Ep 14: Katie McDonald - The Science of Hope

Jessica Sinarski, LPCMH is an author, speaker, and instigator of hope. Weaving user-friendly brain science into everything she does, Jessica ignites both passion and know-how in audiences. Extensive post-graduate training and 15+ years as a clinician and educator led her to create the resource and training platform–BraveBrains. She partners with school districts and child welfare agencies worldwide to unlock resilience in children and adults alike. Jessica makes social-emotional learning (SEL) practical, equipping parents and professionals with deeply trauma-informed tools. She is the author of numerous books including, Your Amazing Brain, the award-winning Riley the Brave series, and Light Up the Learning Brain. She also shares her expertise as a contributor to magazines, blogs, and podcasts. Jessica lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and three busy boys. Jessica was awarded the national Voice for Adoption Drenda Lakin Memorial Award in 2021 in recognition of her valuable post-placement support and services to families who have achieved permanence for children in the child welfare system. Compelled by her work with foster, adoptive, and kinship families in the South Bronx of New York, Jessica became a Certified Adoption Therapist in 2008 through Hunter College School of Social Work and began an adoption therapy program at her local agency. She earned a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Boston College after earning a B.A. in Psychology and Spanish from Taylor University.

Today's guests believe that behavior tells a story, and that the most important part of that story is a child's nervous system. Doris and Rick Bowman, known to many as Team Bowman, are the authors of Your FBA Is a Fantasy, a guidebook to creating trauma-informed, neuro-affirming Functional Behavior Assessments and Behavior Support Plans. Through Bowman Consulting Group, they train educators to look beneath behavior and build plans grounded in neuroscience and resilience. Rick holds a master's degree in clinical psychology and is a Certified Trauma and Resilience Practitioner. He is also a certified Collaborative Problem Solving trainer through Massachusetts General Hospital and a licensed K-12 school administrator, with a background in the military, business, mental health, and education. Doris brings her own trauma and resilience certifications to this work. Together they have also written a companion book, Facing the Fantasy, Finding the Way Forward, which brings the same framework to every educator in every part of the school. Their main landing page with info about books, trainings, etc: https://bowmanconsultgroup.com/capacity-builders/ They also host a weekly "Life Behavior Lab" where they field questions for an hour, once a week on Wednesday evenings. You can go to the Events page of their website and the info will be posted there: https://bowmanconsultgroup.com/trauma-informed-training/ Their email is: [email protected].

What happens when you look past "fixing student behavior" and start fixing the systems that hurt them? This week on The Joe Brummer Podcast, we sit down with trauma-informed consultant and therapist TJ Rumler. As a service veteran and a dedicated advocate for marginalized youth, TJ shares his powerful perspective on building true psychological safety in schools, disciplining without causing harm, and why genuine healing requires a close look at reducing educator stress. TJ Rumler, LISW-CP, is a licensed clinical social worker, combat veteran, and the founder of TJ Rumler Consulting. A former Trauma-Informed Specialist for Greenville County Schools, TJ brings a unique blend of frontline clinical experience and macro-level systemic insight to the conversation. In this episode, TJ joins Joe to unpack 3 qualities of a Trauma-Informed School.

Kathleen Hilchey is a conflict specialist in Ontario, Canada. She works from a trauma-informed lens with families, camps, schools, and workplaces to stop cycles of bullying and infuse conflict management skills into our systems. She spent 15 years teaching in the public and private systems but started her career in Outdoor and Experiential Education. Her newest project is starting a micro-school for neurodivergent students in her community. She has an M.Ed. in Peacebulding Techniques from Brock University and is a Qualified Mediator.

This week, we have Nicholas Bradford from the National Center for Restorative Justice. Nicholas talks about his journey from a teacher to the leader of the NC4RJ. We discussed the challenges facing RJ Practitioners and his hopes for this work. We also chatted about the Center's new social media platform for RJ Practitioners, including the platform's book club for mine and Marg Thorsborne's books. Here is a link to the platform. (LINK) and the Center's website. https://www.nationalcenterforrestorativejustice.com