Unapologetic Disrupter for Good Podcast

Franklin Willis, music educator and instructional coach with Metro Nashville Public Schools equips teachers with instructional support and necessary resources to strengthen their professional acumen and enhance their classrooms. Through his work, he has developed a passion for the cultivation of musicianship for young minds as every child has musical potential and deserves a music teacher who will...

Zaretta Hammond is a former classroom English teacher who has been doing instructional design, school coaching, and professional development around the issues of equity, literacy, and culturally responsive teaching for the past 18 years. She teaches as a lecturer at St. Mary’s College’s Kalmanovitz School of in Moraga, California. In addition to consulting and professional development, she has bee...

Parkhill is CEO for STOPit Solutions, a provider of school safety & mental health solutions for K-12 schools. Kerrie Ackerson is the Neurosequential Trauma Project Director at CESA 10 in Wisconsin, the Director of Government Affairs for STOPit Solutions, and the creator of the HELPme app. She has a background in juvenile corrections, adult and juvenile mental health programs, and school safety. Ov...

ABOUT PROJECT SELO (it means village in Ukrainian). We started our Project in October 2021 with a dream to give English language teachers in the most remote Ukrainian villages and schools a chance to practice English with native speakers, and to learn more about other countries cultures, as well as teaching techniques from the English speaking world, so that they can pass this knowledge onto their...

Jill Speering is a 35-year career educator who taught kindergarten and first-grade students to read through writing and publishing their stories into classroom books. During her teaching career, Speering received many accolades including Distinguished Educator of the Year for Middle Tennessee and Master Teacher under the Career Ladder program. Although Jill suffered many failures throughout her li...

Brad is a licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and the author of the Amazon best-selling book "Sibling Sexual Abuse: A Guide to Confronting America's Silent Epidemic." Brad specializes in working with individuals and families where sibling sexual abuse has occurred. Brad conducts training with communities and groups across the US.

Calvin Price is a native of Nashville, TN, and graduated from Middle Tennessee State University. He currently works in Supply Chain Management for the Nissan vehicle plant in Smyrna, TN. He is the father of one son whom he loves very much (Kairee Price, pronounced "Ky-ree"). He also serves as a part-time youth advocate for Youth Advocate Programs Davidson County since 2021. In his spare time, I en...

Julie Beem has been the Executive Director of the Attachment & Trauma Network since 2009 and an active member and volunteer since 2005. Julie lives in the Atlanta area and is the mom to four and grandmother to three. Her youngest daughter, adopted internationally more than 20 years ago was the reason she sought and found support and education from the other parents at ATN. Julie left her former ca...

A few years ago Nate walked away from a highly successful career in real estate to give himself a reset and find more understanding in his life. He sold his home and everything with it and traveled throughout the world for several months. During his travels, he began publicly sharing his journey of healing from childhood trauma and the battles with his mental health. Quickly, a community began to...

Jesse Kohler is Executive Director of the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy & Practice (CTIPP). Jesse is a passionate advocate and leader in the trauma-informed space who works on systems change to provide comprehensive support for individuals, families, and communities so that, someday, all people have the opportunity and support necessary to reach their full potential. Christine Mason, PhD, an...

Diane wanted to become a social worker at age 10 when she read a book about Jane Addams. She received a master's degree in social work at Jane Addams School of Social Work in the 1980s. She has worked in many schools and in social service agencies supporting special education students and families for many years. She has always had an interest in human behavior and became a Board Certified Behavio...

Karen Gross is an author and educator who specializes in student success and the impact of trauma on learning and psychosocial development. She is the author of prize-winning adult books and a children's book series titled Lady Lucy's Quest. She is a former college president and former senior policy advisor to the US Department of Education. She writes, speaks, and teaches frequently. Currently, s...

Dr. Michael Gaskell is Principal at Hammarskjold Middle School in East Brunswick, NJ. following experience as a special educator and assistant principal in Paramus, NJ. He continues to model the pursuit of lifelong learning as he serves to mentors new principals through the New Jersey Leaders to Leaders program. An NJPSA Stars recipient, he has been published in over 2 dozen articles in education...

Episode #51 of the Trauma Informed Educators Network Podcast hosted by Mathew Portell from Paradigm Shift Education where an expert panel will discuss equity in education. We will talk about the historical impact, current topics, and even look into the future with Dr. Ricki Gibbs, Dr. Tracey Benson, and Ingrid Cockhren!

Prior to founding Warren Larkin Associates in 2017, Warren spent 24 years in the NHS, working predominantly with individuals and families experiencing serious mental health difficulties. First as an assistant working on the long-stay psychiatric wards at Prestwich Hospital and then as Clinical Psychologist in Manchester working in a service created to provide and research the impact of CBT and Fam...

Allie is a wife, mom, special educator. children's book author, and social-emotional learning coach. She mentors new teachers, creates visual, hands-on resources for students, and lives for coffee. With a master's degree and over 12 years of professional experience, she is a go-to resource for educators everywhere!

achanda Garrison is a 2nd grade teacher leader at Bahrain Elementary School in Manama, Bahrain. Lachanda believes weaving her students’ stories and identities into lessons is the best instructional tool, ensuring all students receive an equitable education. She meets students’ needs by being trauma-informed, resilience-focused, and culturally responsive so students can learn and thrive both inside...

Dr. Bruce Perry, a child psychiatrist and neuroscientist, is the principal of the Neurosequential Network, senior fellow of the ChildTrauma Academy, and an adjunct professor of psychiatry at the Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago. He is the author, of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog, a bestselling book based on his work with maltreated children, and Born for Love, about the esse...

Dr. Sadin has served as a special education teacher, a gifted education teacher, and a building administrator. Most recently she served as a director of special education. Dr. Sadin has been vice-president of her local School Board and is recognized as a Master School Board Member. She has conducted research on the perceptions of teachers working to create trauma-informed classrooms. Dr. Sadin is...

Dr. Tracey A. Benson, CEO of Tracey A. Benson Consulting and founder of the Anti-Racist Leadership Institute, received his doctorate in Education Leadership from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Masters of School Administration from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He has served as an assistant professor of educational leadership, principal coach, high school principal, mi...

Cissy White works to support individuals and initiatives making trauma-informed change with survivors of trauma who are Parenting with ACEs. Cissy joined ACEs Connection first as a free-lance writer and has worked as a Community Facilitator for the Northeast Region and as the Parenting with ACEs Community Manager. In 2014, Cissy opened up about being a trauma survivor on her Heal Write Now blog, h...

Dr. Kelley Munger and Megan Marcus All learning happens through relationships, and our education system has the potential to grow whole children. But educators’ social-emotional development is a critical foundation to student social-emotional development. Educators cannot possibly address the social-emotional needs of students or be truly “trauma-informed” if they have not processed and acknowledg...

Rebecca Lewis-Pankratz works with schools and communities across the US to solve poverty, heal trauma, and build ecosystems of resilience through relationships. She is a Co-Founder of the ESSDACK Resilience team and her team partners with Youth Core Ministries out of Greensburg Kansas to build and sustain poverty resolution projects across Kansas and Illinois. Currently, they are working with over...

Jenna is a parent leader who lives in just outside of Washington DC in northern Virginia. The mother of two boys, she was always active in schools and parent organizations such as the PTA. When her younger son was profoundly shaped by developmental trauma, she started a journey to become a fierce advocate for trauma informed schools. Today she serves in many roles and sits on many committees. She...

LaToya Nelson is a trauma informed educator who is focused on healing centered learning. She is a caregiver to three children and a wife to one, introverted, lover all of all things advocacy and unicorns. She does her best to normalize blended, same sex families. Humanizing children is her jam. Her daughter is her reason, she is the reason this field chose her, so she can enter a classroom where t...