Format
Individual Presentation
First Presenter's Institution
Central Academy
First Presenter’s Email Address
lindsay.thompson@henderson.kyschools.us
First Presenter's Brief Biography
Lindsay Thompson is the current Principal at Central Academy and has been in education for 21 years. She earned her Bachelor’s of Biology and Chemistry at Ball State University, and her Master’s of Education in Educational Leadership from University of Southern Indiana.
Second Presenter's Institution
Central Academy
Second Presenter’s Email Address
ryan.maher@henderson.kyschools.us
Second Presenter's Brief Biography
Ryan Maher is the current Assistant Principal at Central Academy and has been in education for 16 years. He earned his Bachelor’s in Elementary Education at Pittsburg State University and his Master’s of Education in Educational Administration from the University of Scranton.
Third Presenter's Institution
Central Academy
Third Presenter’s Email Address
cassandra.crowder@henderson.kyschools.us
Third Presenter's Brief Biography
Cassie Crowder is one of the current school counselors at Central Academy and she has been in education for 15 years. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Middle School Education from the University of Kentucky and her Master’s Degree in school counseling from Western Kentucky University. She is currently pursuing her principal’s license through the University of the Cumberlands.
Location
Session Two Breakouts (Ballroom E & F)
Strand #1
Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership
Strand #2
Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership
Relevance
Mental and Physical Health:
At Central Academy, we work with multiple community partners to break barriers and allow access to practitioners that help our students with mental and physical health. We have licensed mental health clinicians on call every day that students are in the building. Throughout our school day, we incorporate guidance groups, individual counseling, and other calming strategies to benefit their mental and physical health. Looking at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs 3 tiered system, we have to understand the different levels within the pyramid. The top of the pyramid, self-fulfillment needs, is where most of the focus tends to be. At Central Academy, we have to focus primarily on the bottom level, basic needs, as well as the middle level, psychological needs, as this is where the majority of our population of students are needing assistance.
It is our mission to remove these barriers so that students can go back to their home school more successfully. We remove the barriers of parents transporting students to appointments, missing school, and the ability to pay for care. Our mental health counselor has taken on the role of transition specialist. She works with our middle schools and high school to create schedules, and serves as a mental health liaison among the schools. Prior to the student returning to their home school, she takes students on a tour of the school and introduces them to teachers and staff at their home school while communicating success strategies that have worked with that particular student in the past.
Brief Program Description
It is our goal to change the perceptions of alternative schools as a placement for “bad kids”, to a place where students gain the support needed to become successful in their home schools by looking through the lens of the effects of trauma and its impact on students.
Summary
Our proposal to the committee is to explain the processes used in maintaining a trauma-informed school by utilizing community partnerships and consistent collaboration with RTI teams across the district.. We will inform the audience of the steps taken once a student has been removed from their home school and placed in an alternative setting. We will also discuss the many partnerships within our building; including psychologists, LCSW, medical doctor, counselors, school counselors, mental health counselors, Department of Juvenile Justice workers, court designated workers, and the director for the Center of Youth, Justice, and Services. With all these resources being available in our building, it is important for our staff to understand the importance of trauma.
Majority of staff within our building have been trained by the University of Kentucky Center on Trauma and Children to become more knowledgeable about the effects and outcomes of childhood traumas. This not only benefits our staff, but it also helps our students who may have a better rapport with certain teachers feel more comfortable about opening up and sharing their problems.
Students have the opportunity to engage in guidance groups, individual counseling, and connections to outside counseling services while enrolled in our program. A licensed mental health clinician is available on-site daily during school hours. They offer individual, group, and family counseling services.
The culture of our classrooms are unique because we offer smaller class sizes, individualized attention to students, with counselors, teachers, and clinicians who work together to create an environment conducive to student growth.
Our hope while presenting this information, is that other professionals take away ideas, the progression, and hopefully a drive to implement their own trauma-informed programs to better help our youth.
Evidence
As a district, we visited Pulaski County School District and met with Lori Price, Coordinator of Support Services. We looked at the model that they follow within their schools. In Pulaski County, there are 12 clinics within the school system, which house licensed mental health clinicians, who are contracted through the district to be available to work with students during the school day. Central Academy has decided to become a pilot school, through the AWARE grant, for this type of program as a first within the Henderson County School District.
According to CDC statistics on abuse and violence in the United States, one in four children experiences some sort of maltreatment (physical, sexual, or emotional abuse). One in four women has experienced domestic violence. In addition, one in five women and one in 71 men have experienced rape at some point in their lives — 12% of these women and 30% of these men were younger than 10 years old when they were raped. This means a very large number of people have experienced serious trauma at some point in their lives.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now implicate toxic childhood stress as a significant risk factor for a long list of cognitive, behavioral, psychological, and medical disorders — as well as for early death. To prevent and mitigate these effects, the American Academy of Pediatrics has called for a “new pediatric paradigm to promote health and prevent disease,” one built around a foundation of trauma-informed care.
By definition, care that is trauma informed involves prevention, recognition, and response to trauma-related difficulties. Experts agree that incorporating an awareness of trauma into medical care requires a systems-wide approach.
From CTAC-
Trauma Informed Practices for Educators and School Personnel
This training provides an overview of the impact of trauma exposure on youth and their functioning in school environments. Participants will learn: the types of trauma school-aged children may be exposed to; the impact of trauma exposure on the developing brain and the subsequent impact on cognitive, social, emotional, and behavioral functioning; and signs and symptoms of traumatic stress and how it may manifest in the school setting. Participants have the opportunity to practice application of an array of trauma informed approaches to build resilience in children and reduce traumatic stress symptoms. Strategies for use at universal, targeted and intensive levels of student intervention are provided. Effects of secondary exposure to trauma on professionals is discussed and participants learn to recognize the signs of secondary traumatic stress. Participants are guided to identify trauma informed practices they can utilize in their workplaces.
Learning Objective 1
Participants will be able to gain insight to the resources and clientele used to help ensure that students have mental health supports in place within the alternative setting as well as their home school to foster a healthy transition.
Learning Objective 2
Participants will gain a better understanding of trauma-informed practices with a high percentage of at-risk students.
Learning Objective 3
Participants will learn about the processes involved in becoming a trauma-informed school.
Keyword Descriptors
trauma-informed, alternative, mental health
Presentation Year
2023
Start Date
3-6-2023 1:00 PM
End Date
3-6-2023 2:15 PM
Recommended Citation
Thompson, Lindsay; Maher, Ryan; and Crowder, Cassie, "We Are Not the Alternative School. We Are the School With Alternatives." (2023). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 48.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2023/2023/48
Included in
Educational Methods Commons, Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration Commons, Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons, Other Educational Administration and Supervision Commons, Secondary Education Commons, Secondary Education and Teaching Commons
We Are Not the Alternative School. We Are the School With Alternatives.
Session Two Breakouts (Ballroom E & F)
It is our goal to change the perceptions of alternative schools as a placement for “bad kids”, to a place where students gain the support needed to become successful in their home schools by looking through the lens of the effects of trauma and its impact on students.
