3:30-4:30 PM Eastern, Wednesday, February 17th 2016

The Application of Trauma Informed Practices in Schools

Kym Asam, Regional Director of Schools and Clinical Programming, Northeastern Family Institute (NFI) Vermont

About this presentation

Trauma is often thought of as a single incident event that results in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. However, research now demonstrates that chronic and protracted exposure to stress can derail normal childhood development across multiple domains. This interactive workshop will examine the impact developmental trauma has on the developing brain particularly during the first few years of life and how it effects children’s ability to develop relationships; attend to learning and regulate their thoughts, emotions and behaviors. In addition, the common elements of PBIS and creating a trauma informed learning environment will be examined. Utilizing research and frameworks developed by experts in the field, participants will learn practical strategies to become “co-regulators” for children in order to mitigate the impact developmental trauma has on their functioning across environments.

About the presenter

Kym Asam is the Regional Director of Schools and Clinical Programming for Northeastern Family Institute (NFI) Vermont. She earned her Master’s degree from the University of Hawaii’s School of Social work and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LICSW). She has been practicing in the mental health field since 1992 and has extensive training in multiple, evidence-based methods for working with and treating children and adults who have experienced developmental trauma. She is designated as a lead ARC (Attachment, Self-Regulation and Competency) trainer for the state of Vermont and is process of being certified in the Neuro-Sequential Model of Therapeutics. In addition to providing oversight and developing clinical programming for trauma-informed, day treatment schools, Kym is also a Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) coach, consultant and trainer with the Vermont BEST (Building Effective Strategies for Teaching Students with Behavioral Challenges) project. Her professional focus on better understanding complicated clinical presentations and profiles for children across the developmental spectrum has resulted in her developing and delivering numerous trainings both in and out of the state of Vermont on multiple topics including developmental trauma and its impact on student functioning.

More about this series

This is part 4 of the 4-part webinar series Creating School Cultures Where all Students Thrive — A Series on PBIS and Trauma Informed Practices. For more information on the complete series, visit the series main page.