School Based Mental Health and Trauma
March 13, 2015
Adams 12 Five Star Schools Conference Center
1500 E 128th Ave. ● Thornton, CO ● 80241
Conference Agenda
7:30am-8:15am
Registration and Breakfast – Aspen Room
8:15am- 8:30am
Welcome - Colorado School Social Work Association
8:30am-9:45am
Keynote Presentation: Dr. Jerry Yager
“Helping Children Regulate, Relate and Reason”
Sponsored by the Colorado Department of Education
Children from well-functioning, safe and stable homes typically arrive at school ready to learn and socially
engage. This is not the case for vulnerable children from high risk homes whose upbringing has failed to lay
down the necessary foundation for either learning or even negotiating the social demands of the school
setting. This keynote will focus on the neuroscience of learning and how interactions can be structured to
establish critical developmental pathways in the child’s brain that will improve his or her ability to interact
appropriately with peers and adults. Educators will learn the importance of balancing sensory, emotional and
cognitive learning experiences, and ways to encourage the development of the key functions a child requires
to negotiate the social and academic demands of school.
9:45am-9:55am - Break
Session #1 - 9:55am-11:00am
Cottonwood Room
Dogwood
Building Community with
Check and Connect
Threat Assessment: An
Overview, Part 1
Barb Long, MSW, AWARE
Grant Coordinator,
Thompson School District
Lynn DeSousa, M.S. School
Psychologist, Positive
Behavioral Interventions and
Supports (PBIS)
Implementation Consultant
for the Colorado Department
of Education and on special
assignment as a District-wide
PBIS Coach for the
Thompson School District
Brad Stiles, M.A., Emergency
Response Outreach Consultant,
Colorado School Safety Resource
Center
Anna Gisetti, M.A., School
Outreach Consultant, Colorado
School Safety Resource Center
Blue Spruce
The Relationship Based
Model: Teaching Educators to
Create Safe and Caring Classrooms and School Communities
Matt Teegarden, L.C.S.W, School
Social Worker, Arvada High School,
Jefferson County Public Schools
Building Community with Check and Connect –
Building community through Check and Connect: a researched based data driven tier 2/3 intervention to
increase school engagement and academic success. Thompson school district is in their second year of
implementation-we will share our successes and lessons learned! Building community through Check and
Connect: a researched based data driven tier 2/3 intervention to increase school engagement and academic
success. Thompson school district is in their second year of implementation-we will share our successes and
lessons learned!
Threat Assessment Overview, Part 1
According to the FBI, there were 39 school shootings between 2000 and 2013. A well-trained school threat
assessment team is a vital part in the identification of those posing risk to school safety. This workshop
includes lessons learned from research, the Colorado School Safety Resource Center's Essentials of Threat
Assessment guide, sample assessment tools, and scenario discussion.
The Relationship Based Model: Teaching Educators to Create Safe and Caring Class-rooms and School
Communities
Relationship assessment is the essence of discipline and behavior management. It is what separates
compliance from cooperation and rules from norms. Greatness is a product of cooperation/collaboration
based on commonly held norms not compliance to externally imposed rules. We have two overriding norms
or principles of discipline and behavioral expectation: We will be safe. We will be learning. Our goal is to use
the right intervention with the right student at the right time with the right student for the right reason—This
demands that we understand and have a relationship with the student, at least. The objective of the workshop
is to provide participants with a comprehensive model of behavior management from a relational perspective
to provide as training to teachers and school staff.
11:00am-11:10am – Break
Session #2: 11:10am – 12:15pm
Cottonwood
Dogwood
Blue Spruce
Call to Action: Social Workers
removing barriers to student
learning
Threat Assessment: An
Overview, Part 2
Applying a Functional Behavior
Assessment (FBA) to a Behavior
Intervention Plan (BIP)
Kristin Pullen, School Social
Worker, Community Resource
Specialist, Student and Family
Outreach Program, Adams 12
Five Star School District,
Brad Stiles, M.A., Emergency
Response Outreach Consultant,
Colorado School Safety Resource
Center
Heather Leeman, Ed.S., NCSP,
Behavior Specialist, Adams County
School District #50, Instructional
Support Center – Behavioral Day
Treatment Program
Leigh Her-Moua, School Social
Worker, Community Resource
Specialist, Student and Family
Outreach Program, Adams 12
Five Star School District,
Anna Gisetti, M.A., School
Outreach Consultant, Colorado
School Safety Resource Center
Christine Cde Baca, Ed.S., School
Psychologist/Instructional Support
Center, Adams County School
District #50
Leslie Rodell, LCSW, MSW, Special
Education Coordinator (including
ISC), Adams County School District
#50
Call to Action: Social Workers Removing Barriers To Student Learning
This presentation is appropriate for school personnel serving PK-12 who want to hear about school district
programming focused on removing barriers that keep students from being engaged and thriving in school.
The Student and Family Outreach Program was created by school social workers who responded to a call to
action by the US Department of Health/ Human Services and Education to create a systemic initiative to
enroll uninsured children in Medicaid and CHP+. Through grant funding they pioneered a program to
assist with not only health insurance, but also access to community resources. Five years later, The Student
and Family Outreach Program serves a school district of 46,000 students, offering support to school
personnel who need assistance with their most at risk or red zone students and their families in the form of
resource referral, intensive case management, and health insurance/food assistance application assistance.
Threat Assessment Overview, Part 2
According to the FBI, there were 39 school shootings between 2000 and 2013. A well-trained school threat
assessment team is a vital part in the identification of those posing risk to school safety. This workshop
includes lessons learned from research, the Colorado School Safety Resource Center's Essentials of Threat
Assessment guide, sample assessment tools, and scenario discussion.
Applying a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) to a Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP)
This presentation targets professionals who facilitate or participate in the FBA process and want to expand
their understanding in this area and construct more effective BIP’s. Overall, the goal is for participants to see
the FBA process through the lens of the problem-solving model and create BIP plans that are truly datadriven. During this presentation, participants will develop their abilities to operationally define behavior,
make decisions regarding appropriate data collection methods, select function-based strategies and
interventions, determine next steps based on progress monitoring data, and view FBA’s and BIP’s as living
documents.
12:15pm – 12:30pm - Break and Lunch, Aspen
12:30pm-1:45pm
Lunch Keynote, Aspen
Aaron Wiemeier, MS, LPC
"The Fearless Practitioner:
Creative Insights & Strategies
for Helping the Most Violent,
Oppositional and Avoidant Child
and Adolescent Clients"
Sponsored by the Colorado Department of
Education
This training will provide extremely creative insights into the processes, often taught in graduate
school, that sometimes interfere with an educator's ability to connect and work with more difficult,
oppositional and aggressive children. It will help create a new lens for participants to view these
clients, their clinical needs and their own interactive process as human beings first and practitioners
second. Additionally, it will provide a host of real life examples of success stories paired with specific
detailed interventions that educators can use immediately with their more challenging students.
1:45pm-1:55pm – Break
Session #3: 2:00pm-3:30pm
Cottonwood
Foster Care Education:
Improving Educational
Outcomes for Children and
Youth
Sheree Wheeler, Colorado
Department of Education
Dogwood
All Hands on Deck: Mental
Health Crisis Response
Following a School Shooting
Blue Spruce
Secondary Traumatic Stress and
Self Care
Nate Thompson, LCSW, Director Anna Gisetti, M.A., School Outreach
Consultant, Colorado School Safety
of Social, Emotional & Behavior
Services, Littleton Public Schools Resource Center
Laurie Elliot, LCSW, Division
Director for Child & Family
Services, Arapahoe Douglas
Mental Health Network
Brad Stiles, M.A., Emergency
Response Outreach Consultant,
Colorado School Safety Resource
Center
Scott Wadsworth, MA, Counselor
and Guidance Department
Chairperson, Arapahoe High
School
Meredith Henry, LCSW, Social
Worker and Crisis Team Member,
Littleton Public Schools
Foster Care Education: Improving Educational Outcomes for Children and Youth
Established in 2012, Colorado Foster Care Education is dedicated to ensuring that students in foster care are
achieving academically through course completion, advancing to the next grade, accruing credits toward
graduation, and on a path to post-secondary success. These efforts are being organized by the new State
Coordinator for Foster Care Education, who will be leading this work. This position was created in
partnership with the Colorado Department of Human Services, Morgridge Family Foundation, and Mile
High United Way.
All Hands on Deck: Mental Health Crisis Response Following a School Shooting
When a major traumatic event happens in a school building, mental health teams play a key role in the
journey toward recovery. This session will explore the many aspects of supporting a school community after
a shooting on campus. Representatives from Littleton Public Schools, Arapahoe High School, and
Arapahoe/Douglas Mental Health Network will share experiences and lessons learned from their ongoing
crisis response since December of 2013.
Secondary Traumatic Stress and Self Care
Approximately 25% of youth have been exposed to a traumatic event. Those who work with traumatized
youth may experience Secondary Traumatic Stress. During this session, participants will explore secondary
impacts on those serving youth. Participants will discover ways to engage in self-care activities to promote
personal and professional well-being and leave with tools to engage in and continue self-care activities.
3:30pm-3:40pm – Break
3:40pm-4:30pm
Closing Session – Aspen
Aaron Wiemeier, MS, LPC
Q&A
Mental Health and Trauma
Sponsored by the Colorado Department of
Education