Kentucky School Boards Association
Across the Board: Service, Support & Success
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Eastern Kentucky University Safety Symposium for School Counselors
Eastern Kentucky University, in conjunction with the Kentucky Center for School Safety, is sponsoring a one day free school safety symposium geared exclusively for P-12 counselors. Nationally renowned presenter Malcolm Smith will highlight the event along with the best of Kentucky’s experts providing breakout sessions on issues that are paramount for school counselors.
Opening Session
8:45AM - 9:45AMWhat No One Ever Taught Me presented by Dr. Malcolm Smith
How to manage yourself and help your students through school crises. In this practice-changing presentation Dr. Smith will harness over 40 years of crisis response to lay out clear and effective strategies for being the “go to” person when behavioral crisis occurs in a school. Dr. Smith will use his personal experiences and the latest research to help you understand how to intervene and deeply care for both victims and perpetrators of school violence and how the words you choose, your physical stance and your demeanor can either calm or escalate a crisis situation. However, most importantly, he will address the importance of self-care during and after crisis occurs. This may be the most important presentation you, as a school counselor, will ever hear.

Session A Workshops
10:00AM - 11:00AMA 1. Thirteen Reasons Why You Need to Care About Suicide Prevention presented by Patti Clark
The Netflix series “13 Reasons Why” has captured the attention of adolescents and teens across Kentucky and across the United States. Its popularity is a reminder that addressing suicidal behavior, and the risk factors that can lead to this behavior, is an important prevention effort. In this session, participants will learn 13 reasons that suicide prevention is important in their school or other youth-serving organization and best practices to consider in relation to suicide prevention efforts.
10:00AM - 11:00AMA 2. Suicide Prevention in the Schools: Best Practices presented by Dr. Melinda Moore and Dr. Theresa Nowak
This one hour workshop contains information on the best practices of suicide prevention among school age children and adolescents in the academic environment. It also contains information about how to understand suicide among this population and what are the most empirically supported treatments for suicide.
10:00AM - 11:00AMA 3. "Rewire" - Creating Student Conversations About Sensitive Topics presented by Scott Harvey
Are you tired of watching your students make poor choices when it comes to their technology? Are your students struggling with pornography? Sexting? Dealing inappropriately with past abuse? Maybe they need a "rewire". Scott Harvey speaks to over 30,000 people a year about these issues, and he will show you what your students are dealing with in these "sensitive" areas of their lives. We can't ignore these issues while our students blow up their lives. If we give them better information, they make better choices. "Rewire" will start the conversation and empower you to walk them through the process of healing.
10:00AM - 11:00AMA 4. Understanding Bullying: Prevention and Intervention presented by Dr. Malcolm Smith
Participants will learn why this generation is much different from bullying in the past and how meanness, incivility and narcissism may be eroding a whole generation’s social and emotional character. In this dynamic and vital session, Dr. Malcolm Smith, one of the nation’s leading authorities on bullying and peer victimization will present life-changing approaches to dealing with bullies, victims and those who do nothing. You will not leave this workshop without learning at least 5 new skills for helping our most vulnerable children by teaching them empathy, kindness and compassion.
10:00AM - 11:00AMA 5. Building Referral Pathways and Partner Relationships with Mental Health Providers presented by Lori Price and Doug Adams
With suicide now being the second leading cause of death among youth ages 15-24 in KY, it is necessary for schools to recognize the mental and behavioral health struggles our youth endure and prioritize providing school-based supports to meet these needs. This session will introduce you to the mental health initiatives in both Fayette and Pulaski Counties. You will learn how to build and foster effective collaborative partnerships with community mental health agencies that will produce strong, school-based mental health services integrated within an Interconnected Systems Framework that leads students down a referral pathway that meets their mental health needs and leads to school success.
10:00AM - 11:00AMA 6. Trauma Informed Care for Guidance Counselors Part 1 presented by Dr. Ginny Sprang
This is the first part of a two-part session on trauma-responsive care specifically designed for guidance counselors. Part 1 will provide an overview of child traumatic stress and how it impacts student behavior and functioning.

Session B Workshops
11:15AM - 12:15PMB 1. Saving Lives in Three Simple Steps – The Role of Early Identification, Referral and Follow-Up in Suicide Prevention presented by Patti Clark
Early identification of children and youth plays a significant role in saving lives of youth, but identifying those youth isn’t enough. Schools and other youth-serving organizations must develop referral and follow up procedures to increase the safety of those at risk of dying by suicide. Participants will learn the best practice components of an EIRF process and investigate ways to implement in their own organizations.
11:15AM - 12:15PMB 2. "Rewire" - Creating Student Conversations About Sensitive Topics presented by Scott Harvey
Are you tired of watching your students make poor choices when it comes to their technology? Are your students struggling with pornography? Sexting? Dealing inappropriately with past abuse? Maybe they need a "rewire". Scott Harvey speaks to over 30,000 people a year about these issues, and he will show you what your students are dealing with in these "sensitive" areas of their lives. We can't ignore these issues while our students blow up their lives. If we give them better information, they make better choices. "Rewire" will start the conversation and empower you to walk them through the process of healing.
11:15AM - 12:15PMB 3. Student Success and Wellness: Opportunities with ESSA and SB1 presented by Jamie Sparks
Our Children, Our Commonwealth are more than words on our new logo. KDE’s focus on the whole child is very clear with the state ESSA plan which was designed from discussions at the #KyEdListens town halls. In this session, we will cover opportunities for district leadership related to prioritizing student and staff wellness including the federal updates to local wellness policy. We will also discuss Kentucky’s efforts to implement the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child model from CDC and ASCD.
11:15AM - 12:15PMB 4. Creating Linkages to Behavioral Health Resources in Your Community presented by Dr. Vestena Robbins and Beth Jordan
Early identification and treatment of behavioral health issues in students is critical to reducing future negative outcomes. Without some form of intervention, students with untreated mental health issues are more likely to experience academic failure, become involved with the criminal justice system, abuse substances, or fall victim to suicide. School personnel are key partners in identifying, providing intervention, and facilitating referral and access to needed behavioral health services and supports. Presenters will provide a brief overview of strategies to promote early identification and referral pathways and share information about how to access behavioral health resources in the community.
11:15AM - 12:15PMB 5. Trauma Informed Care for Guidance Counselors Part 2 presented by Dr. Ginny Sprang
This is the second part of a two-part session on trauma-responsive care specifically designed for guidance counselors. Part 2 will focus on application of the material to student scenarios, and provides an overview of tools that guidance counselors can use to implement trauma informed principles and practices in the school setting.
11:15AM - 12:15PMB 6. Updated Reporting Requirements and New Legal Obligations for Guidance Counselors presented by Whitney A. Crowe, Esq.
New sections of KRS 209A impact the way counselors and other school personnel report domestic violence and abuse as well as dating violence and abuse. This session will discuss those new reporting protocols as well as other legal obligations related to domestic/dating violence and abuse, changes in child custody, and access to victims of child abuse.


Session C Workshops
1:45PM - 2:45PMC 1. Data Driven Decisions for Healthy Students presented by Jamie Sparks
Adverse childhood experiences, social/emotional learning, wellness: education leaders and organizations continue to shift from the conversation from the achievement gap to the root of the problem, the opportunity gap. Learn about all the various types of student health related data from Kentucky schools and communities to inform and drive improvement planning in your school and district.
1:45PM - 2:45PMC 2. Creating Linkages to Behavioral Health Resources in Your Community presented by Dr. Vestena Robbins and Beth Jordan
Early identification and treatment of behavioral health issues in students is critical to reducing future negative outcomes. Without some form of intervention, students with untreated mental health issues are more likely to experience academic failure, become involved with the criminal justice system, abuse substances, or fall victim to suicide. School personnel are key partners in identifying, providing intervention, and facilitating referral and access to needed behavioral health services and supports. Presenters will provide a brief overview of strategies to promote early identification and referral pathways and share information about how to access behavioral health resources in the community.
1:45PM - 2:45PMC 3. Preventing Bullying: From Understanding to Action presented by Denny R. Vincent
Bullying is present in almost every school in America, and it has recently been recognized as a problem of gigantic proportions, often having tragic results. Research indicates approximately 85% of bullying in schools begins as cyber-bullying. This workshop session will help those who work with young people become familiar with the various types of bullying, including cyber-bullying, and learn strategies to prevent it.
1:45PM - 2:45PMC 4. The Guidance Counselor: Dealing with Angry People presented by Major Robert R. Carter III
In an ever-changing world, we all have the opportunity to witness change for both the good and bad in our schools and communities. With these changes, the art of communication has changed as well. In this session, the presenter will discuss de-escalation methods and how they are used to manage conflict with children and adults.
1:45PM - 2:45PMC 5. Family Engagement presented by Barb Greene
Exploring culture collisions, hidden rules, and ways of engagement with resistant families
1:45PM - 2:45PMC 6. What Does School Safety Have to do with the Brain Anyway? presented by Steve Hutton
School safety can be enhanced using what we know about the brain, taking advantage of how the brain naturally works, and utilizing a few behavior management strategies. During this session, participants will learn the importance of the brain-body connection, how the brain makes meaning of information, the role emotion plays in school safety, and how to reduce the impact of threat and stress on students.