Aug 5, 2019, Gaylord (MI) Herald Times: Gaylord schools renews contract for trauma-informed services with students, families https://www.petoskeynews.com/gaylord/featured-ght/top-gallery/gaylord-schools-renews-contract-for-trauma-informed-services-with-students/article_54cfe207-cd88-5cd3-8d6e-3ecf3330463a.html The Gaylord Community Schools district is continuing to collaborate with a pediatrician who focuses on how trauma impacts youth and their families. Dennis Keck, director of curriculum and special education for the district, said the district signed a contract with Dr. Mark Sloane. “He’s a pediatrician, that’s his background, but his focus over the years has been the effect trauma has on kids and families, and how it affects them in schools,” Keck said. “And once you’ve identified that, what do we do to help them? How do we help the kids, how do we help the teachers?” … “He came and did a training with our district on identifying trauma and identifying strategies (on) how to work with kids that may have been exposed to trauma, how to help them get through their day,” he said. “That then evolved to us contracting out with him where he came once a month and worked in all of our buildings with identified students and families offering more support, more mental health counseling support services that we just didn’t have available.” Keck said trauma can come in many forms such as a death in the family, divorce, homelessness, drugs and alcohol or a host of experiences that impact children and their families. “What he’s done is he’s established relationships with the local doctors and hospitals and pediatricians, nurses, we’re all kind of working together,” Keck said. “It’s a pretty complex (approach) … we have programs for screening kids, for setting up programs with kids with his consultation.” At its July meeting, Gaylord’s Board of Education approved a contract between the district and Sloane for the 2019-2020 school year at $30,000 with $24,000 of that set to be covered through a Title IV Grant. “One of the strategies under Title IV is safe and healthy students, and there’s money provided to help with that,” Keck said, adding that one of the allowable activities under that is providing school-based mental health services and counseling….
