Shownotes
What happens when neuroscience, education, and hope come together in the classroom? In this episode, we sit down with Steven Rippe—an experienced educator, principal, and leader in designing innovative, nationally recognized schools—and Katrina Johnson, a clinical social worker, therapeutic recreation specialist, and certified Brainspotter rooted in both the Driftless and the healing arts.
Together, Steven and Katrina explore how Brainspotting is transforming schools by creating safe, supported spaces where students’ voices are honored and their resilience nurtured. They share stories of innovation, the realities behind the perception that “everything is fine,” and why test scores don’t tell the whole story. From prevention to intervention to post-vention, they offer a powerful vision of how hope, neuroscience, and advocacy can help students blossom and bring their unique gifts forward.
If you’ve ever wondered how we can reimagine education, support youth through today’s challenges, and build joyful learning communities that last—this conversation will inspire you.
Steven brings over 25 years of experience helping individuals and teams design and lead innovative, engaging schools. A successful educator, principal, and university administrator, he partners with students and educators to create nationally recognized schools and high-performing, joyful learning communities—grounded in the transformative power of hope.
Katrina holds an MS in Therapeutic Recreation from UW–La Crosse, an MSW in Clinical and School Social Work from UW–Madison, and is a Certified Brainspotter. A pioneer in prevention, intervention, and post-vention, she brings a clinical lens to innovative approaches that foster healing and resilience. Rooted in the Driftless as a mom and dairy farmer, she is also a dedicated crafter of hope. With a love for rhubarb, tap dance, and weaving joy into her work, Katrina embodies persistence, advocacy, and science in every circle she joins.
Want to know how you can begin your journey to hope and healing? Visit Elevated Life Academy for classes and free resources for personal development and healing.
Resources:
Guest Links:
https://www.connectstrength.com
https://www.myvoice4hope.com -- launching December 2025
Transcripts
00;00;07;25 - 00;00;39;10
Narrator
Hello and welcome to Cherie Lindberg's Elevated Life Academy. Stories of hope and healing. Through raw and heartfelt conversations, we uncover the powerful tools and strategies these individuals use to not only heal themselves, but also inspire those around them. Join us on this incredible journey as we discover the human spirit's remarkable capacity to heal, find hope in the darkest of moments, and ultimately live an elevated life.
00;00;39;13 - 00;01;02;19
Cherie Lindberg
Welcome to another episode of The Elevated Life Academy, and I am your host, Cherie Lundberg, and we are going to have a exciting and well-rounded conversation on brain spotting in the schools, and hope and how they have interweave themselves, and some wonderful ideas that are going to be moving forward. We all hope for the community and for schools.
00;01;02;19 - 00;01;20;15
Cherie Lindberg
And so my guests today are Katrina and Steven, and I'm going to let them introduce themselves. And I'm going to ask you to start, Steven. And then we'll have Katrina. And then she can also share the authentic story of how the two of you met and how you've been building from hope and from brain spotting in the school.
00;01;20;15 - 00;01;23;05
Cherie Lindberg
So welcome both of our guests today.
00;01;23;07 - 00;01;46;20
Steven Rippe
Well, thanks for having us. It's a joy to be here and really important that we are talking about this work. My name is Steve Ripper. My students call me Doctor Ripper. I've been a teacher all my life. I've been a principal. I'd been a university administrator and what I've spent the last 25 years doing is working with my students and staff around the country, growing and measuring hope.
00;01;46;22 - 00;02;10;26
Steven Rippe
And as I've been doing this work, it's always been important. But even in the last five years, it's accelerated in its importance. And I had the opportunity to meet Katrina and you a while back, and it really helped solidify our work and take it to a whole nother level. And I'm excited to talk about that today.
00;02;10;28 - 00;02;15;04
Cherie Lindberg
Yes. Thank you. And Katrina, please introduce yourself.
00;02;15;07 - 00;02;55;02
Katrina Johnson
Thanks, Sheree. I am very happy to be talking about all things for the recipe, the alchemy of brain spotting in schools. It's transformative and I think we have everywhere to go to start to have people learn about brains, funding in schools and support them, because I really think it's the answer. I've been a innovative pioneer and it started with therapeutic recreation and then an Lcsw w a working at Poly Trauma, and the VA is working on the East Coast and moving back into rural Wisconsin, where my roots are.
00;02;55;04 - 00;03;28;27
Katrina Johnson
And what I learned about our rural access to care is that it's there's a lot of gaps. So over the last eight years I've worked with, I'm a regional trainer for Sources of Strength, and I've written almost $2 million of awarded grant cuts for school based mental health, with about 15 schools in our area. What I've found is very few people could articulate their definition or their day to day practices of what is help.
00;03;29;00 - 00;04;08;03
Katrina Johnson
And about three years ago, Steven and I were connected by a mutual colleague, and rightfully we were. We were so excited that what you do this and you do this. I've been searching for this for 30 years. That's right. And the reason we so excited is it's like the missing piece of hope and being able to honor the voice of youth in any age, but most specifically honor the voice or the curiosity of youth in a safe, supportive environment.
00;04;08;06 - 00;04;24;12
Katrina Johnson
And then you start to see and hear all these stories come up about. I've always wanted to do that. This was the best day of my school life. What can we do next? And and here we are wondering, what do we do with this now?
00;04;24;15 - 00;04;51;28
Cherie Lindberg
So so beautiful. And when I'm listening to the two of you, I just think about, you know, when you talk about honoring their voices like they are our future and so we not just because of our hearts, but also I feel we have if we take this really seriously, we have an obligation. They are our future. They are going to be bringing their creative minds.
00;04;52;00 - 00;05;13;02
Cherie Lindberg
They're the ones that are going to be solving things. They're the ones that are going to be able to look at it with a different lens. And so when we can hold that creative space and bring in hope, help them blossom so that they can bring their gifts forward. So I just want to you had written to me and shared a couple things.
00;05;13;02 - 00;05;35;07
Cherie Lindberg
I just want to make sure I read this and then we'll invite you both to share from your perspective. So the perception out there is that everything is okay. And in the schools, however, 40% of youth and adults are represented on the website as if all is good. But looking at the test scores and the teens, what would you what would you share about that?
00;05;35;07 - 00;05;36;02
Cherie Lindberg
Katrina.
00;05;36;04 - 00;05;39;19
Katrina Johnson
Well, I'm invite Steven to introduce that and I'll I'll chime in.
00;05;39;21 - 00;06;05;13
Steven Rippe
Yeah, sure. Because we've been researching this for 25 years and really going, significantly into this work. And I want to first begin by saying two things. One is, is that our schools are doing the best they can. They really are. There's amazing heroes out there working it and putting in that extra effort. It's really the system isn't complete.
00;06;05;17 - 00;06;30;12
Steven Rippe
We you know, we're using an old modeled system and we have all this new approach and technologies and our teachers and our administrators, they don't have the ability to do this for a variety of reasons within their system. So I want to begin with that. And then I also want to say I'm representing a collective of amazing people like Brandon, Jim, Peter and I, Tunisia.
00;06;30;12 - 00;06;55;18
Steven Rippe
And I could go on and on. So I'm the voice. It's really our collective work with Katrina that I'm speaking. So what we found is that schools, it's like thirds. There's a third that love school. It really works for them. They figured it out. They they they know that what the teacher is doing and what the task wants is they know how to get to that.
00;06;55;20 - 00;07;25;22
Steven Rippe
And so they're happy. And then there's another third that that school is confusing. It's not what they hoped it to be. There's a rub and they're compromised almost all the time. That group learns how to deal with the compromise and swallow it like a bitter pill. And then there's a third that absolutely, it's just awful. And when you ask people as adults, they they talk about how school was awful.
00;07;25;24 - 00;07;48;06
Steven Rippe
You talk about people who committed to playing musical instruments in band. And the day it stopped was the day they stopped playing. Right. And so one of the things about it, as researchers and there's plenty of research you can cite to see how engagement drops around middle school and stays low all the way to adulthood, all the way to adulthood.
00;07;48;06 - 00;08;16;16
Steven Rippe
Right. And so what happens is schools. And, you know, I was an administrator. I get it. You need to you need to create a positive culture. So what we do is we take that 40% and we make it seem like it's everyone, when in reality it's not. And because resources are limited, we end up doing this thing where we are supporting that 40% pretty fully, and then the support dramatically goes down for everybody else.
00;08;16;16 - 00;08;42;24
Steven Rippe
Right? And so what happens is that there's a real need to create joy and hope in all the kids and the staff, because what's affecting the students affects the staff or vice versa. Right. And so really what we're doing and in our hope work is we help people be able to find and own their voice, which most of us think we do.
00;08;42;26 - 00;09;04;22
Steven Rippe
But when we really practice and look at it and then really help people to understand that goals are something they own and they need to create. Right. And just as a, as a point, the whole idea of Smart goals, I get it. I'm an administrator, I get it smart goals. But if you don't own those goals or believe in those goals, that's evil.
00;09;04;24 - 00;09;31;13
Steven Rippe
Now you've got to rub that even went deeper because you don't believe in the goal. And now you have. Now you've got a systematic way that you have to do it. So just I just invite people to think about that and the safety that that's jeopardized by not having voice. So what we've been doing is working with kids and adults to understand what these elements look like, but you have to embed it with experiences so they practice it.
00;09;31;15 - 00;09;50;06
Steven Rippe
That's the key. Social emotional learning isn't about a verbal thing where you stand and you say, this is how it works and this is what you need, or maybe having a circle and then you talk about it, which would be better. But what you need to do is develop experiences. And this is why I ran the center for Experiential Learning at the University of Minnesota.
00;09;50;06 - 00;10;22;11
Steven Rippe
This is we learn to design experiences that accelerate certain topics. Right. And it's brilliant. Whether it's a mental health issue or an educational target. Right. The standard and what I want to say is that it's that combination of experiential learning, practice and reflection is what brought me to work with Katrina and then see the gateway of brain spotting, because as we work on it, this students and staff really enjoy this.
00;10;22;13 - 00;10;44;19
Steven Rippe
And that's the important thing, is now we help people understand you have a voice, let's strengthen it. Right. You have ideas. You what are those? Let's include those into your goals or our overall goals. And how can we create a pathway? So when you fall down or it gets foggy and you're lost, you have the tenacity or the ability to keep going forward.
00;10;44;25 - 00;11;08;01
Steven Rippe
Now the crux move here is along the way, what we discovered is there are students and staff that really need to tell their story. It's like a cathartic release. If you will, and they need that ability to have a safe zone and the right environment where people can say, what do you think? What do you love about school?
00;11;08;01 - 00;11;33;01
Steven Rippe
What do you struggle with? What are some challenges you've had? And then when I experienced the brain spotting and I did the level one training and my, my neurons in my brain just went crazy for you. Like, if you want to a neurological explosion, try this brain spotting. Right. And what's interesting about it for me. And now I'll, I'll just take it off.
00;11;33;01 - 00;11;50;12
Steven Rippe
Is that so we grow hope we do it nationally. We do it with schools. We do it staff and students. It's really cool. But then what we realized is there's a tipping. There's a tipping point that you get people to grow and own their hope. And then when they get to a certain point, it seems like it's activated, right.
00;11;50;12 - 00;12;12;03
Steven Rippe
And for some of our folks, they really need what Katrina brings to this, this table, which is, is being able to talk about their experience, what it mattered to them without anyone else adding their input or perspective and letting that holding space for what is important to them.
00;12;12;09 - 00;12;17;19
Cherie Lindberg
Beautiful. Wow. Really well said. Katrina, what would you like to add to that?
00;12;17;21 - 00;12;50;29
Katrina Johnson
Again, complimenting schools for all of the gaps that they tried to overcome and and the amazing hearts and efforts from communities to help schools. And here's where I'd like to shine a light of opportunity for innovation. For example, in my county in Crawford County, Wisconsin, I'm officially the one therapist in this northern part of this county. In the southern part, there might be four others, and we have a 67% poverty rate, which is reduced school lunches.
00;12;51;02 - 00;13;13;01
Katrina Johnson
It's a measurement that we get. I know there's substance abuse issues. There's real access to care issues. And the old school way that I want to shed a light on that, I want to just say, know we can do better and be innovative is the schools where they maybe help or call a parent to get them referred into mental health systems.
00;13;13;03 - 00;13;49;28
Katrina Johnson
And the basic talk therapy kind of stuff isn't our answer. Instead, what is the answer? Is this somatic approach and the youth voice. And here's here's what I've learned so much. I've seen kids who are school aged and I go into three different school districts providing independent therapy. Most of their issues were coming from issues that they were dealing with conflict at school, either not feeling like they belonged, difficulty concentrating with or meshing or connecting with certain teachers.
00;13;50;01 - 00;14;20;11
Katrina Johnson
Even just walking into the school building in the morning felt like they're going into more of a a battle, a battle zone, than a place where they can authentically express themselves and ask questions. So there's this competitiveness or this view of what's what do you not have? So no longer can we just see the access to care as helping someone, because we knew during Covid that that access to care was held together with duct tape, it was severely cracked.
00;14;20;16 - 00;14;54;04
Katrina Johnson
So people fell out of seeing their counselor and people needed to try to find new counselors. People were lost in that in that time. And what I hope is that superintendents and administrators, teachers think of this isn't a budgetary thing because we can do more good with somatic work, like being spotting in schools with classroom teachers and administrators and your pupil services being able to be that reflective energy for the kid and not just referring them to talk therapy.
00;14;54;07 - 00;15;15;09
Katrina Johnson
So I want both. I want the school people to have further exposure of innovative and not just open the box, kind of what fits in our budget and what maybe is being offered by the sources of. But to have it be innovative with a somatic approach. And I see that that works.
00;15;15;12 - 00;15;41;09
Cherie Lindberg
Yeah. I'm just I'm really thinking about what you're what you're saying and the need for innovation. We can't keep doing the same things and expecting different results. We've got it. We've got to change it up and do something different. And I just I love partnering with both of you because back in the day when I was going to grad school, my background actually is in school counseling.
00;15;41;11 - 00;16;09;10
Cherie Lindberg
But when I went in there and I was trying to make an impact, there was such an influx of students that I was one person, and there was like 700 students. Like, it's really hard to make it really hard to make an impact. But I love the idea of what you're talking about is to teach everyone so that it's a culture, like everyone has this information, and so everyone can support the innovation and the change.
00;16;09;12 - 00;16;28;17
Cherie Lindberg
It takes time, but we keep encouraging, we keep supporting it. So I really love what you're what you're saying. So talk to me a little bit more about taking this work and integrating it into the personal learning plans that you've talked about, Stephen, and how that might look.
00;16;28;19 - 00;16;48;16
Steven Rippe
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for the question. A part of our research is that we go around the country and, and a few other countries around the world, and, and what we do is we because lots of people love personal learning plants. They it's or it's a requirement, right? In the state. And so people have them and then for adults they have professional growth plants.
00;16;48;16 - 00;17;12;27
Steven Rippe
Right. And what we found is when we go over and we talk with students and staff over the span of 25 years, what we found is everyone would say, yes, we have a personal learning plan, and across the board they would quietly say, people aren't really engaged in it. It's an assignment, right? So what happened is this beautiful concept of what's important to you?
00;17;12;27 - 00;17;38;17
Steven Rippe
Where do you want to go? What do you need? Those kinds of things have given way to things like state standards. And how are you doing, and how can we get you to even be better with your test scores? That's what it's become, right? And when I was a principal my first day, I, the retired principal, said to me, oh, and by the way, the start of the year you do personal growth plans or plps with your staff.
00;17;38;17 - 00;17;58;17
Steven Rippe
You ask them what they think and what they want to do. Then you then you take it and then you put it in this drawer right here. You close the door. I don't even open it up until the end of the year. And then and then take it back out and give it to them. And I looked at him, I was shocked, I was like, oh my God, it's not a living, breathing document that you're doing.
00;17;58;17 - 00;18;21;20
Steven Rippe
And no wonder the kids don't feel it that way. And so what? What happens? So what I'm trying to say is we have personal learning plans. They don't do what our head and hearts and mission vision really want it to do. But once we infuse it with hope and a sense of self-directed learning and leading, what ends up happening is it flips.
00;18;21;22 - 00;18;41;22
Steven Rippe
And so I have students now who lead it and teach other schools how to do it. So it makes sense for the kids. And it's just a beautiful thing when you begin to say, now wait, what if I own the personal learning plan my way? And we have to be open to the fact that some of us don't write a lot of things down.
00;18;41;27 - 00;19;00;16
Steven Rippe
It's in our head. It's a story, right? Whereas other people are really kinesthetic. Like, I have one kid who who who made a model of a of a brain and inside his brain was his pop. And it was brilliant. And because then he'd sit and talk about, well, what do I think? What do I believe, what do I want to do?
00;19;00;16 - 00;19;29;07
Steven Rippe
What do I struggle with? What? What do I need? Those kinds of things. So what what we've done is we've really infused this work with purpose. So rather than just a one off or a thing, we do occasionally it's integrated into a personal learning plan that we teach people to own. And we teach people to say, let's make it easy, let's make it natural, let's do the same thing as adults as we do with our kids.
00;19;29;13 - 00;19;56;09
Steven Rippe
So that way we have this bonding thing that says, well, what did you write? This is what I wrote. This is what I'm thinking. You know, this is what I really want to do this right. And what happens then is that then we go deeper in this work now, along the way, once again, we have these moments where we're kids and adults really need to talk deeper or to go deeper, to be able to take things to the next level.
00;19;56;13 - 00;20;19;09
Steven Rippe
We also have a need for kids and adults to learn that mindfulness works. And so what happens is when you struggle with this stuff, you really want to understand that mindfulness is a powerful tool. Learn a couple things that work for you. And now look at your problem or challenge and create a pathway that works for you.
00;20;19;11 - 00;20;26;16
Cherie Lindberg
a, what we did in the fall of:00;20;26;19 - 00;20;28;22
Katrina Johnson
The BSI training.
00;20;28;24 - 00;20;38;16
Cherie Lindberg
While this was the brain spotting in the schools, this was a unique invitation, you know, gathering of I mean, your community.
00;20;38;22 - 00;21;05;01
Katrina Johnson
Yeah. You know timing is everything. And I've been more aware of the science. And I keep my thumb on a lot of areas of information coming from the state and budget things. So interestingly, after finally going through the phase one, phase two and BSI in Arizona with you and other, then the state released that brain spotting was recommended for opioid intervention and prevention.
00;21;05;03 - 00;21;35;29
Katrina Johnson
So one one way to break through. And these innovative braided funding streams includes fine tuning through a clinical lens or a brain spotting lens, the work or the outcomes that can come from having access to brain spotting. And that all really just boils down to raising youth voice in the science that goes with it. And Steve and I can talk about our experiences and our kind of what we've observed with that research.
00;21;36;01 - 00;22;08;09
Katrina Johnson
And then it comes down to emotion regulation in the most purest, ultimate form. And no talk therapy hits. That is this somatic approach, believing and authentically practicing that every day. This student is a new student. Just like if you're a parent and you see these kids grow an inch overnight, that can happen with their past parts. They're processing what they're kind of tapping into for their expansion work.
00;22;08;12 - 00;22;35;14
Katrina Johnson
And that is talking to what Stephen was bringing up with these personal learning plans that are living, just knowing that these kids grow and they teachers grow in the schools. So I think will be a start to having health and wellness and belonging be more of a practiced and emotionally attuned, grounded. Still then the poster on the wall or the ACL curriculum.
00;22;35;16 - 00;22;58;15
Katrina Johnson
A lot of kids come to school or develop these stories of their parents being in jail, or the complications of living with poverty and or being very wealthy, and also having other family chaos. And it's a story that I hope with Greenspan and coming into schools that we can just have it be this is a new kid every day.
00;22;58;18 - 00;23;16;01
Katrina Johnson
This is a different kid, a different classroom every hour and start to recognize those past parts and how influential they've been on the classroom dynamics and the school culture, and the individuals perception of how or why they don't fit in. Does that make sense?
00;23;16;04 - 00;23;46;06
Cherie Lindberg
Oh, yeah. I mean, what I really want to highlight about whatever what all you both are saying is the relational and the experiential aspect of all of this. How somatics learning about emotional regulation. These are all skills that can be practiced and connected with engagement, with purpose and with hope. And when you bring all of that together, this is how we get the students engaged.
00;23;46;06 - 00;23;52;17
Cherie Lindberg
This is how we get the staff engaged. Yeah, I really feel like it's a humanity project.
00;23;52;20 - 00;23;53;09
Steven Rippe
Yeah.
00;23;53;11 - 00;24;10;11
Katrina Johnson
The hiccups we run into, and I think both Stephen and I, in talking before connecting with you, Chari, is we're curious learners. We're now asking the question, how can we help expand this? And where do we go next? And you know, a lot of the schools in my area are telling me we can't even go on field trips.
00;24;10;11 - 00;24;36;15
Katrina Johnson
We don't have money for this, that other. And so I'm pulling around and having an asset based community look of having the nonprofit attracting that has to have foundations or private businesses to keep our momentum going, because there is no way I'm going to let this beautiful thing drop, simply because some state or DPS funding stream is on hold.
00;24;36;17 - 00;25;15;19
Katrina Johnson
I believe that this is the most important healing for teachers, for people working in schools and for our kids. Using the word brain spotting, we've learned that there's some hiccups. There are people. What is that? Well, I don't do that or I'm not qualified to do that. And that's okay. Let me meet you there and say when your eyes are in a place to fully receive the information coming to you from a second grader that isn't able to articulate all the things that happened during summer that were not not good, when you can fully kind of take that in and then show them that you see them and you're glad that they're there and you
00;25;15;19 - 00;25;24;19
Katrina Johnson
want to help them be safe. That's the connection that what we call brain spotting. But all it is is connection and attunement.
00;25;24;21 - 00;25;29;13
Cherie Lindberg
So where where are we going? Where would you like to go with this project?
00;25;29;16 - 00;25;55;18
Steven Rippe
Well, you know, I think one of the things that that we see is this huge need to be able to get students and staff in a better place as a whole. Right. And and what we know is the funding streams that we've relied on for years are entangled, and we're looking for a new funding stream, a new way to approach this.
00;25;55;24 - 00;26;20;12
Steven Rippe
What we need help with is for people who might be listening to be able to say, oh, hey, have you thought about this? Or we could do this. And, you know, we know by research these wraparound services that we provide in schools are super helpful for a lot of kids. In other words, when we think more about not just the state standards, but we think about mental health, we think about their social emotional learning.
00;26;20;12 - 00;26;42;22
Steven Rippe
We think about their experiences or experiential learning that accelerates their growth. We need to think about ways that we can create these in a sustainable, joyful way. And so one of the ways we're approaching it is kind of thinking in it, like the old school potluck dinner kind of thing, where it's sort of like, let's come together and do this work.
00;26;42;25 - 00;27;04;16
Steven Rippe
Let's bring what you can share what you can, but be part of it. And so far, that's sort of giving us sort of the so we won't lose it, we can create it. But now we need to think about different ways that we can transport students, you know, some stipends to, you know, cover some staff that that need that for their families.
00;27;04;19 - 00;27;07;12
Steven Rippe
So that's where we're at.
00;27;07;15 - 00;27;12;18
Cherie Lindberg
What are your thoughts on that Katrina. Where are we. Where are we going. Where would you like to be going.
00;27;12;20 - 00;27;39;18
Katrina Johnson
Fortunately the kids there's already this magical sparkle around the kids who've experienced this, both one on one with myself or the school counselor and seen in those that we've got trained, like Nick, the school counselor at North Crawford. Some of the admin at Iris Crawford, special education department, protege in this elementary school, counselor at ask about the pupil services director at the city.
00;27;39;20 - 00;28;09;06
Katrina Johnson
So here we go. It's like we're increasing up the, you know, oiling up things and plan things. Seeds. The readiness is there. And really, we need my boots on the ground more people, a school. It's just it's not okay that a school is tasked with an a-to-z list of things. Most schools have very difficulty even staffing to have a person in a classroom.
00;28;09;08 - 00;28;39;05
Katrina Johnson
Usually in the day there's a sub that's popping around in three different classroom. It's really plugged and patched as best as they can. So like for example I'm talking to my people. How are we doing this year. How are we going. I've already written the grants for as much as we can write grants for. And we'll continue our local trainings at the school, which is under the evidence based program of sources of Strength is that's what the state moneys are for the a peer to peer suicide prevention.
00;28;39;05 - 00;29;00;19
Katrina Johnson
And with that, over the last year and hopefully this year, we've include Stephen's Alchemy or his addition of just connecting with the youth and bringing a portable podcast. And when the kids are halfway through their training, we start to introduce that. Then we'll have our podcast, The Microphones set up. It doesn't go anywhere. This is for you to keep.
00;29;00;27 - 00;29;23;14
Katrina Johnson
And then I can hand it over to Steven. But the things that we found in Holding Space, and for me to have had that training with brain spotting took it from what can be better or what's going on, and having them just maybe historically respond like they're responding in the classroom to deep expression, sharing that this is what I'm feeling in my heart right now.
00;29;23;17 - 00;29;48;06
Katrina Johnson
This is my gut, and I don't know if I can say this. My gut so tight, but I want to say it lots of authentic selves. We're starting to creep out, starting to emerge in the light. And we will. I'm committed to continuing my local trainings for the schools and then where we want to go for next summer is to offer another green spotting for schools.
00;29;48;08 - 00;30;14;27
Katrina Johnson
Now that we planted that seed, I know that other schools will be interested and then see what we learn from those that were trained in the summer with their experiences with kids or themselves, to better serve the needs that are coming to them and not feel so drained. And you know that compassion fatigue that hits. So we will have a, regional retreat in February for high school and middle school.
00;30;14;29 - 00;30;36;04
Katrina Johnson
I have zero money for that. So I'm going to be turning to the people in my community and businesses to ask if doing good for the local kids is something that they're interested in, and I have high hopes that we'll still pull it off. And that's where Stephen and I and the rest of the leaders from the schools just have a really relaxing and fun day for kids to connect.
00;30;36;07 - 00;30;47;07
Katrina Johnson
We include some group brain spotting and start to implement. What is hope? How does that look for you? I don't like that. I just said the word implement, but we hold space to have curiosity be.
00;30;47;09 - 00;30;48;17
Steven Rippe
You realize it.
00;30;48;20 - 00;31;03;18
Cherie Lindberg
Wonderful. So is there anything that either one of you want to share that I haven't asked? I want to make sure that we get all of our information out here that you wanted to share. Is there anything more you want to share about this project? Stephen, that would be good for our listeners to hear.
00;31;03;20 - 00;31;38;16
Steven Rippe
Yeah. I think one of the things that it's really important for folks to know is that what gives us hope is that we work with students and staff in a wide range of places, and now the students are coming back and saying, let's do that again. Let's go deeper in that. I have students who I took the prep work and then are writing their own version, a student version, so they can teach other students and basically we try to make it open space or open sourced.
00;31;38;23 - 00;32;00;28
Steven Rippe
So we're not holding it and saying, gosh, you have to pay us all this money to do this. Instead, we're saying, come contribute what you can. And we've got really great things to share. And we have students willing to teach other students. If you go to Ed visions.org, if, I mean, you can connect with us and we would love to connect with you.
00;32;01;01 - 00;32;23;01
Steven Rippe
And some things we do is we do this thing called the day of Hope. And it's October 24th. And one of the ways we do it is we try and come up with these free things that that you can do as a listener with either yourself or your partner. If you have a classroom or at work in your community that that helps you grow.
00;32;23;01 - 00;32;44;20
Steven Rippe
Hope so. Check it out. It's fun and it's experiential learning thing that you do. And what I want to say and close is thank you for all the people who been contributing to this work. We have people on the ground. And again, Brandon and I could just list out all these wonderful people who've done the work and thank you.
00;32;44;20 - 00;32;47;13
Steven Rippe
And if you want to join us, please do.
00;32;47;15 - 00;32;52;02
Cherie Lindberg
Beautiful. Thank you. Is there anything that you would like to share? Katrina.
00;32;52;04 - 00;33;16;23
Katrina Johnson
Well, first I want to be clearly known. I'm a persistent poly and I am going to be very persistent with this because I see it working as a history of working in poly trauma at the VA and working with complicated people with a wide variety of diagnosis on the East Coast and with Kenny Krieger. Here's the thing. This is so transformational for all ages.
00;33;16;29 - 00;33;50;25
Katrina Johnson
And when a system or a leader or a funder runs into, well, is it evidence based or this doctor doesn't recommend that? Okay, I'm going to hold space for that. And I'm going to pivot into my community. So I am Grace fully holding space for those discussions within my region. We have your colleagues Jerilyn, Andy, Michelle, Michelle can speak volumes about the work that she's doing in the Northern Illinois and Southeast Wisconsin area in schools.
00;33;50;28 - 00;34;14;07
Katrina Johnson
And really, what it boils down to is, please don't be afraid of this innovation because it's transformational. I see it as being life saving and not just suicide, but helping a person become their authentic self and transform and expand. We don't have a lot of jobs in the southwest Wisconsin, where people just aspire to continue to live here and think that they're going to work here.
00;34;14;14 - 00;34;43;16
Katrina Johnson
People leave and I'm focused on my voice for Hope, like the number for my voice for Hope, that come we'll be releasing the website soon. And my vision with that is working with my partner Chris and my colleagues and the sparkly gems in the schools to help them have funding space, in-kind donations to support along identifying need. That's a big part of our mental health screening.
00;34;43;19 - 00;35;00;03
Katrina Johnson
And then bridging those pieces of somatic work, like access and care, can be in the classroom. Access and care can be in the playground on the bus. It may not be the local referral to the counselor only, but it has to be in those relationships day to day.
00;35;00;05 - 00;35;23;12
Cherie Lindberg
Well, I just want to thank both of you for your number one, your persistence, your voices for hope and cutting edge openness to engaging a new way. We need folks like yourselves in there doing that and fighting for the, the youth. And thank you so much for reaching out to me so that I could be a part of this.
00;35;23;12 - 00;35;49;10
Cherie Lindberg
And Heather Corbett as well. We see this as a foundational work for the future, for our innovative, creative children that are going to grow up. And our hope is, is that they're going to be able to share their their voice and they're the change that's coming in the future. So I just want to thank both of you for taking the time to come and share this story.
00;35;49;10 - 00;36;03;06
Cherie Lindberg
And we will definitely put the information, Stephen, that you shared in the links and so forth. And if there's any other links website, links or things you want me to include, please email them to me and I'll make sure that they're in the show notes.
00;36;03;09 - 00;36;30;21
Katrina Johnson
I end with a quote from a third grader this last week. Please, do you know why people compete on things? Imagine if everybody around the world could work together. Wow. The oceans would be cleaner and there'd be a cure for cancer for my grandma. The magic, the. That's where their little sparkles are. And I want to cure them and help them become those leaders that initiated and sustained that magic.
00;36;30;23 - 00;36;50;05
Cherie Lindberg
Well, you hear the desire and you hear the longing. And isn't that in all of our hearts in one way or another? Like we're much freer when we're younger, too. It's wonderful that that student was able to to voice that. And it moves my heart to hear that, and I hope it moves others hearts to hear that as well.
00;36;50;08 - 00;37;09;18
Cherie Lindberg
This is where we got to go. We got to go into the schools with the students, the children. So please help these projects. Everyone that's out there share this podcast with others that you think could benefit from this, so that we can push out this voice for hope. So thank you so much for both of you being with us.
00;37;09;20 - 00;37;11;00
Steven Rippe
It was a pleasure. Thank you.
00;37;11;03 - 00;37;13;14
Cherie Lindberg
Thank you.
00;37;13;16 - 00;37;32;12
Narrator
Thank you for joining us on another uplifting journey on Cherie Lindberg's Elevated Life Academy. Stories of Hope and healing. If you found resonance or connection with what you've heard today, we encourage you to share this episode and consider becoming a subscriber. Please spread the word so others can live an elevated life.
