Teach to Heal: Professional Development

Mental Health on Your Mind?? 

Foundations:  Establish the Why:

Teach to Heal provides a three hour foundational session to outline the factors that impact a student’s mental health.  Neurological, psychological, and biological realities are reviewed to increase educators’ capacity to understand the “why” behind what children display.  Schools are managed and guided by adults.  Adults must understand their role in creating learning environments where all children can truly be successful.  This foundational training serves as the platform for the remainder of the Teach to Heal professional development.  

The Time is NOW for a Paradigm Shift:

Teach to Heal provides a three hour session to explore the increasing and complex mental health needs of the children we serve.  Multiple influential factors are presented to assist educators in establishing a clear view of how the needs of our current student population have shifted.  Our schools are built to get the results they are getting.  Schools cannot continue to do the work the same way expecting different results.  The time is NOW for a paradigm shift.  

Establishing and Maintaining a Healthy House:

Teach to Heal provides a three hour session defining factors that impact the culture of our schools.  Schools are the “houses” that are built and guided through the management and decision making of adults.  The attitudes, beliefs, and corresponding perceptions of those adults’ impact whether or not the “house” can establish a culture that successfully reaches every student.  Teach to Heal offers a definition of Undercurrents as negative influences within the culture of schools that serve vulnerable children.  Ramifications are explored, vulnerable conversations are expected, and resolution of undercurrents must be prioritized for the establishment and maintenance of a healthy house.

Change Your Mind Through Your Mouth:

Teach to Heal provides a three hour session offering twelve categories of language that can feed the undercurrent and negatively impact adults and children in schools.  Each category is explored to identify how particular perceptions guide the language we use.  The language we use to describe who we serve holds significant implications for their experience in school, ability to engage, and overall success.   Options toward resolution for each category are provided for systems to move toward solutions.

Environmental Management:

Teach to Heal provides a three hour session surrounding the environmental factors that influence how children experience school.  Educators must consider how children who do not trust adults experience the spaces the adults manage.   Recommendations for environmental management that supports children impacted negatively by their mental health will be reviewed.  Educators will leave this session with adjustments that can be made immediately.

Role Definition:

Teach to Heal provides a three hour session to prioritize clear role definition. This seems self-explanatory… but it is not.  The role of the regulatory specialist (interventionists) will be introduced to support the mental health needs in our schools.  Administrators are not interventionists and must be available to manage the house.  Special Education teachers cannot be pulled out of specialized instruction to serve as the interventionists.  Roles, and corresponding spaces, must be clearly defined and maintained. When roles are not clearly defined, triangulation will occur which reinforces what this population already believes about adults.  All roles must maintain self-regulation and clarity in order for interventionists to be successful. 

Performance Tracking System (PTS)© Student Skills:

Teach to Heal has established Student Skill Sets that encompass what is necessary to be a successful student in school. Tier I – III (MTSS) application through purposeful implementation of these skill sets simplify the expectations for kids and the classroom management language for adults. The consistency, established through common language across classrooms, makes school a more predictable place for children who struggle in adult managed places. The combination of predictability and regulatory practice allows students to maintain in the classroom, remain engaged in learning, and ultimately increase their academic and social/ emotional performance.

Performance Tracking System (PTS)© Implementation:

Teach to Heal offers the Performance Tracking System (PTS) as a trauma responsive multifaceted tool to effectively support student regulation, skill mastery, and engagement. Tier II and III applications assist students in self-monitoring, gauging their impact on themselves and others, and increasing their capacity to be guided by adults. The PTS provides objective data regarding the conditions and circumstances that result in dysregulation or disengagement. The adults are positioned to make informed decisions about what strategies to adjust and monitor student progress. This increases student’s capacity to stay engaged and learning in the classroom. The PTS also provides logs, summaries, and reports to support the coordination and partnership between school teams and other stakeholders.

Teaming… Bringing it All Together:

Teach to Heal provides guidance for effective Teaming. Teaming is a facilitated process which includes the necessary data, knowledge, language, and processes that assist adults serving vulnerable children. Solution focused professional conversations will maximize the effectiveness of the adults and the progress of students. Educational leaders must be able to maintain fidelity and accountability to the purpose and impact of this group discussion. This is the most critical discussion and process we participate in as educators.

On-Site Observation/ Consultation:

Teach to Heal provides on site consultation aligned to the needs of your district.  This could include observation, professional development, administrative support, teaming, and coaching.  This consultation can support systemic, administrative, site, and individual student needs.

Zoom Consultation:

Teach to Heal provides consultation via zoom as well.

Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI):

Schools must have a high quality, consistently implemented, intervention modality to address the mental health needs of students. The best time to intervene with children who display high levels of dysregulation is at the time of the crisis. This is a vulnerable time and it must be managed by well trained staff.  School teams need to understand their role in supporting the intervention process. Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI) is a clinically informed intervention modality for children whose underlying perceptions trigger maladaptive patterns of thinking and corresponding displays of dysregulation.  LSCI is a well-researched and evidenced based intervention.  

Teach to Heal team members are established LSCI trainers through the LSCI Institute.  For more information on LSCI, access LSCI.org.