What does it take to bounce back from a traumatic event? How do you thrive and survive the toxic stress and trauma?
As educators, we often see certain behaviors that can be barriers to success for some students. And the ultimate goal is to help them get past these conflicts and challenges by encouraging them to focus on their future and success.
But most of the time, what our students need is a safe space and adults who will listen and try to understand what they’re going through.
Welcome to episode 31 of Take Notes with Jen Rafferty! In this episode, I’m speaking with Renee Hettich. She is an author, licensed master social worker, and trainer on topics such as resiliency and therapeutic parenting.
Renee opens the conversation about adverse childhood experiences and how they can affect the child’s mindset and behavior long term.
Understanding your student’s behavior is essential to their success. The truth is, we don’t know what each student is going through, but the best we can do is to learn more about how we can help them.
Tune in and find out how you can help your student understand their feelings better!
Stay empowered,
Jen
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About Renee:
Renee has been parenting children from adverse histories for over twenty-six years as a foster, adoptive, and kinship parent. She is currently parenting four children who joined her family through inter-country adoption. She cares for children with special medical, learning, developmental, and mental health needs.
Renee has worked in the field of adoption and foster care since 2004 as an adoption social worker and program director supporting families adopting domestically and internationally. In 2017, she joined the Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition as program director. She is dedicated to the well-being of adoptive, foster, and kinships families. She is proud to lead a team of experts who support adoptive and guardianship families in eight counties.
Renee has published articles in Adoption Today and Adoptive Families (national adoption magazines). She is the author of the book My Kids Know More Than Me! 15 Life Lessons from Foster and Adopted Children. Renee is also a trainer on the topics of adverse childhood experiences, the adaptation of the brain from toxic stress and trauma, resiliency, and therapeutic parenting. She has also been featured on radio and podcast broadcasts in regard to parenting children with traumatic histories and with mental health challenges. Renee earned a Master of Social Work degree from Marywood University and has been a Licensed Master Social Worker since 2005. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Audiology from the University of Pittsburgh and a Bachelor’s Degree in Speech/Language Pathology from Ithaca College.