Many mentors have experienced, at one time or another, a mentee who just couldn’t sit still, had endless energy, and lacked the ability to focus.  While these behaviors are sometimes associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the disorder...

CONNECTION Positive bonds with people, including peers, family, school, and community, that provide a sense of structure, safety, and belonging Spend time learning each other’s likes and interests and connect over shared interests or experiences.   Follow the child’s...

How Does Trauma Affect The Brain?Trauma causes the brain to function from the “survival center.” Trauma responses come from the autonomic nervous system. When students are faced with a perceived threat they will go into a flight, fight, or freeze response. These...

SensitivityHigh sensitivity children are like radios with the antennas up, only they are not picking up just one station but ALL the stations at once. Sensitive children may notice everything from the tag in their tee-shirt to the temperature of their milk. They often...

The words guilt and shame are often used interchangeably, but there are major psychological differences between the two: Guilt is a common feeling of emotional distress that signals us when our actions or inactions have caused or might cause harm to another person....

Most of us are familiar with grief. It is often something we are comfortable showing and thus sharing. It entails feelings of sadness and often loss. Trauma on the other hand is something that often remains hidden, something that is dealt with privately, many times...

For a full length article on The Anger Iceberg, go to The Gottman Institute website.

Emotional and psychological trauma is the result of extraordinarily stressful events that shatter one’s sense of security. For our mentees, witnessing a parent’s arrest, being physically removed from home to live with a relative or an unfamiliar foster parent, not...