Trauma-Informed Practices at School: How to Support Children Exposed to Violence

Kimberley V. Newbill is the Attitude Behavior and Character (ABC) Coach for Welch Elementary School with the McDowell County Board of Education, Kimberley works in collaboration with school administration, counselors, nurses, psychologists, and specialists to address any identified at risk students. She assist students in shaping behavior and guiding them in making appropriate choices. She also serves as the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS) Coach where she assist the team with a behavioral framework grounded in evidence based interventions using the three-tiered support systems for students. She creates individualized behavior plans by recognizing the differences of each student. She has also worked with at-risk students in Savannah, Georgia as a collaborative effort to increase test scores and graduation rates while decreasing the juvenile delinquency rate. She received her Master’s in Social Work from Howard University and her Bachelor of Arts in History from Marshall University.

Eleanor Davis works in the Public Education Campaigns & Programs department at Futures Without Violence, where she develops national violence prevention initiatives that engage a variety of audiences including youth, men and boys, health care providers, and educators. Eleanor is proud to have been on the team that launched Changing Minds™, a national campaign to highlight the science of childhood trauma, and support school-based professionals helping children heal and thrive. Eleanor graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in Sociology and Performance Studies, and uses her diverse background in arts-based education, digital marketing, and social justice advocacy to build violence prevention initiatives that inspire people and move them to action. Eleanor is currently a student at the University of California, Berkeley where she is completing a Master’s degree in Public Health.