The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
HEALTHY BODIES, HEALTHY MINDS
About 200 educators from throughout the state will gather later this month to learn strategies on how to implement a wellness culture within schools, including how to help students who have experienced childhood trauma.
The 2019 Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds Institute will be held on Aug. 14 at the SunnyBrook Ballroom in Pottstown.
Along with sessions on nutrition, physical activity and mental health, the annual conference will discuss the impact of traumas experienced as a child.
Just last week, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Pennsylvania will now be a trauma-informed state. The Protection of Vulnerable Populations Executive Order was signed by Wolf on July 31. As a trauma-informed state, agencies and schools in Pennsylvania will be tasked to better respond to people who have adverse childhood experiences.
The Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation organizes the Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds Institute every year. Teachers, administrators and other advocates of school wellness will learn strategies and practices from experts and peers.
The keynote speakers for this year’s institute is Lark Eshleman, founder and executive director of the About Child Trauma Foundation. The foundation is a nonprofit which offers education on the causes, consequences and treatment of emotional childhood trauma.
“She (Eshleman) is a nationally recognized consultant and advisor in trauma and trauma informed practices. It’s so timely that she’ll be the keynote speaker,” said Fizika Group president and founder, Martha Lester Harris.
Harris is a consultant for this year’s wellness conference and has been working closely with the foundation on the topics for this year’s event which includes trauma.
Adverse childhood experiences, also known as ACEs, include emotional abuse, poverty, having a parent incarcerated and much more. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study about adverse childhood experiences found a direct link between trauma and chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease. These experiences can also lead to mental illnesses, violence and being the victim of violence. Childhood trauma is very common as about two-thirds of the adults in the study had at least one adverse experience as a child.
Howard Brown, the foundation’s active learning and community development program officer, said schools are concerned about issues which often stem from mental health such as drug and alcohol use as well as suicide.
“Teachers need to be more equipped with recognizing and understanding how to work with those students that are exhibiting some mental health issues,” he said.
As educators learn about childhood trauma and other impacts on student wellness, they will receive some well-deserved credit.
The Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation partnered with Fizika Group, based out of Lancaster, to offer ACT 48 credits to educators in attendance.
“We’re an ACT 48 approved provider which means we offer training that teachers can take and earn credit toward their ongoing, continuing education requirement in order to maintain their licensure,” Harris said.
Brown said the partnership with Fizika allows attendees to gain needed credits in addition to receiving expert-based information.
“We really wanted to align Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds with the professional needs of our partners,” he said.
The theme of this year’s conference is “Cultivating a Culture of Wellness in Schools.” Attendees of the 2019 institute will not only learn how to implement wellness within the school environment but also how to create a system which continues in the future.
“I’ve been working with Howard (Brown) for the better part of a year to help shape the institute. Together, we created the focus on how to help school districts sustain and maintain a wellness culture,” Harris said.
Brown said demonstrating and implementing a culture of wellness is important for schools and the general public.
“If the culture of wellness is not systematically in place then momentum is lost and sometimes there’s regression,” he said.
New this year, the institute will include a panel discussion about the 2019 theme. Harris will moderate the panel which will include discussions about student wellness, staff wellbeing and how both impact student success.
The foundation will also use the conference to recognize schools in the region which are implementing cultural wellness practices.
Winners of the annual Pottstown Area School Wellness Checklist Challenge will be awarded during the institute. Schools that participated in the challenge were tasked with implementing items on the checklist in order to create a healthier environment and reduce childhood obesity over time.
More than 20 area schools participated in the 2018 -2019 school year challenge and the Champion is the West-Mont Christian Academy of North Coventry. Brown said the academy has been a finalist of the challenge for the last three years and has continued to implement healthy programs as part of the school’s culture. He said the academy is a recipient of the School Wellness Initiative which lead to the school having a dedicated wellness coordinator.
“Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds Institute continually proves to be a strong resource for us to learn from. Each year we glean important nuggets, whether it’s details on brain breaks, current neuroscience findings, or green solutions for cleaning, we love the help,” stated West-Mont Wellness Coordinator Christie L. Werkheiser in a press release.
The Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation’s mission is to enhance the health and wellness of residents throughout the region by providing education, funding and programs to promote healthy lifestyles.
For more information about the foundation and this year’s wellness institute, visit the website www.pottstownfoundation.org.