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The violence in the United States this past month has brought up raw emotions in all of us.  The killing of Asian seniors as they were worshipping in their church, African-American elders as they went about their everyday tasks such as shopping for groceries, and the violent deaths of 19 small children with their two teachers who came to their elementary classrooms for a day of learning—all of this leaves us in a state of deep grief and pain. For some, this might elicit feelings of fear, anger, rage, sadness, numbness, or even resentment. For others, this may invoke a renewed determination to try and make the world a better place. But for most, this might be the ultimate point of exhaustion. 

On today’s podcast, trauma expert, licensed social worker, the Co-Director of Outpatient Services at NFI, Vermont, and a previous fellow at ChildTrauma Academy (CTA), Dave Melnick, discusses the impact of developmental trauma on childhood learning and the distinction between trauma-informed and trauma-transformed schools. Helping children cope with childhood traumas and setbacks requires effortful redirection and educators as well as leaders must cultivate this deep and wide knowledge to help build better schools.

About Dave Melnick
Dave Melnick, LICSW is the Co-Director of Outpatient Services at NFI, Vermont, a statewide mental health agency primarily serving children, adolescents and families. For the past 35 years, Dave has worked in a variety of settings including outpatient, residential treatment, and in public and day treatment schools. Along with his focus on Developmental Trauma, Dave has expertise in family therapy, adolescence, attachment, Reflective Practices, and Trauma-informed Systems.  He is trained in EMDR, DDP, and a variety of family systems models.  In 2015, the ChildTrauma Academy (CTA) acknowledged that Dave had completed NMT Training Certification through the Phase II level, and between 2017-2021 he was a Fellow at the CTA.

Dave received his master’s in social welfare from UC Berkeley in 1988 and is licensed in both the state of Vermont and New York as a clinical social worker.  Dave teaches graduate classes for the Vermont Higher Education Collaboration, and is a presenter and consultant in Vermont, New York and Canada.

Course: Transforming Trauma (Level 1): The School as a Healing Community | VT-HEC

About Host, Sucheta Kamath
Sucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.

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