A Clinical Psychologist's Tips for Creating Safe Schools Dahlia Topolosky

A Clinical Psychologist’s Tips for Creating Safe Schools

By Dahlia Topolosky

Recently, I led a session for fifth graders at a local private school on the topic, “Putting Yourself in Someone Else’s Shoes.” As part of the workshop, each child was invited to share an instance where they had felt disrespected (“Last week, a boy told me that I was the dumbest kid he ever met.”) and a peer was invited to reflect on what that student might have felt in that moment (“He must have felt really embarrassed.”).

Incorporating lessons into school curriculum, such as this one on empathy, can help children learn to respect others coming from various cultures, religions and socioeconomic backgrounds. As a result, they are less likely to engage in negative behaviors that can cause physical and emotional harm.

What else can we do to make our schools places where our children feel safe?

Too often I hear of stories of children who feel excluded, teased or bullied. Too often I hear from school staff that it’s difficult to monitor what happens between children outside of the classroom. While parents must continue to teach their children tools for responding to teasing or bullying, at the end of the day it is also the schools’ responsibility to create an environment where all children feel safe. Students should be able to feel at ease everywhere on campus— in the cafeteria, in the library, in the rest rooms, on the bus and on the playground.

While there are many steps that schools can take, here are a few suggestions for teaching the socio-emotional skills (like empathy) necessary to create safe environments for their students: • Run groups where students learn and are able to role-play the value of respect. • Improve training for school staff to keep an eye out for unkind or inappropriate behavior. • Provide better supervision in settings where there is little or no adult monitoring or supervision, such as bathrooms, the gym, playgrounds and the cafeteria. • Model respect in the way teachers speak to students and discuss religious or cultural differences. • Communicate clear consequences to students for mistreating others. • Facilitate friendships for students who have a hard time finding friends, and provide “jobs” for these students to do during lunch and recess so that they do not feel isolated.

Let us work harder as a community to ensure that all students feel safe. Along with our desire to equip students with strong academics and train them using advanced technology, it is our responsibility to emphasize the skills that foster a respectful learning space.

Dahlia Topolosky, PsyD. is a licensed psychologist who works with children, adolescents and adults at Integrative Therapy of Greater Washington, a private practice in Rockville, Maryland. She provides assessment for psychological and learning disorders and integrates a variety of techniques including person-centered therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness techniques, and expressive arts to address issues such as anxiety, stress, depression, trauma, PTSD and anger management. Dahlia runs groups for parents on effective parenting and implements socio-emotional curricula in schools. Dahlia enjoys singing and playing guitar and, most importantly, spending time with her husband and four children.

A Year of Growth at National Gaucher Foundation

At the age of four, Brian Berman, National Gaucher Foundation’s CEO, was diagnosed with type 1 Gaucher disease after suffering severe symptoms. The first person in the world to successfully receive enzyme

replacement therapy for Gaucher

disease, Mr. Berman’s personal journey from sick child to dynamic professional and married father of five has prepared him well for the leadership role he assumed in January 2016.

Under Mr. Berman’s leadership this past year, NGF added innovative programing, welcomed new staff, and ushered in a fresh vision for the community’s future. Mr. Berman set a dual focus for the organization: increasing services for Gaucher patients, and boosting efforts to educate the public about the disease.

BRIAN BERMAN’S VISION: FAST DIAGNOSIS & OPTIMIZED HEALTH

For decades, Mr. Berman has successfully worked with Gaucher specialists to create a personalized care plan and increase his own quality of life. So, when the staff of NGF surveyed the community early in 2016, he was surprised to learn that most members were not being seen by a Gaucher specialist. It took a new patient an average of five years to get a diagnosis, which he felt was “absurdly long.”

TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR HEALTH: SEEING A GAUCHER SPECIALIST

An NGF program launched last summer called the Optimal Health Initiative (OHI) encourages patients to see a Gaucher specialist and to take a proactive approach to their health. The concept comes straight from Mr. Berman’s life experience. After suffering throughout his childhood and teen years, he began a new health regimen during college, exercising regularly and taking a prescribed course of vitamins and minerals to balance the effects of Gaucher on his body. “A person needs to really understand how the disease is impacting their body, and to do that you need to be tested in a deep way by specialists,” says Mr. Berman.

With this vision as its guide, NGF has made key advances and had many proud moments in the past year.

Brian Berman, present day

He realized that NGF had to increase educational efforts, so that patients would get diagnosed and treated promptly. This led to a full-scale campaign, including creating videos and a new website with traffic coming from many new community members. “It’s really starting to work. It’s starting to get the word out there,” he says. This was coupled with an effort to inform key physician groups, such as hematologists and pediatricians, about Gaucher.

Expanding NGF’s patient services, including its flagship program offering financial assistance to patients and their families, is another priority. “I’m proudest of our biggest programs, which are Care and Care+Plus. They help so many people and do such great work,” he says.

NGF 2016: MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS

• The CARE Program offers Gaucher patients and their families aid with insurance premiums. The program has grown over the past year. Care+Plus, which helps with certain out-of-pocket expenses, was underused in the past.

Thanks to new funding, it was able to help more families in 2016. • The Optimal Health Initiative (OHI) encourages Gaucher patients to see a specialist who can track their health and adjust treatment. Since its launch, the initiative has already benefited many veteran and new members. A patient-

focused team is a key part of the program, so NGF has welcomed an optimal health advisor, a senior patient advocate and a medical liaison to the staff this past year. • NGF launched a campaign to educate the public and the medical community about

Gaucher disease with a new website, a newsletter (Gaucher Today), and advertising. • This year, for Gaucher Awareness Month in October, NGF focused on increasing education and awareness in the general community. An NGF-produced video,

Brian’s Story, went viral with almost two million unique views to date. • NGF teamed up with JScreen of Emory

University in Atlanta to provide no-out-ofpocket-cost Genetic Carrier Screening for a host of diseases, including Gaucher. • Members of the NGF community met and shared with one another at a patient meeting in New York City featuring Dr.

Pramod Kumar Mistry, a leading Gaucher expert. Brian Berman, age 4

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

In the coming year, NGF would like to reach out to young patients with type 1 Gaucher, and will continue its efforts to offer services to patients with type 2 and type 3 Gaucher, devastating forms of the disease. Key future goals include expanding the CARE programs and setting up a fellowship that specializes in Gaucher.

Whatever the future holds, NGF is headed in an exciting direction. “I’m proud of all the initiatives that we’ve executed,” says Mr. Berman, “but the thing I am most proud of is the clarity of purpose we now have.”