The Phoenix Cups 101 Workshop for Teams | Phoenix Support
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 In-service workshop

The Phoenix Cups® 101 workshop for education and care teams

Your team maps its five Cups, builds a shared language for needs, and plans how to keep them filling. Your staff also get The Phoenix Cups 101 & Wellbeing Challenge online course free.

Enquire about this workshop

Want to see the session first? See what happens on the day

A woman holding a Phoenix Cups mug printed with the five Cups
For whole teams, leaders includedFacilitated by one of our facilitatorsAbout 2 hoursIn person or on Zoom

 Why teams book

A shared language for what people need

Educators spend the day tuned in to everyone else. This foundation workshop gives your whole team a shared language for what each person needs to feel well, and a plan for keeping those needs met.

The Phoenix Cups® framework names five basic human needs as five Cups. Once your team can say which Cup is running low, for a colleague, for itself, or for anyone in its care, conversations get easier and plans get kinder.

Afterwards, your team can

  • Name the five Cups and what each one holds
  • See why Cups differ in size between people
  • Describe the Will to Fill™ and the Skill to Fill™ in plain words
  • Write a Cup filling plan that fits their week
  • See how the Cups apply across the lifespan

 On the day

What your team does together

Your facilitator takes your team through three parts. Expect stories, short activities, and plenty of time to talk with the person next to you.

  1. Meet the Cups

    What each of the five Cups holds, with a quick wellbeing measure to see how full each one feels today.

  2. Your wellbeing profile

    The needs profile quiz shows how your Cups differ in size, and how your environment shapes the way they feel.

  3. Cup filling plans

    The Will to Fill, the Skill to Fill, and a written plan to keep your Cups filling, with one-minute Cup fillers for busy days.

 The framework

Five Cups, five basic needs

We all share the same five needs. Cups differ in size between people, so each of us has a profile. Your team finds its own, and sees how different profiles shape the way colleagues work.

A Phoenix Cups mug for the Safety Cup

Safety Cup®

Rest and nourishment, physical safety, health and wellness, feeling safe and settled, predictability, and trust.

A Phoenix Cups mug for the Connection Cup

Connection Cup®

Belonging, acceptance, inclusion, and caring for others.

A Phoenix Cups mug for the Freedom Cup

Freedom Cup®

Freedom To, Freedom From, autonomy, creativity, and self-expression.

A Phoenix Cups mug for the Mastery Cup

Mastery Cup®

Achievement, competence, and efficacy.

A Phoenix Cups mug for the Fun Cup

Fun Cup®

Play, learning and novelty, humour, pleasure, and stimulation.

 Your plan

Turn the pull to fill into a plan

The Will to Fill is the empty part of a Cup, the pull to fill it. It arrives whichever Cup is running low, even a small one.

The Skill to Fill is knowing how to build a set of thoughts and choices that meet your needs reliably. Your team practises telling Cup-emptying choices from Cup-filling ones, and plans ahead for the days its Cups run low.

Life Needs Balance

Life is one big whole. Your team looks at keeping Cups full in every part of life, at work and at home.

 Beyond work

One language for every age

Everyone carries five Cups, whatever their age. Your team explores what the Cups look like across the lifespan, so the same language works for those you care for, your colleagues, and yourselves.

A row of smiling young children with their arms around each other

Children and young people

Two adults lifting a patterned blanket into the air while two children run and laugh beneath it in a park

Families

A close group photo of colleagues smiling and laughing together

Colleagues and leaders

A smiling woman holding a blue Phoenix Cups mug

You

 The thinking

Motivation and wellbeing science, made practical

Self-Determination Theory

Ryan and Deci (2000) saw autonomy, competence, and relatedness as basic psychological needs, with wellbeing growing as those needs are met. They sit in the Freedom, Mastery, and Connection Cups.

Positive psychology

Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) describe the study of what helps people flourish. It shapes the daily challenges in the online course, from gratitude to finding your strengths.

The Phoenix Cups framework

Sandi Phoenix founded the framework in 2012. She and Christopher Phoenix wrote it up in 2019 in The Phoenix Cups: A Cup Filling Story. The framework keeps changing as the science does.

Phoenix, C., & Phoenix, S. (2019). The Phoenix Cups: A Cup Filling Story. Phoenix Support Publishing.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68

Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.5

A Mastery Cup mug on a wooden desk beside an open laptop

 After the workshop

The 101 online course, free

After the workshop, each participant keeps practising with The Phoenix Cups 101 & Wellbeing Challenge, our self-paced online course, in video, audio, and text lessons.

Inside the course

The needs profile quiz
Printable Cup filling plan templates
About two weeks of daily challenges
One-minute Cup fillers

When you book, we send your service a coupon code so 20 staff can enrol free.

See the online course

‘Phoenix Cups is a simple way for educators to understand each other and then in turn create empathy and understanding within the work space.’

Lyn M.

 The details

Everything you need to plan

Who attends

Your whole team, educators and leaders together

Length

About 2 hours

Where

In person at your service anywhere in Australia, or live on Zoom, a lower-cost option with no travel costs

Facilitator

One of our facilitators, confirmed with your quote

Included

The Phoenix Cups 101 & Wellbeing Challenge online course, free for 20 staff, with a coupon code sent when you book

Investment

A fixed rate, plus GST and any travel costs, quoted on request

Funding

Kindy Uplift (Queensland) or School Readiness Funding (Victoria) may apply. See the questions below.

 How booking works

Three steps to your workshop day

  1.  

    Send an enquiry

    Use our contact form to tell us your location or that you would like Zoom, your team size, and the dates you have in mind.

  2.  

    Get your quote

    We send a quote, a facilitator, and available dates.

  3. Workshop day

    A facilitator works with your whole team, in person at your service or live on Zoom. Your coupon code gives 20 staff the online course.

Enquire about this workshop

A team of educators sitting around a table, working together on paper planning sheets

 Quality Area 4

NQS alignment

Mapping this workshop to your Quality Improvement Plan or a teacher’s professional learning record? It supports practice in one NQS Element, two Focus Areas of the teacher standards, and one Queensland Kindy Uplift priority area. Open each one for the details.

Quality Area 4: Staffing arrangements

Element 4.2.1Professional collaboration

Management, educators and staff work with mutual respect and collaboratively, and challenge and learn from each other, recognising each other’s strengths and skills.

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

Focus Area 6.2Engage in professional learning and improve practice

Focus Area 6.3Engage with colleagues and improve practice

Focus Area codes and titles from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL, 2011).

Kindy Uplift priority area (Queensland)

Priority area 2Social and emotional learning

How this workshop connects

Educators practise noticing needs in themselves and their colleagues. That understanding supports educators as they guide children’s social and emotional learning. Eligibility is in the questions below.

Read the Kindy Uplift program details on the Queensland Government site

Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority. (2026). Guide to the National Quality Framework. ACECQA. https://www.acecqa.gov.au/nqf/about/guide

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2011). Australian professional standards for teachers. AITSL. https://www.aitsl.edu.au/resources/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers

 Before you book

Frequently asked questions

Who should attend?

Your whole team, leaders included. The workshop builds a shared language, so everyone learns it together.

How is this different from the Educator Wellbeing workshop?

Educator Wellbeing is Christopher Phoenix’s workshop, and it focuses on the thinking that makes hard days harder. The Phoenix Cups 101 is the foundation workshop in the Cups framework: your team maps its five Cups, builds a Cup filling plan, and explores the Cups across the lifespan. Any of our facilitators can deliver it, Christopher Phoenix included. Read about Educator Wellbeing

Do participants get the online course?

Yes. When you book, we send your service a coupon code so 20 staff can enrol in The Phoenix Cups 101 & Wellbeing Challenge online course free. See the online course

Can we run it on Zoom?

Yes. Zoom is a lower-cost option for services that would rather not pay travel costs. Mention it in your enquiry and we will confirm the details with your quote.

Can we use Kindy Uplift funding?

Possibly, if your service is eligible. As at 18 October 2026, Kindy Uplift is open to Queensland services with Kindergarten Program Provider approval before 30 September 2025 that take part in Free Kindy. It funds professional development that builds teacher and educator capability, focussed on one or more of six priority areas. This workshop connects to area 2, Social and emotional learning. The department keeps no approved supplier list. Services decide with their advisory support organisation whether a provider suits them. Read the Kindy Uplift program details

Can Victorian kindergartens use School Readiness Funding?

Possibly, as a flexible spend. The Phoenix Cups 101 is not on the School Readiness Funding Menu. Services that receive over $10,000 can spend up to 25% of their funding on programs not listed on the Menu. The program must align with a School Readiness Funding priority area or a local priority. It must also address educational disadvantage and the needs of the children at the service. Services that want to spend funding this way must discuss it with their Early Childhood Improvement Branch. Read about School Readiness Funding

How much does it cost?

The workshop has a fixed rate, plus GST and any travel costs. Send an enquiry with your location (or Zoom) and team size, and we’ll come back with a quote, a facilitator, and available dates.

Looking for a different topic? See all our workshops

 Get in touch

Start with one conversation about needs

Your team leaves with a first Cup filling plan and the online course to keep practising. Booking starts with an enquiry about your service and the dates that suit.

Enquire about this workshop