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Mitch Pauley ~ Facilitator
Mitch (he/him) is a special education teacher, emotional health specialist, equity advocate, musician, and land steward. He facilitates men’s circles and programs with EmpowR and in his work in education. His 21 year career in mental health, special education, and human services combines with his personal healing work and advancing the potential and accessibility of nature-based education .
He is passionate about transitioning from crisis intervention to creating educational systems that hold space for the wholeness, lived experiences, and assets of youth. Mitch is committed to an empathetic approach communicating with children, educators, and caregivers which transfers well to his role as a facilitator for community building for men and learning the practice of male allyship.
Mitch is a special education teacher and special education department coordinator a MapleHill School and Farm in Plainfield, Vermont. Previous work experience includes special education teaching positions at U-32 Middle and High School, Danville School, and St. Alban’s City School. He worked in several 1:1 behavior interventionist and para educator positions at South Burlington School District, the Augmentative Movement and Learning Center, Baird Center for Children and Families, and Northeastern Family Institute.
Mitch’s experience advocating for equity which sparked his transition from teaching at U-32 to MapleHill School and Farm was catalyzed by the story he shares in the blog post Learning the Practice of Male Allyship as a Vermont Educator.
Active in ongoing training and practice in trauma informed practices, restorative practices, social emotional learning, and implementing researched based academic and behavioral interventions. Mitch holds a Masters degree in Special Education from the University of Vermont and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Charleston in Charleston, West Virginia.
Living with love, kindness, and compassion in one’s mind, body, and spirit is a core belief and one that Mitch believes can help foster connection and community. Mitch is dedicated to living this philosophy and his daily practice of living from a place centered in his heart. He is dedicated to embodying these frequencies in action, so that others may see and learn that change can exist and happen through remembering that we all need to be loved, lifted up, and cared for.
Mitch plays drums, bass, and percussion in the Hygge Den music collective. He nurtures and tends to all aspects of stewarding Grandmother Cherry Sanctuary and is married to EmpowR Transformation founder, Rae Carter–his inspiration into integrating equity advocacy into emotional health and education work.
“I believe we have the power to change ourselves, and therefore, can create ripples of change for the world as a collective. Being able to engage in this work has given me the trust to know that change, although slow, is possible and can happen. Part of my commitment to work taking place in social justice movements, is that from my position of advantage, it is my responsibility to affect change within myself. By doing so, I build courage to release ego, to speak up when other people cause harm, to accept feedback when I cause harm, to step aside and let people with less privilege take up more space, and to lift up the work, ideas, and efforts of people who society gives less air time to. I am committed to building community so we can unlearn and relearn and be a part of changing dominant systems and cultural norms for equity and justice in the institutions where we work, the communities we live and play in, and our own homes and families.“
~ Mitch Pauley
