Lara Merchant’s passion is teaching young children the social and emotional skills needed in order to be successful in school. This includes responding to children with a trauma-informed approach, as Lara works with a population of children who live with chronic, toxic stress and trauma. It is this population that prompted Lara to complete her certification in Trauma-Informed Practices and Resiliency within her master’s program. These children drive Lara’s mission to ensure schools become trauma-transformed. An out-of-the-box thinker, Lara believes the agent for change will be trauma-informed towns, cities, and states.

RESOURCES RELATED TO THIS EPISODE

• Follow Lara Merchant on LinkedIn
• How Right Now
• Hawaii Mission Statement
• Equity-centered Trauma-informed Education: Transforming Classrooms, Shifting Systems by Alex Shevrin Venet 
• Restoring Sanctuary: A New Operating System for Trauma-Informed Systems of Care by Sandra L. Bloom & Brian Farragher
• Helping traumatized children learn: Creating and advocating for trauma-sensitive schools 

CREDITS
Theme Music by lesfm from Pixabay
Produced by ChatWithLeadersMedia.com