Dr. Clay Cook (
@ClayCook_phd) will kick us off on Thursday morning with "
Going Beyond Why
Awareness of Trauma is Important by Focusing on What
Schools Can Do to Address the Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Needs of All Students." Findings from the Adverse Childhood Experience Study (ACES) have created a tidal wave of interest and pressure on school leaders to increase educators’ awareness of how trauma impacts student social, emotional, and academic functioning in school. However, awareness of trauma alone is insufficient to enable educators to effectively meet the needs of students who experience significant adversity outside of school. This talk will discuss the why, what, and how of integrating trauma-informed practices so school leaders are able to incorporate a continuum of supports that remove social, emotional, and behavioral barriers to academic and life success.
Dr. Clay Cook is the John and Nancy Peyton Faculty Fellow in Child and Adolescent Wellbeing at the University of Minnesota and Associate Professor in the School Psychology Program. He has extensive research and practical experiences involving the implementation of multi-tiered systems of support to promote children’s mental and behavioral health. He co-founded the School Mental Health Assessment, Research and Training (SMART) Center at the University of Washington and is a core faculty member who helps direct the Institute of Translational Research in Children’s Mental Health at the University of Minnesota. He has received over 8.5 million dollars in external grant funding from multiple agencies and foundations. In addition to his research, he consults with several school systems throughout the US to integrate a continuum of social, emotional, and behavioral supports to enhance student academic and life success.