It is said that a human body that has been traumatized or overwhelmed by stress can feel helpless, reactive, angry, impulsive, raging, numb and leaning towards avoidance. AND the same is true for schools! Institutions, public or private, that serve the needs of children, learners and families from distressed communities can also feel helpless and drained with an ongoing crisis or seemingly unmanageable chaos. These places and its people too can become reactive, angry or riddled with avoidance and the necessary skills may be lacking in dealing with overstressed schools and classrooms.

On this episode, trauma expert, licensed social worker, the Co-Director of Outpatient Services at NFI, Vermont, and former fellow at Child Trauma Academy (CTA), Dave Melnick, returns to discuss the distinction between trauma-informed vs. trauma-transformed schools and the best practices involved in the effortful redirection that cultivates this deep and wide knowledge that helps make trauma-transformed schools. In these challenging times, psycho-social and emotional trauma experienced by learners, learning communities, and all communities around the globe is far more common than ever before. Those who are trained and trauma-informed approaches to care, shift the focus from “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” This is a journey we all take together.

About Dave Melnick
Dave Melnick, LICSW is the Co-Director of Outpatient Services at NFI, Vermont, a statewide mental health agency primarily serving children, adolescents and families. For the past 35 years, Dave has worked in a variety of settings including outpatient, residential treatment, and in public and day treatment schools. Along with his focus on Developmental Trauma, Dave has expertise in family therapy, adolescence, attachment, Reflective Practices, and Trauma-informed Systems.  He is trained in EMDR, DDP, and a variety of family systems models.  In 2015, the ChildTrauma Academy (CTA) acknowledged that Dave had completed NMT Training Certification through the Phase II level, and between 2017-2021 he was a Fellow at the CTA.

Dave received his master’s in social welfare from UC Berkeley in 1988 and is licensed in both the state of Vermont and New York as a clinical social worker.  Dave teaches graduate classes for the Vermont Higher Education Collaboration, and is a presenter and consultant in Vermont, New York and Canada.

Course: Transforming Trauma (Level 1): The School as a Healing Community | VT-HEC

About Host, Sucheta Kamath
Sucheta Kamath, is an award-winning speech-language pathologist, a TEDx speaker, a celebrated community leader, and the founder and CEO of ExQ®. As an EdTech entrepreneur, Sucheta has designed ExQ's personalized digital learning curriculum/tool that empowers middle and high school students to develop self-awareness and strategic thinking skills through the mastery of Executive Function and social-emotional competence.

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