Finding the SPARK Beyond Trauma: Speaking to the Potential, Ability and Resilience inside EVERY Kid

Format

Workshop

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 President/CEO of The SPARK Initiative, Inc. - a non-profit organization in Tampa, FL. dedicated to working with youth at-risk, sex trafficking survivors, and incarcerated juveniles, military veterans, and adult women. After her brother in law’s suicide and her husband’s subsequent battle with depression in 2012, Brooke knew there was more to the mind than she understood. She found her home with The SPARK Initiative after watching her husband emerge from a deep depression with seemingly little effort through a simple but profound understanding of the mind. Since 2014, she has led the SPARK Initiative in teaching her community’s most vulnerable population how the mind works and how a deeper understanding can be the catalyst to uncovering wellbeing. She is the creator and co-author of the evidence-based SPARK Mentoring Programs and the Insight to Wellbeing program. Combined, these programs are taught in 40 states across the US and 36 countries worldwide. In 2019, after a 2-year process, she and her husband adopted their niece and two nephews through the foster care system, and in 2021 she co-authored 4, peer-reviewed, published journal articles on the efficacy of the SPARK programs and the mental health education in which they are founded. Brooke works daily to advocate for the protection and resilience of victims of abuse and promote suicide prevention by reaching young people’s minds and teaching them about their unbreakable SPARK inside. Brooke lives in Tampa, FL with her husband of 19 years and their 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.

Submitter

I am submitting this proposal on behalf of the presenter(s)

Location

Scarbrough 5

Strand #1

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Strand #2

Health: Mental & Physical Health

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
  • Decision Making Skills

Brief Program Description

There is a SPARK within every human being, regardless of their circumstances, that cannot be damaged. This SPARK is the birthplace of resilience, well-being, common sense, intelligence, confidence, solutions, creativity, and innovation. This presentation will explore how through a simple understanding of the mind, innate resilience is uncovered, and 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 crisis situations and seemingly inevitable challenges our young people, everywhere, have no choice but to face. Gone are the days where just getting them involved was enough to keep them on a track to success. Once there, 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 educators, this can feel like a battle lost before even begun. Afterall, we can’t change our students 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 walks through our classroom doors. There is a SPARK within every human-being, regardless of their circumstances, that cannot be damaged. This SPARK is the birthplace of well-being, commonsense, intelligence, solutions, creativity and innovation. This SPARK is 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 work 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 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.

Evidence

We are excited to announce that the methods spoken about in this presentation have gone through rigorous research and evaluation with a 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).

Learning Objective 1

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

Learning Objective 2

Participants will leave with recognition that resilience is innate within both themselves and the youth they serve.

Learning Objective 3

Participants will leave with an understanding of how the recognition of innate resilience directly links to the availability of stress resistance in the face of trauma.

Keyword Descriptors

Trauma, Emotional Well-being, Social Emotional Learning, Mental Health, Resilience

Presentation Year

2025

Start Date

3-3-2025 10:15 AM

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Mar 3rd, 10:15 AM

Finding the SPARK Beyond Trauma: Speaking to the Potential, Ability and Resilience inside EVERY Kid

Scarbrough 5

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