school-wide at her former school.

Angela Fraley

Master Instructor

Angela Fraley completed her undergraduate work at the University of Central Oklahoma to obtain teaching certifications in Elementary Education, Early Childhood and Mild to Moderate Disabilities. She completed her graduate work at the University of Oklahoma to earn a Master’s Degree in Prevention Science and an IC & RC Certified Prevention Specialist credential.

Annette Chastain

Certified Instructor

Annette Chastain is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker from The Confederate Tribes of Warm Springs, Oregon and lives in Redmond, Oregon. Annette provides mental health consultation, training, and coaching for Head Starts, childcare centers, Social Service agencies, Native American tribes, communities, and schools K-12. She has over 25 years of experience in outpatient mental health, day treatment, classroom settings, mental health promotion and prevention, parent training, in-home skills training, and as a certified prevention specialist.

Ashley Cooper

Certified Instructor

For more than 12 years Ashley Cooper has dedicated herself to working with young children, not only in the classroom setting but also as part of an elementary school administrative team and as the mother of two young girls.  Ashley is a Conscious Discipline Certified Instructor and she established Connected At Last, LLC in 2015 as a way to help educators, parents and caregivers transform their relationships with children using Conscious Discipline®.  Ashley does this through professional development opportunities, classroom coaching, parent workshops and individual family coaching sessions.