IN YOUR DISTRICT
news from around the state
Send us news of what's happening in your community and district.
We'll post highlights here. Email to: mary.collins@vermont.gov
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NEKFAC WELCOMES
Leslie Walker Mitchell
Youth Development Program Coordinator
Join us for information, questions, and discussion
about services available to youth and families in the Northeast Kingdom!
Thursday February 14th, 2019
5:30-7pm
Location: Union Baptist Church on Rt. 5 –
Just 2 miles south of Downtown St. Johnsbury
**As always Dinner and Childcare Provided*
RSVP or Questions: contact Barb Hash @ 802-473-6108
or Danielle Puffer @ 802-274-0604
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WINTER EVENTS
a selection of upcoming training opportunities and events of interest for vermont foster and kincare families
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TRAINING, WORKSHOPS & SEMINARS
YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID (Free)
Youth Mental Health First Aid teaches you how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. This 8-hour training gives adults who work with youth the skills they need to reach out and provide initial support to adolescents (ages 12-18) who may be developing a mental health or substance use problem and help connect them to the appropriate care.
WHO SHOULD TAKE IT
Teachers + School staff + Coaches + Camp counselors + Youth group leaders + Parents + People who work with youth
WHAT IT COVERS
Common signs and symptoms of mental illnesses
in this age group, including:
Anxiety + Depression + Eating disorders
+ Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
+ Common signs and symptoms of substance use + How to interact with an adolescent in crisis + How to connect the adolescent with help
The course will teach you how to apply
the ALGEE action plan:
Assess for risk of suicide or harm + Listen nonjudgmentally
+ Give reassurance and information + Encourage appropriate professional help + Encourage self-help and other support strategies
Two-Session Course
Tues., Jan. 29 & Thurs., Jan. 31st 12:30pm - 4:30 p.m.
Courthouse in Guildhall (75 Courthouse Dr., Guildhall, VT)
One-Session Course
Mon., Feb. 11 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Northeast Kingdom Community Action (NEKCA)
(115 Lincoln St., St. Johnsbury, VT)
Instructors: Cheryl Chandler and Sunny Naughton,
Regional Prevention Partnership Coordinators
Contact Cheryl Chandler at 802-748-8400
or mail to: Instructors: Cheryl Chandler and Sunny Naughton,
Regional Prevention Partnership Coordinators
CONTACT: c.chandler@nvrh.org to sign up.
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For more information, contact:
Amy Bielawski-Branch, MS, LCMHC
Kinship, Foster and Adoptive Parent Training Coordinator
RPC+ Coordinator
Vermont Child Welfare Training Partnership
http://www.vermontcwtp.org
https://www.facebook.com/groups/VTTraumaLens/
004 Mann Hall - University of Vermont
208 Colchester Avenue
Burlington, VT 05405
amy.bielawski-branch@uvm.edu
1-802-578-0426
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Vermont Foster/Adoptive Family Association
32nd Annual Institute and Conference
We Are One Village. Empowered & Resilient.
March 22 – March 24, 2019
Hilton Burlington, 60 Battery Street, Burlington VT
Contact the VFAFA Coordinator at 802-989-2875 or vfafacoordinator@gmail.com
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EVENTS AROUND THE STATE
Through Feb. 3rd
Waterbury Winter Carnival
Free for most events. Some require RSVP or have a cost
Waterbury Winterfest is a 10-day festival featuring indoor and outdoor venues, traditional and not-so-traditional events. There’s snowshoeing, skating, and skiing, as you might expect. We also offer warm venues. Think beer trivia at one of Waterbury’s local pubs, a game show at the American Legion, a felting workshop at the library or let the kids heat up outside at the Youth Snow Soccer game.
Get the details on each event (including what Human Bowling, Wassailing, and Drone Racing actually entail) by visiting WaterburyWinterfest.com. You’ll be able to sign up for our premiere events that require tickets and/or registration,
and RSVP for other events that are free.
Whether you’re in the mood to learn, to listen to music, to socialize, exercise, or play, we’ve got you covered. With a festival that starts on a Friday night and finishes more than a week later on a Sunday, you’ll have lots of opportunities to join the festivities!
Winter Wilderness Skills: ($)
February Homeschool Program for 6-8 year-olds
Thu, Feb 7, 2019 @ 9:00 AM
Audubon Vermont
255 Sherman Hollow Rd, Huntington, VT 05462
Do you like to build forts and roast marshmallows over a campfire? Then this day is for you! Join us for an exciting day building practical winter shelters for fun and survival. We'll choose a good campsite, find the best building materials, and do it all with little impact on the land. Afterwards, we'll discover the tricks to building a safe and successful campfire. End the day enjoying S'mores around the fire!
We integrate the outdoor classroom with rigorous academic concepts, conservation-based themes, and connection with nature. Audubon Vermont's series of monthly homeschool programs focuses on key science concepts: math, biology, environmental sciences, outdoor skills, and communication/team skills.
Brattleboro Winter Carnival
February 16th - 24th
www.brattleborowintercarnival.com
Mid-February, when most are feeling winter-bedraggled, the Winter Carnival offers 10 days of fun and celebration to revive the spirit. Snow sport competitions and live entertainment lure people out of their warm nests to defy the cold and fully enjoy themselves. Outdoor activities like ice-fishing, skating, sleigh rides and a parade flout the weather and top it off with fireworks. Indoor events are just as exciting with the Queen's Pageant, junior Olympic events, pancake breakfast, karaoke, variety show, country & western jamboree and a beach party.
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NEWS YOU CAN USE
helpful news and information
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THE TRAUMA INFORMED CLASSROOM
With grief, sadness is obvious. With trauma, the symptoms can go largely unrecognized because it shows up looking like other problems: frustration; acting out; difficulty concentrating, following directions, or working in a group. Often students are misdiagnosed with anxiety, behavior disorders, or attention disorders rather than understood to have trauma that’s driving those symptoms and reactions.
For children who have experienced trauma, learning can be a big struggle. But once trauma is identified as the root of the behavior, we can adapt our approach to help kids cope when they’re at school. Detroit-based clinical director of the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children, a program of the Starr Global Learning Network, Caelan Kuban Soma offers these tips for understanding kids who have been through trauma plus strategies for helping them. You can also check out our video: What Every Teacher Needs to Know About Childhood Trauma.
1. Kids who have experienced trauma aren’t trying to push your buttons. If a child is having trouble with transitions or turning in a folder at the beginning of the day, remember that children may be distracted because of a situation at home that is causing them to worry.
2. Kids who have been through trauma worry about what’s going to happen next. A daily routine in the classroom can be calming, so try to provide structure and predictability whenever possible. Since words may not sink in for children who go through trauma, they need other sensory cues, says Soma.
3. Even if the situation doesn’t seem that bad to you, it’s how the child feels that matters. Try not to judge the trauma. As caring teachers, we may unintentionally project that a situation isn’t really that bad, but how the child feels about the stress is what matters most. “We have to remember it’s the perception of the child […] The situation is something they have no control over, feeling that their life or safety is at risk,” says Soma. It may not even be just one event but the culmination of chronic stress.
4. Trauma isn’t always associated with violence. Trauma is often associated with violence, but kids can also suffer trauma from a variety of situations—like divorce, a move, or being overscheduled or bullied. “All kids, especially in this day and age, experience extreme stress from time to time,” says Soma. “It is more common than we think.”
5. You don’t need to know exactly what caused the trauma to be able to help. Instead of focusing on the specifics of a traumatic situation, concentrate on the support you can give children who are suffering. You don’t have to dig deep into the trauma to be able to effectively respond with empathy and flexibility.
6. Kids who experience trauma need to feel they’re good at something and can influence the world. Find opportunities that allow kids to set and achieve goals, and they’ll feel a sense of mastery and control, suggests Soma. Assign them jobs in the classroom that they can do well or let them be a peer helper to someone else. “It is very empowering,” says Soma. “Set them up to succeed and keep that bar in the zone where you know they are able to accomplish it and move forward.”
7. There’s a direct connection between stress and learning. When kids are stressed, it’s tough for them to learn. Create a safe, accepting environment in your classroom by letting children know you understand their situation and support them. “Kids who have experienced trauma have difficulty learning unless they feel safe and supported,” says Soma. “There is a direct connection between lowering stress and academic outcomes.”
8. Self-regulation can be a major challenge for students suffering from trauma. Some kids with trauma are growing up with emotionally unavailable parents and haven’t learned to self-soothe, so they may develop distracting behaviors and have trouble staying focused for long periods. To help them cope, schedule regular brain breaks. Tell the class at the beginning of the day when there will be breaks—for free time, to play a game, or to stretch. “If you build it in before the behavior gets out of whack, you set the child up for success,” says Soma.
9. It’s OK to ask kids point-blank what you can do to help them make it through the day. For all students with trauma, you can ask them directly what you can do to help. They may ask to listen to music with headphones or put their head on their desk for a few minutes. Soma says, “We have to step back and ask them, ‘How can I help? Is there something I can do to make you feel even a little bit better?"
10. You can support kids with trauma even when they’re outside your classroom. Loop in the larger school. Share trauma-informed strategies with all staff, from bus drivers to parent volunteers to crossing guards. Remind everyone: “The child is not his or her behavior,” says Soma. “Typically there is something underneath that driving that to happen, so be sensitive."
FOR THE COMPLETE STORY FOLLOW THIS LINK:
https://www.weareteachers.com/10-things-about-childhood-trauma-every-teacher-needs-to-know/
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DILIGENT RECRUITMENT
building and sustaining relationships
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Follow this video link to a helpful video on trauma informed classrooms. Presented by Mark Sander, Director of School Mental Health for Hennepin County and Minneapolis Public Schools and a Senior Clinical Psychologist for Hennepin County. As a certified Master Trainer in the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, he helps develop trauma informed organizations and trauma sensitive schools, and publishes and speaks nationally on school mental health. Mark is former Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland Medical School, and also serves as visiting scholar at Wilder Research. (22:33)
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FRONT PORCH FORUM
a component of diligent recruitment
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New recruitment messages in support of critical needs in each district are launched on Front Porch Forum on a regular, continuous basis. If you know of a person or family that might be interested in foster care, please let your District office or the Central office know. Email: mary.collins@vermont.gov
Our most current message supports TRAUMA INFORMED CARE. Here is an excerpt from that message:
In her 16 years she has experienced things no child should: Domestic violence, sexual exploitation, witnessing or engaging in substance abuse. Foster parenting can be challenging. It is also, in many cases, one of the most rewarding things you’ll do. Finding a nurturing, suitable, and stable home is essential. And that’s why Family Services is sometimes challenged with finding homes for children. Do you have experience as an educator, social service provider, or healthcare professional? Your professional experience and training could make you an excellent candidate for foster parenting.
If you’re interested in becoming a foster parent; we would love to hear from you. To learn more, go to http://fostercare.vt.gov. If you want us to contact you, complete the form at http://dcf.vermont.gov/foster-care-inquiry.
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COMMUNITY PARTNERS
thank you for your generosity and support!
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The support we receive from community partners throughout Vermont makes possible many of the experiences foster children and their families enjoy - from trips to state parks and science museums, to Back-to-School supplies and sponsorships of events; your generosity provides enriching experiences for children and families. Each week we acknowledge some of these generous partners throughout the state. This week we would like to thank:
Kellogg-Hubbard Library, Montpelier, VT
"The library was so amazing in their support of hosting the joint event documentary showing! They did so much outreach and used all of their resources to advertise the film. The director of Adult Programs was so supportive, I feel like we have an ally with the library. We are grateful for your commitment to sharing our story with your listeners.
Thank you!"
Alona Tate
Recruitment & Retention Specialist
Barre, VT
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Copyright © 2019
Vermont Department of Children and Families, Family Services Division
All rights reserved.
Our mailing address is:
280 State Street HC1N Building B Waterbury Vermont 05671
Tel: (802) 241.0896
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