Congress has recently appropriated funds to make schools safer and pedagogically more effective. This workshop will discuss how to effectively spend this money to meet the daunting challenges school-age youth, families, and administrators face, including school shootings, violence, bullying, and the emotional and behavioral sequelae of adverse childhood experiences and disasters.It is essential to recognize that schools are still the safest place for children and youth and must remain so. Peaceful schools do not arise simply from installing bullet-proof windows, arming teachers, or expelling troublemakers. Instead, peaceful schools come when the academic and social-emotional needs of the students within its walls are understood and substantially met in culturally responsive ways.Any form of violence, including school shootings, reflects a transaction between school, family, and community settings and the specific characteristics of the student. There is a need to adopt an ecological perspective on violent behaviors and develop and implement after-event procedures and tools that can systematically and methodically evaluate factors that contribute to such tragedies and, most importantly, add to the prevention knowledge base.Creating safe schools is a momentous and often frustrating undertaking. Experience has shown that simply adding a new program or instituting a new policy will have little measurable effect. Even those schools that approach the problem systematically with evidence-based programs and procedures need to do so with humility and respect for the challenge facing them.Additionally, research on the impact of childhood trauma and adverse experiences shows that everyday relationships with teachers, caregivers, and pro-social friends have restorative effects. A sense of belonging, school connectedness, and an inviting school environment of respect and mastery is crucial to bolstering resilience.This course will focus on assessment, prevention, and evidence-based treatment implications for children and adolescents with externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Intervention at the school-wide, Selective (“high-risk” students/families), and Indicated (intensive wrap-around and crisis intervention) levels will also be discussed.Particular emphasis will be placed on demonstrating evidenced-based TF-CBT and other cognitive behavioral approaches, creating safe spaces for LGBTQIA+ youth, addressing varied developmental needs, and other risk factors as well as resilience-engendering preventative approaches.

Hosted by MAK Continuing Education, LLC, Cape Cod Institute live online and in Orleans, MA for 15 CEs. For more info, visit the event website.