Description:

Schools play an important role in the recovery of students following community-wide trauma and adversity, but the road from preparedness to recovery begins long before a crisis event occurs and the response lasts well after the event is over.  This first session of a 4-part series will provide foundational information about collective trauma, how it affects members of a school community, the role of schools in crisis planning and response, and best practices in school crisis responses (including healing-centered school programming).

Learning Objectives:

Participants will:

1. Understand the increasing risk and impact of collective trauma on students, staff, and teachers in schools.
2. Identify the role of schools and school mental health providers in crisis planning and response.
3. Identify the scope of trauma-informed best practices for comprehensive and long-term preparedness and response to accumulating collective trauma.
4. Promote cross-state networking and shared learning about navigating toward recovery during traumatic events.

Speaker: 

Berre Burch, Ph.D., is the clinical director at the Children's Bureau of New Orleans where she oversees clinical programs that serve approximately 400 children, youth, and their families each year. A school psychologist by training, Dr. Burch has spent her career providing direct clinical services and systems-level consultation and support to address issues of childhood trauma. In her current role with the Children's Bureau, Dr. Burch partners with schools and other youth-serving organizations like courts, child advocacy centers, and workforce development programs to embed and deliver evidence-based, trauma-informed care in community settings. Dr. Burch earned her doctorate at Tulane University with a specialization in Trauma-Informed School Psychology and completed her clinical internship with the National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland Medical Center.