Ginger Healy MSW, LCSW is a clinical social worker with almost 30 years of experience in the field of social work. Ginger has worked as a child abuse investigator, hospital social worker, and school therapist. She spent 15 years as the social service supervisor at an international adoption agency and was able to travel to provide support for orphanages all over the world. This job taught her so much about attachment and trauma needs in children. She currently works as the program director for the Attachment and Trauma Network where she co-anchors the podcast “Regulated & Relational” and speaks across the nation on trauma-informed schools, therapeutic parenting, and community engagement. She is also the author of 15-Minute Focus: Regulation and Co-Regulation. She is married with four children who have been her greatest teachers about developmental trauma and special needs. She loves to travel and read.
Ginger brings hope into classrooms by teaching the importance of educator regulation and co-regulation strategies. Ginger makes neuroscience accessible and shares the three steps of the regulation cycle that can bring calm and healing into the classroom. She demonstrates how regulation of the educator’s nervous system is crucial in managing the behaviors and big feelings in the classroom while sharing easy-to-implement strategies that can work for any child. This session will empower educators to lower the stress levels of both students and themselves.
Ginger discusses and explains trauma-sensitive schools – what they are and what the paradigm shift surrounding them looks like. She helps attendees understand the pervasiveness of trauma and its impact on student learning and teaches how to recognize the signs and respond with a trauma-sensitive approach to avoid re-traumatization. This session will provide participants with strategies to implement in the classroom that support students through safety, regulation, and connection.
Ginger makes neuroscience fascinating and fun as she explores strategies that re-wire a child’s brain from chaos to calm. Ginger gives an experiential lesson on the hand- brain model that empowers children to manage their feelings and behaviors, moving them out of shame and into post-traumatic growth. This session will introduce participants to brain basics that are essential to understanding in order to shape educator response to behaviors.
What exactly is burnout? How do you know when you are approaching it, and can it be avoided? Ginger explores self-care and community care strategies while teaching how to complete the stress cycle. Ginger will teach research-based implementations that can be put into place immediately and will help educators start on the road to healing. This session is dedicated to “all the givers” who will walk away inspired and energized with a concrete plan to move forward.
Ginger discusses the importance of “felt-safety” and creating safe spaces in the classroom and throughout the entire school building. Ginger will break down how to create a calm kit and regulation room and will also share dos and don’ts for each. Participants will walk away with a How-To formula, including a list of rules, a list of supplies, and a new lens of thinking when it comes to behavior management.
Ginger discusses attachment- what it is, how it’s developed, and why it’s important for academic success. She explores buffer relationships and attunement to student needs. She digs into teacher triggers and how to look at behaviors that get under our skin. Ginger will offer strategies for removing barriers that block academic success and emotional healing. Participants will make a paradigm shift in understanding behaviors and be able to implement strategies to help children reach academic success and get on the path to healing adversities.
