Reimagining "At- Risk Populations": Igniting the SPARK in the Youth we Serve

Format

Workshop

Presenters

Brooke Wheeldon-ReeceFollow
Ashley Hunt, The Spark InitiativeFollow

First Presenter's Institution

The SPARK Initiative

First Presenter’s Email Address

brooker@thesparkinitiative.com

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Brooke Wheeldon-Reece, MBA, is the CEO of The SPARK Initiative - a non-profit organization in Tampa, FL. dedicated to working with youth, sex trafficking survivors, and incarcerated juveniles and adults. Since 2014 she has led SPARK in teaching her community’s most vulnerable population how their mind works and how a deeper understanding can unleash anyone’s unbreakable SPARK. She created the evidence-based, SPARK Mentoring Programs and in 2021 she co-authored 4, peer-reviewed articles on the efficacy of the SPARK programs and the mental health education in which they are founded. Brooke lives in FL with her husband and 5 children.

Second Presenter's Institution

The SPARK Initiative

Second Presenter’s Email Address

ashleyh@thesparkinitiative.com

Second Presenter's Brief Biography

Ashley Hunt is The SPARK Initiative's Director of Program Development, Youth Mentor and Co-Creator of the evidence-based and CASEL-approved SPARK Mentoring Programs. After seeing her personal relationships transform through an understanding of the mind in 2015, she left her 11-year corporate career in insurance to pursue her passion for educating youth. Ashley works with youth in rehabilitation centers, jails, sex-trafficking survivor safe houses, and many other alternative settings with one objective – to teach them a simple understanding of how their mind works, so they can tap into their own potential and thrive. She brings an understanding of the mind to life with her natural ability to connect with the youth she mentors. Ashley lives in Tampa, FL with her husband and two children

Location

Session Nine Breakouts (Ballroom D)

Strand #1

Health: Mental & Physical Health

Strand #2

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Relevance

A deeper understanding of the human mind and its potential has been proven effective in increasing:

Mental Well-being/ Mental Health

Resilience

Impulse Control

Emotional Regulation

Communication Skills

Problem Solving Skills

Goal Setting Skills

Brief Program Description

Regardless of their circumstances, there is a SPARK within every human being that cannot be damaged. This SPARK is the birthplace of resilience, well-being, commonsense, intelligence, solutions, creativity, and innovation. This presentation will explore how innate resilience is uncovered through a simple understanding of the mind, and the stress resistance needed to overcome trauma is naturally formed.

Summary

Trauma, detached family/community units, and severe lack of impulse control are both a recipe for crises and seemingly inevitable challenges our young people, everywhere, have had no choice but to face since 2020. Gone are the days when just getting them involved is enough to keep them on track to success. Once there, their presence of mind is crucial to their ability to learn and succeed, and given the state of their outside world, the state of their mind is rarely one of clarity. For those of us who work with youth, it can feel like they are all “at-risk” and feel like a battle lost before it even begins. After all, we can’t change our student’s outside circumstances, and we can’t bring them all home with us – though some of us have tried.

However, there is something on our side. Something we can count on, despite the baggage that accompanies the child through the doors. Regardless of their circumstances, there is a SPARK within every human being that cannot be damaged. This SPARK is the birthplace of well-being, commonsense, intelligence, solutions, creativity, and innovation. This SPARK is the keeper of hope and resilience and the builder of impulse control and stress resistance.

Through the use of hands-on activities that participants will be able to take away with them and use with the population they serve; this presentation will explore:

This presentation will explore:

• A simple but profound understanding of how the mind works in relation to our experiences.
• The invisible but intracule role state of mind plays in our successes and failures, moment to moment.
• How, through an understanding of the mind and recognition of our SPARK, innate resilience is uncovered, deeper connections are created, impulse control is elevated, and the stress resistance needed to overcome trauma is naturally formed.

Participants will leave with:

1. A deeper understanding of how the mind works and impacts their day-to-day life.
2. Recognition that resilience is innate within both themselves and the youth they serve.
3. The ability to serve youth with a more profound sense of connection and teach youth to do the same.
4. Understanding of how the recognition of innate resilience directly links to the availability of stress resistance in the face of trauma.

Evidence

We are excited to announce that the methods spoken about in this presentation have gone through rigorous, research and evaluation using both randomized and control groups. In 6 separate studies, using over 1000 participants (K-12th grade), the methods have been deemed evidence-based with participants showing significant improvement in levels of resilience ( up to 91%), emotional regulation including impulse control (up to 83%), communication, decision making, and problem-solving skills (up to 89%). They have also been evaluated and approved by CASEL (Collaborative for Academic and Social Emotional Learning)

Publications:

Evaluation of the SPARK Child Mentoring Program: A Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum for Elementary School Students. J Primary Prevent 42, 531–547 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-021-00642-3

Effects of the SPARK Teen Mentoring Program for High School Students. J Child Fam Stud (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-022-02298-x

Social and emotional learning during early adolescence: Effectiveness of a classroom‐based SEL program for middle school students (2021). Psychology in the Schools, 58(6), 1056-1069. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22487.

CASEL Program Guide. (2022). Connect your criteria. https://pg.casel.org/connect-your-criteria/

While preliminary studies of SPARK have shown its promise in helping youth develop and succeed, further rigorous evaluations are in progress to provide deeper evidence of program efficacy. For details on the quality and types of research, please visit https://sparkcurriculum.org/spark-evidence-based-curriculum/

Learning Objective 1

Participants will be able to leave with a deeper understanding of how the mind works and impacts their day-to-day life.

Learning Objective 2

Participants will be able to see past "at-risk" and recognize that resilience is innate within both themselves and the youth they serve.

Learning Objective 3

Participants will be able to understand how the recognition of innate resilience directly links to the availability of stress resistance in the face of trauma.

Keyword Descriptors

at risk, recidivism, SEL, trauma informed, connection, youth

Presentation Year

2023

Start Date

3-8-2023 11:15 AM

End Date

3-8-2023 12:30 PM

Recommended Citation

Wheeldon-Reece, Brooke and Hunt, Ashley, "Reimagining "At- Risk Populations": Igniting the SPARK in the Youth we Serve" (2023). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 33.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2023/2023/33