AASR Live

A presentation from Dr. Dustin Springer titled "You're Getting on My Nerves: Understanding and Addressing Dysregulation Through the Lens of Applied Educational Neuroscience".

Dr. Springer has served the children and community in the Kansas City Metro area for nearly 25 years. He has been a classroom teacher, instructional coach, and community school liaison, and is presently the principal at Gray Hawk Elementary in Basehor, Kansas. Dr. Springer holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, MS degrees in Urban Education and Educational Leadership, and certifications in Community Schools and Applied Educational Neuroscience. He is a national presenter advocating for the implementation of trauma-informed practices and implementing the AEN framework. 
 Dr. Springer is married and has three children and a menagerie of pets. He also coaches high school girls soccer and regulates himself with LIVE music. Dr. Springer is passionate about supporting children and adults while encouraging everyone to see the beauty that exists within each of us. He shares experiences that challenge us, brings us closer together, and enable all to grow both personally and professionally.

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Supporting children and youth: An interview with author Michael McKnight.

Michael worked for the New Jersey Department of Education in the Cape May County office of education for 17 years. In those years he served as a resource for school districts in the county as well as throughout southern New Jersey. Beyond the work of the department of education he provided training to educators, parents, community members and school leaders.

Prior to joining the department of education Michael had 24 years’ experience working in schools. He was a special education teacher for 14 years working and learning with emotionally and behaviorally troubled adolescents. Michael also was an administrator at Atlantic County Special Services School District for 10 years and was responsible for the programming for troubled students, ages 5 thru 21 years, removed from the local school district.

Michael has a passion for creating and supporting Reclaiming Environments for “at-risk” children and youth as well as the adults who serve them. He currently provides professional development to practicing educators. He also is an adjunct instructor at Stockton University where he gets to teach and learn with future educators.

His current focus is joining with schools to create school level “Resiliency Teams” with a focus on school districts working with children and youth who carry into school toxic levels of stress and trauma.

Michael along with his colleague and friend, Dr. Lori Desautels, is the coauthor of 2 books: Unwritten- The Story of A Living System about school transformation and their most recent work, Eyes Are Never Quiet- Listening Beneath the Behaviors of Our Most Troubled Students.

He views himself, not as an expert, but as a learner and a teacher who has always enjoyed building strength-based cultures with others.

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Creating a fully functioning trauma-informed school:  An interview with James Moffett Jr.

James Moffett is an elementary school principal who has created, implemented and helped others create and implement trauma-informed practices in their schools. Throughout his career, he has taught various demographic groups, observing the differences and similarities in effective instructional and behavioral strategies. Ultimately, James realized what we all know, meaningful relationships enhance behavior and academic success. He often threw around the words “grit” and “perseverance”, but after viewing Paper Tigers, it came full circle. James started his trauma-informed work as the principal of Derby Hills Elementary School in Derby, Kansas, which became a fully functioning trauma-informed school. During his time at Derby Hills Elementary, he implemented a number of different SEL and trauma-informed practices such as safe spots, mindfulness, self-regulation and teaching an explicit SEL curriculum. This James is serving as principal at Faris Elementary in Hutchinson, KS, where he has already put his trauma-informed practices into place to better serve the needs of students.

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Since she started her role as the Director of Education at Brook Lane Behavioral Services Rachel Hull has been on a mission to reduce the use of restraint and seclusion. Rachel applied for a grant from the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint to participate in a training program in the Collaborative and Proactive Solutions approach from Lives in the Balance to help in her work to reduce the use of restraint and seclusion.

Rachel Hull joined Brook Lane Behavioral Services as Director of Education in August 2020. She oversees two Type 1 Special Education Schools in the state of Maryland. Rachel received her Bachelor of Science from Marshall University, where she spent time and played Division 1 volleyball. Rachel received the 2012 Honors College Award for Outstanding Service in Psychology from Clinical Research conducted at Mildred Mitchel-Bateman Psychiatric Hospital. Rachel then earned a Master’s Degree in School emphasized Psychology.

Rachel began her education journey working in education as a teacher for self-contained students with the primary disability of Autism. She then spent six years at the Berkeley County Board of Education Special Education Office, where she provided intervention services, programming, and eligibility involvement for students in the specific category of Autism and Behavior Disorders. Rachel worked with therapeutic intervention practices and was a CPI trainer. She also trained specifically in CPI intervention for students with Autism. She assisted teachers in developing student-specific interventions and classroom therapeutic environments. Rachel also coordinated and developed district-wide 504 plans as local Title IX oversight.

Rachel is currently set to graduate from Harvard University with her certificate in Advanced Educational Leadership in Spring 2023.

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Join us for a special discussion with Jim Sporleder, The Power of One.
We will discuss alternative strategies to the traditional practice of seclusion and restraint. The Power of One is a mindset that draws connection, and promotes positive caring adult relationships, as compared to punitive seclusion and restraint techniques that create disconnection and become barriers to positive outcomes through a caring adult relationship.

Jim Sporleder retired in 2014 as Principal of Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, WA. Under Jim’s leadership, Lincoln High School became a “Trauma Informed” school, gaining national attention due to a dramatic drop in out of school suspensions, increased graduation rates and the number of students going on to post-secondary education. These dramatic changes at Lincoln caught the attention of Jamie Redford, who spent a year filming the documentary, Paper Tigers, which tells the Lincoln story. The documentary was released at the May 2015 Seattle International Film Festival and received positive reviews.

Jim is currently working as a trauma-informed coach / consultant and is based in Walla Walla, WA. His travels as consultant, keynote speaker, presenter and trainer have taken him all over the United States. Jim is married, has three daughters and seven granddaughters. In his spare time, Jim enjoys fishing, hunting, but most of all…spending time with family.

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An interview with Heather Forbes.

We'll be discussing Classroom180: A Framework for Creating, Sustaining, and Assessing the Trauma-Informed Classroom, by Heather T. Forbes, LCSW. Classroom 180 is a comprehensive roadmap of what it means to fully create, implement, and sustain a trauma-informed classroom from kindergarten through the twelfth grade. Additionally, Classroom180 includes an assessment tool, the Classroom180 Rubric, that can be used by administrators and others specialists who support teachers on the journey of becoming trauma-informed.

Heather T. Forbes, LCSW, is the owner of the Beyond Consequences Institute and author of numerous books on the topic of working with children impacted by trauma. Coming from a family of educators, Heather has a passion for helping children in the classroom. Trauma robs children of their curiosity, and Heather’s passion is to help these students return back to their innate love for learning. She consults and lectures extensively with both general and special education schools around the nation and the world.

Her signature style is to bridge the gap between academic research and “when the rubber hits the road” classroom situations, giving teachers and school personnel the understanding and tools they need for even the most challenging of students. Heather has worked in schools with trauma-impacted students and knows firsthand how challenging it can be on a daily basis with these students.

Much of her insight on understanding trauma, disruptive behaviors, and developmental delays, comes from her own experience of raising two internationally adopted children and mentoring a severely trauma-impacted young adult. 

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In this presentation, Sandi Lerman will discuss "The Five Behavior Roots" and encourage us to dig down to identify the underlying reason, and then respond with compassion to make things better.

Sandi Lerman is the Founder and Program Director of HEART-STRONG International, a global education company that provides training and coaching programs for parents and teachers of children with developmental trauma and professional graduate-level programs for Trauma-Informed Specialists, Certified Parent Coaches, and Certified Educational Trainers.
Sandi is an educator with over twenty years of classroom teaching experience in K-12, university, and adult education settings and has been the coordinator for two state-wide parenting and community mental health education programs in Indiana. She is the proud Mama Bear of Hiro, a young adult adopted at age ten who has overcome extreme challenges resulting from complex developmental trauma. Sandi is also a former American Sign Language interpreter, speaks Spanish, and has lived and worked as an educator in both Scotland and Mexico.

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In 2005 Dr. Maggie Bennington-Davis co-authors a book "Restraint and Seclusion: The Model for Eliminating Their Use in Healthcare". Maggie will be joining us for a discussion of how she has influenced change in an acute psychiatric inpatient unit.

Maggie is Chief Medical Officer at Health Share of Oregon, a Coordinated Care Organization serving 400,000 people enrolled in Medicaid. She led the development of a cultural change model at a regional medical center for the implementation of trauma-sensitive services with the subsequent elimination of seclusion and restraint on an acute psychiatric inpatient unit (based on the early work of Dr. Sandra Bloom). Maggie co-authored a book, published articles and chapters on the subject, and has done numerous consultations and presentations nationally and internationally regarding organizational change, trauma-informed, engaging environments, and leadership.

Maggie completed her MD and psychiatry residency at Oregon Health Sciences University where she remains on faculty and a Masters of Medical Management degree at Tulane University School of Public Health.

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A Special Conversation: Fighting against the Troubled Teen Industry. We'll be talking with Chelsea Maldonado and Robert Bucklin about what is it like being inside a troubled teen facility and what they are doing to save others from the trauma they endured.

Chelsea Maldonado is an Atlanta-based activist and investigative researcher with a focus on youth rights and criminal justice reform. She is a survivor of the so-called "Troubled Teen Industry," having attended the notorious WWASPS' program, Tranquility Bay, in 2001. Chelsea has used her lived experience to inform her activism while participating in a variety of anti-TTI organizations and initiatives. Her research has been utilized by Salon, HuffPo, Business Insider, The New York Times, Reason, NBC, Warner Brothers, I Heart Media and a variety of independent outlets. She is currently working on Season 2 of Trapped in Treatment podcast.

Robert Bucklin is an Agape Boarding School Survivor who is working tirelessly to shut down the facility. Robert is a healthcare worker and a campaign member with We Warned Them. The We Warned Them Campaign is a progressive grassroots movement that's calling on local, state, and federal officials to take immediate action to end the "troubled" teen industry's (TTI) habitual malpractices and unsafe treatment on at-risk youth in residential care.

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These strategies were developed through extensive literature reviews and dialogues with experts who have successfully reduced the use of S/R in a variety of mental health settings for children and adults across the United States and internationally.

Dr. Kevin Ann Huckshorn is the Executive Vice President-Northeast Region, for Recovery Innovations International. She is responsible for RI onsite operations in DE, VA, OH, and MD; , engaging in consultation work for the organization; progressing new program implementation efforts; participating in contract negotiations; and operating within a state or regional leadership role when needed.

Dr. Huckshorn’ s most recent past position was as the Director of Evidence-based Practices and Programs for WellPath Recovery Solutions, Inc. She was the past hospital director for Bridgewater State Hospital in MA where she and that team transitioned a prison for adult men with serious mental illnesses to a state hospital directed by trauma-informed care and recovery-based practices, under the direction of Governor Baker, MA DOC and Wellpath (2017-2019). Dr. Huckshorn was also the past State Director of Delaware’s Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health (2009-2015) and led the successful resolution of the USDOJ Olmstead settlement agreement with the state. From 2001 to 2009, Huckshorn was the Director of the National Technical Assistance Center for State Mental Health Planning for NASMHPD. 

Kevin is a licensed and certified mental health nurse and substance abuse clinician with practical knowledge from 42 years of professional frontline experience working in a variety of public and private mental health organizations and substance abuse programs. She has extensive experience in both inpatient and outpatient program development including peer-run projects; psychiatric rehabilitation treatment programs for persons with serious mental illness; and recovery-based mental health and substance abuse services. She is published on topics including violence, treatment adherence, and workforce development; serves on the editorial board of a U.S. peer reviewed nursing mental health journal; authored a number of textbook chapters on violence reduction and co-authored a book with William Anthony, PhD titled “Principled Leadership in Mental Health Systems and Programs" (2008). Dr. Huckshorn was the past Director of the Office of Technical Assistance for the National Association for State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) and the National Coordinating Center for Seclusion and Restraint Reduction where she led the development of an evidence-based model to prevent violence and the use of seclusion and restraint (2001-2021). This EBP has been adopted in over 35 states and six countries to date. 

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