BRIDGEPORT-Faculty, staff and administrators in the Bridgeport Exempted Village School District are honing their efforts to address students’ mental and emotional well-being by conducting professional development training on trauma-informed care.

Bridgeport High School Counselor Vicki Falcone said an online session was held Aug. 17 with Sarah Buffie of Soul Bird Consulting of Cincinnati with additional trainings scheduled in the future. The most recent gathering centered on identifying trauma and helping students ultimately gain self-assurance.

“The entire district took part in the training, including teachers, custodians, bus drivers, cooks and aides,” Falcone said. “The Ohio Department of Education has developed social and emotional learning (SEL) standards to address the needs of our students, and it is imperative that all staff be educated in the concepts of trauma and adverse childhood experiences. We are a trauma-informed district. After the training, I had several staff members comment on how they felt the training would not only help them in their classroom but in their personal life.”

The session explained how the body reacts to trauma, specifically the part of the brain known as the amygdala which causes someone to take a “fight, flight or freeze” stance as a way to survive. Experts say trauma is stored in the body through memories and disrupts the nervous system, but Falcone said when we return to a calm state we can feel safe in our bodies. The amygdala “relaxes” and allows learning to take place in the prefrontal cortex.

“As educators, this concept is critical to understand as so many of our students come from traumatic situations,” she noted. “When a child is behaving in a way that is not socially acceptable in class, we have to find out why. It’s about being more sensitive to the root of the child’s behavior, which will then allow us to acknowledge and respect those feelings, teach them to identify the emotions and then introduce them to basic techniques to help them calm their ‘mig,’ This will open the door for learning, growth and hopefully healing. It is then our hope to teach them to be resilient.”

The goal is for educators and staff to connect with the child and help him or her regulate their responses while also supporting them as they learn to become more self-assured individuals. Among the tips to quell anxiety are simple breathing techniques and clearly communicating their worries or frustrations to deter further outbursts. Teachers will be offered other techniques to use in their classrooms to help students address their SEL.

“Kids learn to identify it so they can be in the classroom and learn. Bridgeport School District’s mission has always been about building relationships between students and staff. It’s not just where the students are coming from, it’s also where you are coming from as staff,” she concluded. “We’ll be following up with additional sessions during the year and include training from staff members of the Belmont County Student Services.”

Falcone also has materials on hand to support teachers and said the next Zoom training session will be during the district’s professional development day on Sept. 21. Students will have a two-hour delay to allow for the follow-up staff training.

Meanwhile, Superintendent Brent Ripley said Falcone has provided every effort to educate the staff and support the students.

“Mrs. Falcone has been a very important proponent of trauma-informed care. We want to do everything we can to understand what students are going through,” he said. “This is another way we can help children succeed. Let’s say that when a student is late to school that we have a conversation with them about what is happening and help them to identify the reality of being late. The conversations we have come with a verbal warning and a lot of love and support for the student. Our goal through these conversations is to empower them so they understand that there are potential positive and negative consequences to every decision that they make. Ultimately, we want to guide our students to make choices and decisions that best impact their lives in a long-term and positive way.”