Aaron Buehring & Anna Iversen | The Whole Student in the Post-Pandemic World

LearningSCAPES Edition

January 6, 2023

We are all familiar with the challenges that COVID brought to school districts around the country. It was very disruptive to families. It was very disruptive to educators. Everyone. This led to a lot of lost boundaries, structure, and rhythms in which we are built for. This led to teachers struggling to find the end of their work day which negatively impacted their mental health, family life, and much more.

Aaron Buehring is the Director of Educational Environments at the A&D firm Lionakis. His background as a professional anthropologist and interior designer offers a unique perspective on how humans interact with space and environments which informs his design process and outcomes. Aaron is passionate about delivering the most current thought leadership in NextGen learning environments through continuous learning, leading his own research initiatives, and presenting at educational conferences. In addition to designing schools, Aaron has created, invented, and developed numerous successful school furniture designs currently on the market. Throughout his career, Aaron has won numerous California design awards as well as the Best in Competition at the 2017 and 2019 Ed Spaces Innovation Awards.

Anna Iversen is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist currently working with the Student Health Clinic at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she provides behavioral health consultation and supports efforts towards integrated health care. Additional areas of interest and expertise include anxiety, developmental trauma, PTSD, addressing addiction and other unsafe behaviors, grief and loss, co-dependency, relationship skills and working with individuals who have chronic medical conditions to improve their overall functioning.