Discoveries in Education Spotlight: Kara Ieva

Reimagining Education Through Eduhealing

For Dr. Kara Ieva, education is not only about what we teach, but how we care for the people doing the teaching. A Professor in the Counseling in Educational Settings program at Rowan University and the founder and CEO of In the Moment Group, Dr. Ieva is advancing Educator Social-Emotional Learning (EduSEL) and healing-centered practices as essential—rather than supplemental—components of educational systems.

She describes her work as eduhealing: a strengths-based, healing-centered framework that recognizes learning as both a cognitive and biological experience shaped by brain chemistry, relationships, lived experience, and context. “In a time when students and adults alike are navigating chronic stress and collective trauma,” Dr. Ieva explains, “education must be a space not only for knowledge acquisition, but for restoration, regulation, and growth.”

Grounded in nervous-system awareness, equity-centered frameworks, and interconnected systems thinking, eduhealing integrates creativity, reflective practice, relational connection, and self-love as intentional educational practices. It acknowledges that healing is non-linear, collective, and deeply tied to identity, community, and context.

From Scholarship to Practice

As a faculty member, Dr. Ieva designs experiential and reflective learning spaces for graduate students—particularly future school counselors, educational leaders, and student-facing faculty and staff. These spaces intentionally model the same relational and regulatory practices students are expected to facilitate in school settings, allowing them to develop their personal and professional identities simultaneously.

Her expertise in group counseling and psychoeducation anchors this work. Through research and grant-funded initiatives, Dr. Ieva studies group-based EduSEL interventions, instructional coaching, and healing-centered professional learning. In parallel, as CEO of In the Moment Group, she translates scholarship into accessible, human-scaled tools and experiences—consultation, professional development, reflective puzzles, heart stones, neuro-fitness cards, journals, and educator SEL curricula—designed to help educators regulate, reflect, and reconnect, often in just a few intentional moments at a time.

What Drives the Work

Dr. Ieva brings a deeply personal perspective to her work as both an educator and counselor, as well as a parent of two “neurofabulous” children who inspire her daily. She is continually motivated by educators themselves—teachers, counselors, and leaders—who carry immense emotional labor while being asked to do more with fewer resources.

Over time, she noticed a persistent gap: while schools increasingly prioritize student social-emotional learning, educators are rarely given protected space for their own emotional processing and healing. Eduhealing emerged from listening closely to educators’ stories of burnout, grief, hope, creativity, and care—and from a desire to reimagine professional development as something that restores rather than depletes.

Impact and Looking Ahead

Dr. Ieva’s work has impacted graduate students, K–12 educators, school counselors, instructional coaches, and educational leaders across multiple contexts. Participants in her programs frequently report reduced burnout, increased clarity, and renewed commitment to their work. One educator shared that it was “the first time all year” they felt permission to pause without guilt. Another administrator wrote, “I’ve never seen teachers so upset to miss a professional development.”

Looking ahead, Dr. Ieva envisions eduhealing embedded across educator preparation, induction, supervision, and professional learning—treating educator wellness as a collective responsibility rather than an individual burden. At its core, eduhealing is about creating systems where educators can thrive, not just survive, so they can continue shaping meaningful learning environments for future generations.