Resilience: Identifying needs and supporting the development of a resiliency practice for our NNHS students – and ourselves!

This event will discuss how to identify trauma, stress and burnout and how to develop a resiliency practice. Topics covered will include:

• Identifying stress, trauma and burnout in ourselves and our children/students
• Specific strategies for developing your resilience and the importance of modeling selfcare for your children
• Tools and techniques for communicating with and supporting your child/student
• Resources at NNHS and in the Newton and Boston communities for students and their families

Event Description

The 2020 Covid pandemic has been a collective trauma in our community. Many of us are experiencing burnout and overwhelm. Parents are caring for their children and our educators all bear witness to the impacts of trauma in their homes and classrooms. Young people often share their stories with us through behaviors such as acting out, withdrawing, overachieving, in attitudes that can be angry, distracted, or anxious, and their own words. 

In this presentation and interactive discussion, we will discuss how to create environments at home (and in the classroom) that foster resiliency and where everyone can feel safe and supported. As parents and teachers, we also have our own stories and our own pain- both past and present. The goal of this workshop is to create a space to acknowledge the cumulative toll of caring for others and of bearing witness to trauma, and to develop sustainable strategies to care for ourselves and support our children and young adults. 

Speakers will be Jessica Teperow and Alison Malkin.  Jessica Teperow is the Director of Prevention Programs for REACH www.reachma.org, a non-profit dedicated to helping individuals create and maintain healthy lives and healthy families.  Alison Malkin is the NNHS Prevention/Intervention Social Worker and is in her 31st year at Newton North High School in the Counseling Department.

Speaker Bio – Jessica Teperow

Jessica Teperow is the Director of Prevention Programs for REACH www.reachma.org, a non-profit dedicated to helping individuals create and maintain healthy lives and healthy families. Prior to REACH, Jessica worked in the field of sexual assault and domestic violence prevention for twenty years in Boston, Washington D.C, and the San Francisco Bay Area. She has years of experience coordinating education and outreach programs at Rape Crisis Centers and Domestic Violence organizations including Rape Trauma Services of San Mateo County and Casa Myrna in Boston, Massachusetts. Jessica graduated from American University with a degree in Women and Gender Studies with a concentration in sexual assault and domestic violence prevention. She has used her academic research on violence prevention methods and curricula to create and implement dating and sexual violence programming with colleges, universities, middle and high schools, and juvenile probation programs. In her role at REACH she trains professionals who interact with survivors of domestic violence- such as law enforcement, medical professionals, clinicians and educators- to increase their capacity to recognize, respond to, and prevent intimate partner violence. Most recently Mrs. Teperow has focused on providing trainings and workshops that address overwhelm and burnout related to the  collective trauma of the COVID19 Pandemic. 

Check out the following two blog articles written by our speaker and relevant to our topic on January 28!

The Gift of Feeling (Published December 2020) and Thoughts on Collective Trauma in the Wake of COVID19 (Published April 2020) 

Speaker Bio – Alison Malkin, LICSW, NNHS Prevention/Intervention Social Worker

Alison Malkin, NNHS Prevention/Intervention Social Worker, is in her 31st year at Newton North High School in the Counseling Department. She works with students in all high school grades both individually and in groups on a variety of issues including but not limited to stress, substance use, and sleep. Alison received her BS in Psychology from Union College and her MSW in Clinical Social Work from University of Maryland School of Social Work. She holds a Trauma certification from the University of Maryland Graduate School of Psychology as well as certification in DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) Coping Skills from Marsha Linehan. She is a member of several NNHS committees including the Safety Response Team, the Mental Health Fund, the District-Wide Vaping/E-cigarette Working group and chaired the Smoke-Free Zone Initiative. She is actively involved in the SoS (Signs of Suicide) and SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment) initiatives. Alison also assisted in creating and implementing the annual Just Think Expo: an in-person event highlighting the school, City, and community resources. In 2018 she received the NNHS Paul E. Elicker Award for Excellence in Teaching. Alison is a published author and her passion lies in working with students and helping them learn to navigate their challenges.

Alison’s virtual office with social-emotional resources and library for parents/guardians may be found at: Virtual Office SEL Resources