Hybrid Conference – Building a Strong Foundation for School Mental Health – April 1, 2025

April 1, 2025 @ 8:15 am – 2:30 pm

Registration: 8:15 – 8:45 am
Conference: 8:45 am – 2:30 pm

In person registration closed. Virtual registration closes March 31, 2025 at 11:59 pm.

Attend In Person or Via Zoom

Minuteman Regional Vocational Technical School
758 Marrett Rd.
Lexington, MA 02421

To receive PDPs, participants must attend this conference and the conference, Cutting Edge ADHD – Real World Evidence-Based Care, on March 24, 2025. Members can participate in-person, virtually or by viewing the recording. Following the live conference, registrants will be emailed a link to view the recorded conference. The recording will be made available for 10 days after the conference.

Speakers

Description

This conference will focus on creating trauma-sensitive classrooms to support all students’ social and emotional well-being. Participants will gain actionable tools to drive mental health system development, starting with practical steps for classroom and school-level change. Participants will delve into the Trauma-Sensitive Classrooms Strategy Guide to learn how to embed universal, consistent, and skillful trauma-informed practices into daily classroom routines. Additionally, Dr. Wendy Bamatter, an expert in supporting youth with emotional dysregulation difficulties, will share insights to improve our understanding of the factors that contribute to emotion dysregulation, followed by strategies to address the dysregulation effectively within the school setting. Medway School Superintendent Dr. Armand Pires and Director of Wellness Dr. Ryan Sherman will also preview their new book, which explores why public schools must take an active role in student mental health—an area once considered outside the scope of education—and emphasize the need for schools to build internal capacity to effectively support students’ well-being. Finally, the session will also tackle the growing challenge of chronic absenteeism. Practitioners from across the state will share proven strategies to address school avoidance and improve student attendance.

About the Speakers

John Crocker, M.Ed., (he/him) has worked in public education for fifteen years, primarily as the administrator for the Methuen Public Schools Counseling Department. He has overseen the planning and implementation of the “Mental Health Initiative,” which has focused on the establishment of a comprehensive school mental health system (CSMHS) in partnership with the National Center for School Mental Health (NCSMH). John has worked with the NCSMH as a member of the National School Mental Health Task Force and as the Massachusetts team leader for the National Coalition for the State Advancement of School Mental Health (NCSA-SMH). In his role as the Director of School Mental Health & Behavioral Services, he is charged with overseeing the district-wide implementation and evaluation of Methuen’s CSMHS and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). His work has focused on developing a district-wide system of universal mental health screening, advancing the use of psychosocial data to inform school mental health staff’s therapeutic practice, and the development and evaluation of the CSMHS in Methuen. He has worked to scale up evidence-based therapeutic services across Methuen through the provision of district-wide professional development and the design and implementation of group- and individual-therapy programs. Jonn founded the Massachusetts School Mental Health Consortium (MASMHC), a group of approximately one-hundred and seventy school districts across Massachusetts committed to advocating for and implementing quality and sustainable school mental health services and supports. Most recently, MASMHC co-led the Massachusetts Collaborative for Improvement and Innovation Network (CoIIN) for Comprehensive School Mental Health, the School Mental Health Leadership Institute, and Thriving Minds, a professional development series focused on building comprehensive school mental health systems. He received the National Center for School Mental Health’s School Mental Health Champion Award in 2018 and was nominated the 2019 Massachusetts School Counselors Association (MASCA) Administrator of the Year, the 2020 – 2021 Massachusetts Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Counselor of the Year, and the 2021 Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) Michael J. Kane Wellness Award recipient.

Laura Cinelli (she/her) joined the Rennie Center with a background in education policy and on-the-ground experience at both the classroom and district levels. In her role at Rennie, she oversees a variety of initiatives including Thriving Minds, which aims to advance comprehensive school mental health systems in education systems across Massachusetts. Prior to joining Rennie, Laura served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Boston Public Schools, where she worked closely with the School Committee to lead district policy-making and managed cross-departmental projects such as a working group on measuring school quality. Laura is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, where she participated in the policy clinic of the Harrison Institute for Public Law and served as an intern in the education policy office of the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Before law school, she taught fourth grade at Ira J. Earl Elementary School in Las Vegas, Nevada and earned a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Amanda Chung (she/her) joined the Rennie Center shortly after receiving a Master’s in Public Affairs from the LBJ School at the University of Texas at Austin. Her desire to engage with K-12 education policy is largely inspired by her time as an AmeriCorps tutor at a middle school in Boston. Amanda’s fulfilling experience working with sixth grade students, combined with past volunteer involvement, contributed to her interest in education accessibility. Amanda’s work as an economic development consultant for rural universities reinforced the value of qualitative data and stakeholder engagement to better understand the needs of a community. An appreciation for community connection has been a key pillar in Amanda’s work history, as she has led outreach efforts for many private, public, and non-profit organizations. Before her Master’s program in Texas, Amanda received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley where she studied Political Science, Public Policy, and Journalism.

Wendy P. Bamatter, Ph.D., (she/her) is the founding Program Director of McLean Hospital’s Child Partial Hospital Program. Prior to this role, she served as Program Director of McLean’s 3East Cambridge Residence and before that, as a Staff Psychologist within the 3East DBT Intensive Residential Program at McLean. As a licensed clinical psychologist, Dr. Bamatter works primarily with children, adolescents, young adults and their families. She has developed expertise in treating individuals struggling with emotion dysregulation, non-suicidal self-injury, and suicide ideation and behaviors. She has also focused significant efforts on providing, and training others in the provision of, gender-affirming care to transgender and gender diverse individuals. She also has extensive training in delivering culturally sensitive individual and family therapy in Spanish.

Armand Pires, Ph.D., (he/him) has served as a superintendent of schools in Medway, Massachusetts since 2015. He is also currently serving as President of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents and supports principals in training as an associate lecturer at Curry College. Armand has written articles and presented at conferences on student mental health, supporting assistant principals, and superintendent/school committee relationships. He also co-authored a recently published book, From Surviving to Thriving: Resources and Practical Strategies for New, Aspiring, and Veteran Superintendents.

Ryan Sherman, Ph.D., (he/him) has been Medway School’s Director of Wellness for the last nine years.  Ryan is the author of several peer-reviewed behavioral health research studies and a senior professor of social and emotional learning at Bay Path University. Dr. Sherman was the recipient of the MIAA Wellness Coordinator of the Year Award and the Massachusetts General Hospital Innovation Award.  Ryan resides in Massachusetts with his wife, two children, and boxer.

Wilson Giles Stecher, B.A., (he/him) is a Child and Adolescent Post-Baccalaureate Clinical Fellow at McLean Hospital’s Child Partial Hospital Program (C-PHP). Wilson graduated from Colby College in May 2024 with degrees in Neuroscience and Spanish. At Colby, Wilson served as the Officer of Operations and Personnel for Colby Emergency Response, a student-led EMT service. Wilson also led Outdoor Outreach, a club devoted to encouraging youth’s engagement in nature. Colby awarded Wilson with the “Civic Leadership Award” for his leadership efforts.

Membership Information

Most MPY webinars are available ONLY to current staff from member districts and organizations. Public school memberships include police and fire personnel. Former and retired employees and members of committees, including but not limited to, PTO/PTA, PAC, School Improvement Councils, Health Councils, Drug/Alcohol Councils, and school volunteers, are not considered MPY members.

PDPs and CEUs

MPY is an approved Professional Development Provider through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education (Provider No. F20180079). Professional Development Points (PDPs) are offered for most MPY professional development webinars. PDPs are issued in 10 hour increments, per DESE requirements.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are available for clinical staff through the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the Massachusetts Mental Health Counselors Association, Inc. (MaMHCA). The NASW and the MaMHCA approve each event individually. CEUs may be given in hourly increments.

To receive PDPs and CEUs, participants must pass the quiz. The PDP quiz will be made available only to participants who have registered for and attended both conferences.

Event Cancellation Policy

If you are unable to attend a MPY webinar you must cancel, through Bonnie Mullen at bonnie@mpyinc.org, one business day before the webinar.

For MPY hybrid conferences, the date in-person registration closes will be posted on MPY’s website. Virtual conference registration will close one business day before the hybrid conference. You cannot cancel or switch your registration from in-person to virtual after in-person registration closes. Please email Bonnie Mullen at bonnie@mpyinc.org with any questions regarding registration.