Natalie Fikac is an educator with over 23 years of experience. Her educational experience began as an elementary school teacher, reading interventionist and dyslexia specialist, Professional School Counselor at both the elementary and secondary level, campus administrator and district level administrator. In her previous educational experience, she served as the Director of Guidance & Counseling in Spring Branch ISD where she supported 85 Professional School Counselors, the district CYS crisis team and advocated on behalf of the 35,000 students of SBISD. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Lamar University where she taught and lead aspiring administrators. She is passionate about growing leaders, instilling self-care in those that she supports and educating and advocating on behalf of students and families in the areas of mental health, behavioral health and social-emotional needs.

We talk with Natalie about the importance of the tier one supports for the mental and behavioral health, and she gives some steps that schools can take to be more intentional in the area of tier one supports.