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Author, Leora Wolf-Prusan, EdD, School Mental Health lead for SAMHSA's Mental Health Technology Center Pacific Southwest http://mhttcnetwork.org/mhttc/mhttc-psw.html Creating compassionate policies is a cornerstone strategy of educational leadership. This guide provides a deep dive into developing, implementing, and evaluating trauma-informed and compassionate school policies. It highlights four "choice points" for education and mental health leadership: Choice Point 1: Names &...

PANORAMA CITY, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A group of students who studied in a classroom alongside their babies at a Panorama City school received their diplomas Monday. When 19-year-old Teresa Campa attended classes at the Assurance Learning Academy, her 5-month-old daughter Lydia usually sat with her. "Once I found out I was pregnant, I knew I had to finish high school," Teresa Campa said. Campa is one of nine teen mothers who received their high school diplomas thanks to a curriculum called...

My nephew Max (a pseudonym) started skipping school when he was a high school freshman. He did enough to get by, coming home with C 's and D 's on his report cards, but he continued to skip school no matter what anyone did to try to get him to be a "better" student. He not only skipped classes on a regular basis, he skipped studying. He certainly didn't do his homework. His teachers pushed and prodded, his family begged and scolded. If you ask him now, Max says that to him, school seemed...

An inside look at a teacher-designed instructional model that combines blended learning, student self-pacing, and mastery-based grading. DEVISING A NEW TEACHING MODEL In an effort to redesign my classroom around my students’ diverse needs, I developed a scalable instructional model built around three core principles. 1. Blended instruction: Most blended learning models involve outsourcing the creation of digital content. In the model I developed and then shared with other teachers at my...

These intrusive thoughts are neither productive nor personal. We wear them on our faces. They show up in our classrooms. As educators, we need to support our students and ourselves to be safe. How do we create a culture of safety and embrace our common humanity? Let them know you’re scared. The images from Denver . The stories from UNC-Charlotte . The recent media coverage of active shooter drills in our children’s schools. The devastating reports of continued trauma in the wake of Parkland.

In the 1950s, after renovations were complete, visitors could wander into the chapel and see statues of saints and pictures of the Virgen de Guadalupe on the stucco walls. They could see the simple wooden pews that still filled the church and, outside, the stones once used to grind grain, and then wander through the Spanish-style garden with its large gray fountain, rose bushes and lemon trees that glowed in the California sun. Tour guides typically avoided the darker details of its history,...

Mindfulness trains our brains to respond in ways we choose instead of always in a default manner, which often is a knee-jerk reaction from the reptilian part of the brain. This is especially pertinent in situations that bring up stress or conflict. For instance, if a child has learned to use violence to react to feeling scared, mindfulness can help him or her become aware of this habitual behavior and the feelings underneath it, and ultimately rewire the reaction to a constructive and...

Learning to be less reactive to environmental and/or psychological trauma triggers is supported by practicing the pause within a reparative relationship, which ideally acts as both a container and a scaffold. What this means is that emotional distress is seen, held and understood by supporting partner as a preface to being able to find safety within our own skin...

The Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township, on the west side of Indianapolis, has gotten a fair amount of attention for personalizing the professional development it gives to teachers in its virtual high school and blended learning programs. The fact that voluntary professional development can attract 90 percent of teachers is seen as a wild success. It’s that success the district, and by extension, Michele Eaton, its director of virtual and blended learning, has been known for.

A study conducted by University of Arkansas researchers reveals that neurons in the motor cortex of the brain exhibit an unexpected division of labor, a finding that could help scientists understand how the brain controls the body and provide insight on certain neurological disorders. The researchers studied the neurons in the motor cortex of rats and found that they fall into two groups: “externally focused” neurons that communicate with and control different parts of the body and...

Nemia with peacock used in therapy with children. Talking with an animal is often easier than talking with an adult for a child who's experienced abuse. _________________________________________ Toni Nemia, program and clinical director for the University of San Francisco Child and Family Center's School-Based Family Counseling, says that her graduate students are often surprised to hear that ACEs science (adverse childhood experiences) has an international reach. In fact, Scotland is an...

Do you have specialized expertise in trauma-informed care and education? Has your school taken the journal toward becoming trauma-sensitive ? The Attachment & Trauma Network (ATN) is looking for workshop presenters from a variety of backgrounds: educators (at all levels), counselors, social workers, clinicians, community leaders and others to present at our 2020 conference, February 16-18, 2020 in Atlanta, GA. You will be speaking at the LARGEST gathering of trauma-informed educators in...