Teresa Brown, Superintendent, Jennings County School Corporation
“In the spring of 2018, we surveyed our high school students and discovered many of our Jennings County students reported having secret struggles. Students cited concerns about family dynamics, academic challenges, personal safety, food scarcity, and many other daily challenges. As a staff of educators, we knew that we needed to provide our students with support in areas outside of our own knowledge and comfort zones. To develop our capacity to support our students, we reached out to Amy Abell and asked her to share her TBRI training with us. Amy has now trained all of our elementary staff, bus drivers, cafeteria and custodial staff in the brain research behind TBRI and ways to connect with students and build relationships. Our secondary staff will be trained in the winter of 2020. Having this focus as a district has allowed us to have a common language and background, which is necessary before you can enact change. Amy models TBRI strategies when working with our staff. This isn’t just a career for Amy. This work is her calling. Her passion and kindness are a part of every training. Amy has positively impacted our school district and community by providing us with tools to use to reshape how we connect with one another and our students. I know when we release staff to work with Amy, it will be time well spent and will positively impact our ability to better serve our students. We are still learning and evolving with this work, but we are moving forward together. I highly recommend Amy Abell!”