MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — A mental health-focused approach inside a Middletown elementary school is changing how teachers approach students and families.
Assistant principal Kate Lohmeyer said, “One of the biggest shifts I've seen with families is we no longer are calling on the family 10, 15 times in an effort to try to reach some sort of goal, recognizing the issues and valuing what the family may be experiencing.” That approach encourages collaboration, making families feel valued and heard.
But it doesn’t stop with the students and their families because teachers are being trained to focus on their mental well-being.
Lohmeyer said she sees small shifts in how educators support “their own self-care and how they are managing and living their everyday lives. It's been super rewarding to hear regulation practices happening in classrooms.” She said the focus is essential for creating a supportive learning environment.
Watch as the school staff shares their experiences with trauma-informed practices:
They get additional support from Soul Bird Consulting. Their approach is simple: “We offer educators, human service professionals, and families, creative and compassionate trainings, programs, and products to learn about trauma-responsive care, resilience practices, and how we can join one another on the healing journey.”
Danae Riggs is a certified trauma consultant with Soul Bird, working with Rosa Parks Elementary to implement the changes.
"I think trauma and the word resilience, but specifically trauma, has become a buzzword," Riggs said. “Trauma being anything that is too much, too fast, too soon that impacts the nervous system."
“What I think we do a little differently at Soul Bird is look at the whole person and really be very person-centered and look at what are those experiences that have shaped that person and what sort of the underbelly of that the roots and then look at how do we model interventions,” Riggs said. “Ways of being, treatment, education, support that is focused on that individual, that person, or that family and that circumstance.”
Lohmeyer said the training has led to a stronger community understanding of trauma and its repercussions. “Everyone who participated in this cohort walked away with a statement of ‘everyone needs to know this.’"
"Our goal would be to deepen the work in-house and revise and refresh practices... but also to be able to extend that learning out into the community and other schools in Middletown," she said.
Soul Bird is about to begin its next “Biographical Timeline Facilitators Cohort,” an 8-month hybrid program that works to deepen understanding and practice using the timeline framework to successfully learn from a person's biography.
They are still accepting early applications by midnight on March 31, 2025, for a $200 discount on that program.
If you’d like additional information, check these links:
Biographical Timeline Facilitator Cohort (Ohio) | Soul Bird Consulting
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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