 Lakeland Currents, your public affairs program for North Central Minnesota, produced by Lakeland PBS with host Bethany Wesley. Production funding for Lakeland Currents is made possible by Bemidji Regional Airports, serving the region with daily flights to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport for information available at BemidjiAirport.org. Closed captioning for Lakeland Currents is sponsored by Niswa Tax Service, tax preparation for businesses and individuals, online at NiswaTax.com. Welcome back to Lakeland Currents, I'm Bethany Wesley. Tonight, we're going to spotlight a Bemidji-based nonprofit that has been working to build peace skills throughout the region. From social and emotional learning skills to mindfulness training, to presentations on cultural responsiveness, peacemaker resources aims to foster communication, compassion, and connection to build respectful relationships and healthier communities. The organization has a range of programs and services available, each with its own targeted audience and intended outcomes. Here to talk us through what exactly peacemaker resources does and why are educators Lindsay McMurran and Charlene Zeman-Sperly. Welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having us. When you first meet somebody and they hear that you work for peacemaker resources, how do you kind of introduce what that is and what the organization does? Well, I have to say that when people ask me what peacemaker does, I always have to take a deep breath because I feel like it's very lengthy and it's hard to explain. I think people don't really necessarily know what social and emotional learning is, so I always, I feel like I have to take a few steps back, think about what the elevator speech is going to be. And then we start talking about, really it's about building relationships and it's about the skills needed to build healthier communities and stronger individuals. And so really it's that the skills needed to be able to do that. And so we do that in many different ways. Okay. How long have you been with Peacemaker Resources? I've been with Peacemaker now for about five years. Okay. And what is your role there? I'm a prevention specialist. Okay. And what does that mean to you? In addition to the social, emotional skill building and competencies that the rest of the folks focus on at Peacemaker Resources, I also take a look at some of the other types of skill building and prevention around a variety of different areas in terms of childhood trauma, as well as how all of that feeds into the bigger picture of growing up and living happy and healthy. Okay. How long have you been with Peacemaker Resources? This is my sixth year that I've been there. And what is your role there? I'm a social and emotional learning specialist. So I'm an elementary ed teacher by profession. And I go into the classrooms and I teach the skills of social and emotional learning to students. Okay. So how long has Peacemaker Resources been around though? Cause it predates both of you to a degree. Yeah. So in 2003, Peacemaker Resources became a nonprofit in Bemidji and it was founded with this idea of prevention. We know that all of these things are happening, particularly in Beltrami County. I think around that time, there was an article that came out in the newspaper that said Beltrami County was the crime capital of rural Minnesota. And we know that if we can predict that these things are going to happen, we know somewhere in there is prevention. And so Peacemaker Resources was founded by Candy Robert Sulter with the idea that what are the skills that people need to be able to prevent these problems from happening in our region? Okay. So we're going to try to hit kind of the gamut here in terms of hitting a little bit of everything. So, and we're gonna try to layer it kind of piece of time. And to start with, perhaps what is easiest to understand is the social and emotional learning piece. And so, Charlene, when you say you're a social and emotional learning teacher, what does that mean? What is social and emotional learning? What is that? So, social and emotional learning has kind of five core competencies. And those are self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, relationship building and responsible decision-making. And I know those are kind of five really big kind of core competencies, but really it's what are the skills that I need to be a happy and healthy individual, but then how else can I relate to other people and how can I make good decisions for myself? And so it's really, I know people think that it's something that, you know, don't you just learn this by trial and error, which I think is how Lindsay learned and probably how you learned and how I learned social and emotional learning was really just going out and trial by fire, making lots of mistakes and then learning from those mistakes. But really what we're finding is that there are some really explicit teaching, the explicit teaching of some skills that would really be helpful for children and for adults to be able to manage these life situations that they have. Okay. So when people ask, well, don't you kind of get it as you, like we all got them, right? At some degree, you get them. So why teach them? I mean, if we're, if at some point we kind of start to learn those things, what is the advantage in going out and actually teaching these things? Well, you know, I'm, you know, the age I am. And, and, you know, thinking about like, wow, I've had 41 and a half years of trying and failing. It would have been a lot easier if when I was in kindergarten, someone would have just taught me how to do that, right? You know, if someone would have just said, here, learn algebra by trial and error, you wouldn't have been very successful. You know, it's really great if you have people who are modeling those skills for you, who are working you through those skills that you need and really teaching you those skills and encouraging you to use them. And so that's really what I do is I give teachers those skills and I give students those skills just to make their lives a lot easier. And really it's been proven that when students have these skills, they believe in themselves. They have more self-confidence. They feel like they fit in with school better. And then what happens because of that is, you know, there's less behavior problems. So then there's more time to teach the academics. So then academic scores actually go up when students have the social and emotional learning skills because teachers are spending less time dealing with behavior problems and kids are feeling like they're a part of the community. So then they wanna do better. And so really taking the time and the resources needed to teach social and emotional learning really help improve the school-wide climate and culture and academic scores. Okay, so is there a key age? Is there like that target age where you start teaching this? You mentioned kindergarten. Is it older? Do you start and build on them? Well, you know, it's funny because everyone says like, teach kindergarten teachers need to know what social and emotional learning is and the students at that age really need to learn it. But then kindergarten teachers say they really need to learn it in preschool. And preschool teachers say it really needs to be start with the parents. So really, I mean, it does start with parents and it starts at home hopefully teaching those social and emotional learning skills. So that when students come to school, they have kind of a basis of those social and emotional learning skills. I think it helps when you start in kindergarten because then you can build on, just like math, you learn the basic skills and as you get older, those skills get harder. It's the same with social and emotional learning. It's really great if they can start it in kindergarten and it goes all the way up to their education. So with the schools that you work with, is it how often do you go? What is the frequency? Does it depend on the school or on? It really depends on the school. I mean, ultimately it depends on funding. Right now we are working, we have a contract with BRIC, which is Bemidji Regional Inter-District Council, thank you, which is a organization that, or a district that offers special ed services. And they are in 12 different schools in Northwest Minnesota. And we are providing 10 social and emotional learning lessons to those schools, 30 minutes each lesson. And 10 is just a kind of a random number, I suppose. We can do 15, we can do 20. But 10 lessons we felt like was enough to really kind of give the teachers and the students a really strong foundation. And then, yeah. So then, okay, so you go and you visit, right? You teach and you give these 30 minute lessons and you provide, not just then, to the students, but then also the teachers as well. So do the teachers reinforce what you teach when you're not there? Yeah, that's the hopes and plans. So we're kind of using it as a professional development model where we are the models of the social and emotional learning lesson and the teachers are also participating. So they get to sit with us and they sit with their class and they participate and are learning the skills at the same time as their students. And then, with the hopes that when we're not there that they are reinforcing those skills and encouraging the students to use them and modeling the skills for the students. Okay. So how do those messages then get passed on or is there a way then that parents can also hear what they're learning and reinforce then within their own homes? So that's an area that we're really trying to strengthen is the parent relationship piece. Currently we do some family nights to try to get parents those skills. Really we're relying on the teachers in that classroom to pass the message on to the parents and what's going on. And really we're getting really great feedback from the teachers saying that parents are coming in and asking, what is the circle of hurt and circle of peace? Or my child was using five finger breathing. What is that? And where are they learning these skills? And it's great that they have them. So we're hearing from parents that the students are doing a really good job. Passing the message on to their parents. And that can be so powerful. One of the things that I've appreciated working for Peacemaker Resources is how much my professional life really supports my personal life and my relationships. I have two young sons as well. And many times my son will mention to me, mom, I think you're flipping your lid. It's one of the things that we talk about with brain development. He is seven years old now but has been talking like this for a few years now because of the information and lessons I was able to pass along to him. So when we allow our children the opportunity to better understand what is going on in their own minds and in addition to in their parents' minds when stressful situations are encountered, it can be so powerful for them as individuals as well to be able to recognize that and to remind mom that she maybe needs to take a deep breath before continuing on. Right, I mean it's not a bad thing for your parent, for a parent to just say, you know what, I'm frustrated right now, right to name it to kind of take ownership of it and say this is what I'm going through, right? And to say, you know, I'm frustrated right now, I need to take a break and we'll come back and talk about this when I've calmed down. I think that there's power in modeling that for your kids and knowing that, oh, mom is upset but she is gonna do something to calm herself down so that we can have a nice respectful conversation with one another where we're not feeling bad about what we did or what we said later. And I think there's a lot of power behind that. So it's empowerment for the parents as well as the children that we're working with. How much of SEL also is rooted then in mindfulness? You know, that's one of those words you hear a lot of these days, right? Mindful eating, mindful everything, right? So how much of SEL kind of is just being mindful of what you're doing and what you're feeling? I think a lot of it, I mean, I think a huge part of it is that awareness piece, being aware of how, you know, self-awareness, right? That's one of the core competencies and really that's what mindfulness is, is paying attention to yourself and being curious about why you're feeling that way. And I think that is a, mindfulness is really a foundational piece of it. It's just that awareness and teaching that awareness, like I notice in, you know, I have butterflies in my stomach. Why do I have those butterflies in my stomach? What can I do about those butterflies in my stomach? Right? Like, I'll be aware with that and then knowing and naming that. And I think people, you know, even though we live in Northern Minnesota and people don't, we always, you know, don't like to talk about our feelings in Northern Minnesota, but kids really do. I think they love having the permission to being able to talk about what's going on in their lives and their feelings. And they love having that power of being able to solve their own problems. So I think that, again, getting back to the mindfulness part, I think, you know, teaching that awareness piece is such a huge part. I wanna move a little bit off of social and emotional learning. I wanna talk about cultural responsiveness. And so perhaps as before we even start that, what is cultural responsiveness? Or how do you kind of define that, Lindsay? Sure. You know, culture is so central to who we are and how we experience the world around us. The ability to learn from and respectfully relate to other cultural backgrounds, heritages and traditions is so crucial to moving forward together as a society. Well, we may not always agree or do things the same way. I think being able to understand each other allows us to see things from a different perspective and perhaps find those points of intersection that help foster greater compassion and a willingness to really relate to one another on a deeper level. I think sometimes too, when we take the time to learn more about our own culture and how it influences how we think, what we do and what we say, it allows us to better understand how to navigate relationships and really support that respectful communication. And we know that that is really key to cultivating authentic connection with others. Okay. So what is Peacemaker's resources role with cultural responsiveness? Is it something you teach? Is it something you just provide a forum in which people can kind of struggle and kind of just kind of grapple with this until they understand it? What is your role? You know, there's several different ways that we kind of help that conversation around cultural responsiveness in our community. We've been approached many times from schools we work with to area agencies and organizations to be able to come in and talk about it. Oftentimes what people come to us for is this idea around diversity. However, we really like to talk about it and use the terminology cultural responsiveness because that responsiveness piece really indicates that not only are you learning something but you're also thinking about how you fit into that larger picture, how you can respond to the world around you and the different situations and people you may encounter in a way that really builds to the richness of whatever you're doing in your agency, organization, individual interactions. Okay, so if I'm understanding you correctly, correct me if I'm wrong, is that it's not just about being open to diversity or to having a diverse workforce or whatever, but it's also about being the back and forth, right? That you're learning from them, they're learning from you that you're both comfortable and you're expanding, right? Exactly, exactly. So is it hard to teach that? I mean, how do you go about trying to provide those skills? You know, a big part of it is providing the opportunity and the safe space to explore. Okay. I think so often, especially given our Minnesota nice culture we have here, people are much more comfortable talking about the weather or talking about the local sports team, which is understandable and that certainly provides an opening for connection and that's what this is really about. However, I think we really have a need in our society today to be able to be okay with being uncomfortable sometimes. And for some people, building skills on the right way to navigate those situations or the right way to talk about things that are difficult to talk about is really something that we feel is important to provide opportunity for skill building, to provide opportunity to engage, to really bring folks together. I think that we need more of that in today's world. So one example, I hope, is that Peacemaker Resources helps facilitate the Bemidji Area Truth Healing and Reconciliation Initiative. Yeah. So tell us what exactly that is and where it kind of came from. Sure. So the Bemidji Area Truth Healing and Reconciliation Initiative is really a grassroots, community-driven effort to promote truth-seeking, healing, and change in our community. Our initial focus is really on increasing understanding and building relationships among our area indigenous and non-indigenous communities. Okay. And so is this geared specifically at a certain target? Is it just open to the community in general or who's really kind of that target audience? You know, it's open to anybody who is willing to come and learn and listen and understand and grow. That's really the basis for the work that we're doing and the purpose of it all is to really be able to give people that opportunity to feel like they have a safe space to come to where we can start to tackle some of those difficult conversations. I think the more that we have an opportunity to interact with one another, the more opportunity then we have to understand each other better. And while our perspectives obviously are never all going to look the same, I think having the opportunity to be in the same space with people who are different from us and to be able to start really understanding why people believe the way they do or what historical influences have made folks interact in the way that they do, there's just so much to build upon. It's such a rich cultural heritage of our area that I think it's just a wonderful opportunity for folks to come together in a way that maybe we haven't before. Okay. Is this geared mostly toward adults or at least older individuals? You know, teens kind of an up? Yeah. We actually really try to have at least one event a year if not more to where folks can bring their families because that's part of it too. And how central is that to who we are as human beings to really find that connection when you're bringing your family together as well. So this past summer we had a coming together picnic where we just encouraged people to come and be together. So we try to do a wide variety of opportunities so all folks in our community can find a place in this larger work. Are there opportunities where you can start to kind of introduce concepts of cultural responsiveness with younger children? Most definitely. You know, in addition to the work that we do with the Bemidji Area Truth Healing and Reconciliation Initiative, we also have some other programming at Peacemaker Resources that really helps to provide that opportunity. Another area where I provide some work around the cultural responsiveness piece is with our students teaching area, students teaching attitudes of respect program. Okay. Yes, okay. And STAR is, it's a school-based program, right? Yes, it's a program where there's an advisor in 14 different school districts around Northwest Minnesota where they select a team of six or seven students that are in sixth or seventh grade that are the STAR leaders at their school. And we provide, it's a leadership program where the students come to a two-day camp at Concordia Language Villages that we host and we teach them the skills of social and emotional learning and we teach them how to teach their peers about social and emotional learning. So they then with their advisor go back to their schools and they prepare presentations and prepare activities for students at their school. So they then are the teachers of social and emotional learning. And it's our longest running program, Northwest Minnesota Foundation has been the funding source for that for many years, for almost 18 years now. And it really is a really great leadership program for the students of Northwest Minnesota. So this is in addition to, right? You go in the classrooms for your SEL teachings and then in addition, if it's the same districts, you would also perhaps have a STAR team on site, right? Right, and in some cases, the lessons overlap. I was in one school that a BRICS, part of BRICS schools, but it also has a STAR team and so they were able to really help implement the lesson. They did some skits for the class and it's really great having that pairing. I think students love seeing their peers in front of them and in some cases, if it's kindergarten, they love having the older kids come in and again, it's that time for community building, it's time for relationship building. It's great, especially, sixth, seventh and eighth grade are those identity building years and it's great for those students who are teaching the skills to see themselves as leaders and to see themselves as peaceful members of their community because I think that just will take them on then for the rest of their lives. Because then you're saying not only are the younger students, if it works younger and older, right? That the younger students are not only learning something from a peer, but then the peer themselves is learning an opportunity to how to be a leader, right? Right, absolutely. How important is it from your perspective to make sure that children, students have an opportunity to kind of take on leadership roles, right? Because so often they're told what to do, where to go. Is it an important part of their development that they have that opportunity to step up? Absolutely. I mean, again, it's so empowering, I think for students to be a leader and to know that they, and to give them that self-confidence to know that they can do hard things, that they can solve problems on their own. And I think especially in today's society where there's so much social pressure and a lot of stress and anxiety for them to know that they have the skills to be able to deal with all of the pressures that they have to deal with, I think is so important. I wanna touch on too, because not only do the students have a chance then to be leaders, but there is a specific program in place for girls, correct? Why is that, why is it unique that it's focused on girls, Lindsay? Or first of all, what's the program? I suppose we should name it. Sure, we have a program at Peacemaker called Girls Lead. Okay. And we really felt it's important to be able to empower young women to really step into leadership as well and to recognize and understand that they are a leader and who they already are. I think so often in our society, we're told we need to look or act a certain way in order to be considered a leader. What we want our young women to understand is that they already have everything they need right within them and in who they are and who they were made to be, to be successful in leadership positions and being leaders in their community in general. Okay. I think the great thing about that program, Girls Lead and with STAR, is that I think so many times we tell them, like if you're not good at music or if you're not good at sports or if you're not smart, then there's not much for you. And I think these programs really say there's so many different ways to be a leader and you have so many strengths and what that looks like. And I think that that is again the empowering part of that program. We're coming down to our final minutes here. So I don't think we're going to be able to give our final topic too much of attention as much as we wanted, but I do want to be able to touch on it. Some of the work that you do is with trying to help educate people about adverse childhood experiences, ACEs, correct? Lindsay, tell us a little bit about what ACEs is and why it's important that people kind of have a little bit of background about what that is. Sure, so adverse childhood experiences. There was a study in the early 90s and what it found was that adversity in childhood can have lasting health and social implications because of the impact that toxic stress has on the developing brain. This is important for a number of reasons. All of the other programming that we offer at Peacemaker Resources really builds upon the skills and the resiliency that's necessary in order to successfully navigate and overcome things that have happened to us earlier in life as well. The statistics around ACEs are staggering. Nearly two-thirds of all adults have at least one ACE. And those with four or more ACEs are at much greater risk for chronic disease, substance abuse, and mental health. What ACEs, the ACE study did was really to provide a framework and a way of talking about things that really brings together all of the different sectors, working on different problems in any given community. Okay, and so your role then, correct me when I'm wrong, is that you go out and kind of just explain kind of what you just told us, right? What they are, these are some of your ACEs, but then also why it's important to keep them in mind, right? Most definitely. And particularly in schools, correct? We've seen, there's been some studies that look at schools that have kind of embraced some of that and they've seen some pretty impressive statistics in terms of the children succeeding. Most definitely. I think one of the most powerful pieces of the work around ACEs is that it helps people shift perspective from what's wrong with you to what has happened to you. And now please understand, we're not saying everybody needs to be a therapist in order to have a positive effect in this area, but it's amazing what that perspective shift can do for a person in terms of increased compassion while still holding high expectations for a young person or an adult who is dealing with maybe a background of adversity. If I remember right, and I'm going to totally butcher this, Charlie, and you can jump in, but there was a story, I think you told once, about a student that was sent to a principal's office and was about to be punished. And the principal just said, I'm going to give you five minutes, right? To calm down. There was some kind of outburst. So the idea is this principal had an opportunity to learn about adverse childhood experiences and what was going on in their brain and knowing when it was appropriate time, when what's going on inside of them. And so when a student was sent to the principal's office, the principal was like, I know that you're not ready to deal with this right now. So again, was modeling some social emotional learning and saying, hey, let's calm ourselves down first and then we can have a discussion about this. Right, because nobody solves things, right? Your kid or your mom, when your butt and heads, right? It's not going to come to any kind of solution. Right, it only gets worse. Okay, interesting. All right, well again, I know we didn't spend nearly as much time as we could have. We could have done a whole show on ACEs, I'm sure. But listen, I want to thank you guys for coming in and talking to us. What I'm going to do is there's the website on the bottom of the screen. We'll take you to the Peacemaker Resources website. And from that, you can click on all their programming and learn about the programs. But then also through there, you can find click-throughs to other sites. We'll be able to better define some of those things we didn't quite have enough time to get to. So thank you ladies for coming in. I appreciate it. Thank you, please tune in next time.