The Village Network Teaches 65 Educators Across Ohio to Care for Traumatized Students in the Classroom

WOOSTER- The Village Network will lead a training of 65 educators in 30 Ohio schools on how to care for traumatized youth in the classroom.

The training, known as the Neurosequential Model in Education (NME), was developed by Bruce Perry, M.D. Ph.D., and The ChildTrauma Academy and teaches educators findings from the neurosciences and how to apply this knowledge to their teaching process.

The NME training was made possible after The Village Network received a $250,000 grant from Greif Packaging Charitable Trust.

“As a corporate citizen of the world with Ohio roots, Greif has a genuine commitment to community stewardship,” said Debbie Crow, director of corporate communications at Greif, Inc. “Investing in the partnership between The Village Network and Ohio schools was a natural fit with the purpose of this foundation.”

Training will begin this fall with 48 teachers in Wooster, Delaware and Cincinnati, Ohio. Each teacher will receive approximately 50 hours of training from The ChildTrauma Academy and The Village Network. This grant also supports expanding the program into the Van Wert and Massillon school districts, locations in Ohio where Greif also has operations.

“We have to bring the findings of the neurosciences into our classrooms,” said Chief Clinical Officer at The Village Network Dave Paxton. “Much of the training is taking the concepts of NMT and the neurosciences and applying them to the classroom.”

NME draws upon the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT), which is a neurodevelopmentally-informed, biologically respectful perspective on human development and functioning. NME aims to help educators understand student behavior and performance on a neurological level. In 2015, The ChildTrauma

Academy designated The Village Network as an NMT Flagship Organization, making The Village Network the only organization in Ohio with such a distinction.

In the NME training, teachers will learn how to create a mini “brain map” that will measure the executive functioning of a child and see to what degree that child can control his own impulses and concentrate. The NME assessment helps teachers develop more effective lesson plans that match the student’s developmental level.

“If kids are emotionally upset, frightened or anxious, they can’t learn,” Paxton said. “Many of the kids we work with are always in that state. Their stress response systems are over sensitized, making learning new material a challenge.”

Teachers will also learn concrete applications like how to use pattern repetition as a transition from one topic to the next, improving a child’s ability to focus.

“Our school-based treatment is one of the fastest growing treatment options we offer, with more than 40 schools partnering with us last year,” said The Village Network President and CEO Richard Graziano. “Now that we have the financial support of Greif Packaging Charitable Trust, we can continue to grow this service and meet the needs of children and their families in an educational environment. We are honored and thrilled to partner with such innovative organizations like The ChildTrauma Academy and the Greif Foundation. Partnerships like this make helping Ohio’s most vulnerable children and families possible. “

Since 1946, The Village Network has helped generations of at-risk boys and girls become productive, responsible youth. Together with families, support agencies and communities, The Village Network prepares youth to embrace new lives.

The Village Network programs include residential treatment, day treatment, treatment foster care, respite care, alternative school programs and outpatient services. The Village Network is headquartered in Wooster, Ohio but has offices that serve communities throughout Ohio and West Virginia.

Greif is a global leader in industrial packaging products and services and is pursuing its vision to become the world’s best performing customer service company in industrial packaging. The company produces steel, plastic, fibre, flexible, corrugated, and reconditioned containers, intermediate bulk containers, containerboard and packaging accessories, and provides filling, packaging and industrial packaging reconditioning services for a wide range of industries. Greif also manages timber properties in the south eastern United States. The company is strategically positioned in over 45 countries to serve global as well as regional customers. Additional information is on the company’s website at www.greif.com.

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CONTACT

Dave Paxton

Chief Clinical Officer

(330) 202-3808

dpaxton@thevillagenetwork.com

Director of Marketing

(330) 202- 3870

bdavis@thevillagenetwork.com