The trainings being offered by the Arkansas AWARE Team are:

• Youth Mental Health First Aid – This course from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing covers how to identify, understand, and respond to mental illness and substance use disorders.  This fulfills the requirement for School Counselors and SROs. (6 hours of PD)
• Trauma-Invested Classrooms – Learn what trauma-invested teachers do and how a trauma-invested classroom functions. (6 hours of PD)
• Working with Difficult Students: Motivational Interviewing for School Professionals – MI is a conversational style used to motivate individuals to change behaviors and develop healthy habits that align with their values.  MI is useful for school counselors, nurses, administrators and ALE staff to help young people (grades 7th and up) achieve goals and build a growth mindset. (6 hours of PD)
• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) – Early trauma impacts the brain and bodies of children.  How can we help and how can we effectively educate students who have experienced adversity? (3 hours of PD)
• Resiliency for Educators – A dysregulated adult cannot regulate a dysregulated child.  As a result, the self-care practices of educators are a critical component to teacher effectiveness. (3 hours of PD)
• Enneagram: Team Building – Gain insight into the motivations behind behavior and examine how it impacts communication, relationships, and self-care practices. (3 hours of PD)
• Resiliency for All – This course prepares adults to build resiliency in themselves and in youth. (2-3 hours of PD)
• School Climate: How is the Weather Over There? - This training requires a team of at least 3 people from the same building.  We discuss the building blocks of a positive school climate, introduce an assessment, and empower the team to use data and resources to make improvements.  (6 hours of PD).
• De-escalation - Staying Cool When the Temperature Rises - De-escalation strategies are critical in the management of challenging student behavior.  This training is applicable to all ages and is a key skill-set that every educator needs. (6 hours of PD)
• Distress Tolerance - This training is for the student population.  It focuses on their ability to build up, and effectively use, coping skills to help them manage the inevitable discomforts and challenges of life.  (Can be done in a normal class period.  We are willing to train local educators and staff to provide this training to their students).

In an effort to streamline the process, we have created an Arkansas AWARE Training Request Form to gather the needed details to facilitate your request. Once the form is submitted, we will contact you as soon as possible to finalize the details. If you have any questions, please contact Jamie McAfee, AWARE Services Coordinator, at jmcafee@oursc.k12.ar.us .