Grant will help traumatized students

Teachers will get training to have tools in dealing with classroom issues

Understanding the needs of traumatized children is a skill more often associated with psychologists than it is with teachers, but in Washington County schools, teachers and other staff members encounter those needs daily.

The professional background and training of educators doesn't necessarily prepare them for the intricacies of navigating their students' mental health states.

The six districts, along with the county's Head Start providers and the Ohio Valley Educational Service Center, will get some help in the coming year. The Washington County Behavioral Health Board has approved a grant of $120,000 to fund training for teachers and other school staff to be delivered by Life and Purpose Behavioral Health, a mental health treatment agency in Marietta.

Traumatized children can be disruptive at school, they can become the victims of bullying, their difficult lives can manifest expression in any number of ways, but trauma almost inevitably creates obstacles to success in education.

"Some of these kids have witnessed and felt trauma at home--yelling, violence, " said David Browne, executive director of the behavioral health board. "Trauma can be as simple as not knowing where your next meal is coming from. Some kids go to bed at night not knowing where their parents will be in the morning, they're living a life of fear."

The training is intended to give teachers and other school personnel insights about how the traumatized mind of a child affects behavior and how to meet the needs of traumatized children.

"Understanding how trauma impacts brain function makes you rethink your traditional interventions, like detention or removal from class, and realize that they aren't effective," said Douglas Pfeiffer, executive director of Life and Purpose. "They're really asking for ways to deal with these children who are having trouble functioning."

The project is a big commitment. Frontier Local Schools superintendent Brian Rentsch said the district intends to provide the training to every person who comes into contact with children, from maintenance workers to principals.

"It's a huge undertaking," he said.

The proposal submitted by Life & Purpose estimated that 854 people in the county education system will be trained through the program.

"The premise of the training will be around student behaviors, how to reach them by the way you teach in class, consulting with administration, reaching out to families," Rentsch said. "Anybody who contacts a child, we will make every effort to get them trained."

Pfeiffer said the program visualized will run three years, with training for the first year starting in the fall when school resumes. The subjects will range from structuring a trauma-informed school to how the developing brain of a child works and recognizing traumatized behavior.

"Teachers and other staff members who interact with these students often share that they need more professional learning on understanding the needs of students impacted by trauma and strategies for helping not just to cope but to thrive," said Fort Frye Local Schools Superintendent Stephanie Starcher. "We will also be able to provide some therapy to small groups of students, with parental permission, at school sites, which is wonderful since some students' families could not access these services otherwise."

"The Washington County school districts have really made a commitment to their staffs," Pfeiffer said. "One thing I'm very excited about is the collaboration, everyone wanting the same thing. I'm hoping that by bringing this focus on children age 3 to 18 that it will be transformational, that we're going to change the next generation."

At a glance

Students and m ental health

¯ Washington County school districts, Head Start programs and the Ohio Valley Educational Service Center have been awarded a grant of $120,000 to train staff in dealing with students who have mental health difficulties.

¯ The grant comes from the Washington County Behavioral Health Board, which in part was able to offer it because of the passage of the mental health levy in November.

¯ Training will be delivered by Life & Purpose Behavioral Health, a mental health services agency in Washington County.