Ben Curtiss

Ben Curtiss

Public High School Teacher

[email protected]

Lessons Learned

• Working with children in a public-school setting exposes me to some of the worst parts of human behavior and it is heartbreaking, but showing up for children is always worth the ensuing pain.
• The biggest mitigating factor in helping children heal from trauma is the quality and amount of positive, supportive, attentive, and attuned relationships they have with caring adults.
• It’s not what you know, it’s how you are that makes a difference in helping people recover from trauma.

Resources Developed

• https://nmestatecheckin.com/ A project that has fizzled out, but we used it as a tool to check in with students about their state, and track baseline states over time. We demonstrated the site to Dr. Perry, but nothing ever came of the project. At one point, we were able to identify two suicidal students and get them support
• https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TgVmkK86OqIWLx9MlDartfkVRMhif0p… Book study and student designed activities for a .5 credit psychology course at the high school level. Half of the class working on this were students in a level D, EDP self-contained setting. The other half were from a public high school in the same district.
• https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Mt2aoNM3mf7nT4h2tVMNt8y104P7XJJ… Student created lesson about the states in NME analogous to super heroes.

Suggested Resources

• Dr. Bruce Perry - NM Founder (https://www.neurosequential.com/ourteam )
• Ross Greene - Lost at School Livesinthebalance.org  ( https://livesinthebalance.org/connect/#get-in-touch )
• Dr. Amy Curtiss - School Psychologist ( [email protected] )

Collaborative Areas of Interest

• How to effectively implement district wide interventions of trauma informed practices. 
• How to design an effective and long-lasting NME intervention for a school.
• Being that pocket of innovation and staying the course when people around you don’t get it.