Amit Thaker is a champion of mental health advocacy, focusing on increasing access to care and decreasing the stigma associated with mental health treatment. In 2017, while serving on the Sr. Leadership team of an acute care psychiatric hospital, he witnessed the immense issues with the way the system worked. He spent the next two years creating and launching ReferralGPS, a company laser focused on tackling the problem of connecting patients into treatment. Partnering with schools and other organizations, ReferralGPS has been able to move the needle and help thousands of individuals obtain appropriate care.

Prior to launching ReferralGPS, he led initiatives at area health systems including primary care mental health integration, community relations, psychiatric recruitment and strategic planning. Amit is personable and encouraging. He partners and collaborates with school social workers to help understand how to connect students with the services that they need outside of school. He has a personal connection to a system that he’s worked in and allowed his knowledge of the healthcare system to impact his growth. He has a special perspective on the importance of mental health because of his role inside of hospital administration and his partnering with schools across the state of Illinois.

Common Ground Education Podcast is happy to welcome Amit Thaker to the podcast to further our conversation about the importance of mental health. Amit is welcomed to the show to bring us closer as a network and offer school social workers knowledge outside our professional domain. Join us by listening this month to our special guest Amit Thaker as we honor the vital recognition of mental health awareness.

Illinois Association for School Social Worker (IASSW) is vital organization that helps prop up the profession of School Social Work. IASSW has a wonderful history of pioneers that have helped trail blaze the profession that we recognize today. IASSW takes leadership in centralizing training for school social workers by hosting yearly conferences. They also provide several opportunities for online PD. IASSW takes leadership in state policy advocacy. This organization is made up of volunteers and Illinois has been blessed by their contributions. President Dr. Tiffany Nelson is in the midst of her second term. She graces the podcast to speak about her passion for the organization, this year's conference, membership benefit improvements (new website features) and her experience with national organizations/committees (SSWAA). Thanks to Dr. Nelson for all her work for students and school social workers. Her work translates to tangible positive change to education in the state of Illinois.

Welcome to a wonderful discussion with Dr. Barthelus, Director of Practice Innovations at CASEL and Dr. Skoog-Hoffman Director of Research Practice-Partnerships at CASEL. In this episode we talk about the importance of the equity lens when installing or implementing social emotional learning in schools. Additionally, Dr. Barthelus and Dr. Skoog-Hoffman help us navigate the world of SEL at the middle school and high school level.

In this Observatory Episode, Dr. Sanjay Nanwani interviews Dr. Phillip M. Brown, PhD. Philip M. Brown, PhD serves as President of the International Center for Assault Prevention. He is a Senior Consultant for the National School Climate Center and a Fellow, Center for Applied Psychology at Rutgers University, where he created and directed the Center for Social and Character Development, conducting research for the U.S. Department of Education on social emotional and character development programs. He is the author of numerous government publications, articles, and two books, the two volume, Handbook of Prosocial Education (2012) and School Discipline: A Prosocial Perspective (2016), both of which he co-authored and edited. Here is our conversation with him on a range of issues relating to improving school climate and how to build safe, supportive and engaging schools."

Welcome to the School Climate & Violence Prevention podcast series. This podcast series is collaboratively sponsored by Common Ground Educational Podcast, the International Observatory for School Climate and Violence Prevention (http://institucional.us.es/ioscvp/) and the international School Social Work Network (schoolsocialwork.net).

These podcasts showcase recent research and/or practice efforts about a range of issues that support – or undermine – schools being places where students are safe, supported and engaged as well as learning socially, emotionally, civically and academically. We hope that these podcasts foster learning and international conversations about what we can all do to support our children being able to learn and develop in healthy ways, around the world.
Welcome to our podcast interview with Jonathan Cohen, Ph.D.. Jonathan will be talking about Prosocial Measurement Tools and Systems: Recognizing and Promoting Social Emotional and Academic Development (SEAD) and School Climate Improvement. Jonathan is the co-president of the International Observatory for School Climate and Violence Prevention at the University of Seville. He is also an adjunct professor in psychology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Jonathan is interviewed by Sanjay Nanwani , Ph.D. Sanjay teaching English and Citizenship Development at the Universidad Externado and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bogota, Colombia as well as being involved with a range additional international educational projects.
In this podcast as well as in the linked handout, you will learn about recent developments in prosocial (e.g., SEL, character education, school climate) measurement practices.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion boards and committees are vital for all school districts to hear and respond to marginalized voices within their communities. DEI structures play a central role in adjusting or fine-tuning protocols and practices for all students. Latonya Simelton joins the show today to share her wisdom, experience and knowledge in this domain. Latonya Simelton is a life long advocate of educational equity and student success. For 17 years she has been an equity and inclusion practitioner, at the leadership level, in the educational and corporate arenas.
She is a systems change agent identifying policies and practices that result in inequities and works to transform systems. Her advocacy for equitable schools shows up in her service as a CUSD 308 board member.

6:37- Why is DEI important?
13:05- Misconceptions around DEI
15:40- How to Begin
21:10- Basic Functions of DEI Bodies
27:30- How All Educators can Help

Resources mentioned:
-Illinois Coalition of Educational Equity Leaders- https://www.iledequity.org/aboutilee
- Coaching for Equity
-Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center-https://greatlakesequity.org/map-eac

Margot Wagner is a recent graduate of Aurora University. She earned her MSW and PEL certification during one of the most intensive years in education. We discuss the pandemic year and the challenges we are facing in education. Come listen to Margot's inspiring personal story and her unique perspective on diversity and inclusion.

Margot joins Common Ground as a new host! We are so excited to have Margot join the CG team and look forward to her episodes!

Welcome to an important episode that features Brittany Brunell, Co-founder of EveryDaySpeech. In this episode we learn about EveryDaySpeech's origin story and their journey with social emotional learning. Brittany shares about the features and functions that EDS has to offer in their completely digital SEL curriculum (games, video modeling, interactive-avatar social games, evidenced based content). In this episode, EDS gifts Common Ground listeners 25% off with a promo code. In addition, EDS has given Common Ground 5 free annual memberships to raffle off in the Common Ground Resource Page on Facebook. Come learning more about a curriculum that can impact both Sped and Gen Ed in your building! https://everydayspeech.com/

"Everyday Speech is a social-emotional learning platform. We empower teachers with video-modeling curriculums to nurture the fundamental strategies and skills that all students need to maximize potential towards a healthier, happier, and fulfilling future." -EDS

It's interviewing season and Common Ground Education brings a few quick tips to support fellow school social workers. In addition, the podcast describes a vision of advocacy using podcasting.