The work of our teachers and support staff goes far beyond teaching and learning. A student’s interactions and relationships with the adults in their school can be life-changing. At the division opening day in August, Dr. Jody Carrington told our staff, “Some of the holiest work on our planet happens within the walls of our schools.” She’s absolutely right, and Pembina Hills is committed to supporting our staff in their work with students.

This year, up to 80 staff members will have the opportunity to learn about a program called Supporting Individuals through Valued Attachments (SIVA) and how to apply it in their roles. Four sessions will be offered this year by Barrhead Elementary School Associate Principal Dale Erickson and Mentor Program Assistant Amy Bizuns. We attended a recent session to learn more.

What is SIVA?

SIVA teaches a proactive approach to supporting students—specifically the steps to understanding students, building relationships with students, fostering and maintaining those relationships, and respectfully supporting students where they’re at.

“It’s proactive, it’s how we support them—not waiting until there’s an incident, being proactive in everything we do,” says Erickson.

Participants also learn about the brain, how it works, and how to identify the emotional brain versus the thinking brain. Trauma or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can put a fracture in the communication between the emotional and thinking brain. “This is part of the understanding piece that is so important,” says Bizuns.

Safety in relationships

By creating and maintaining safety in a relationship, we invite and encourage the student to be available for education, guidance, redirection and learning. This main guiding principle of SIVA is supported by these areas of focus:

• Holistic safety — Understanding and acceptance
• Support through collaboration — Working as a team
• Goal direction — We shouldn’t be doing anything unless we know the purpose for our actions.
• Healthy Empowerment — Looking at the student’s ability and function; how do we best support them and offer them empowerment

Safe interventions and self-care

Although the focus is largely on prevention, incidents can happen and a portion of the training teaches staff what to do when there is an incident. Through role playing exercises, participants learn how to protect themselves from physical violence or other threats, and ways to best support the student during an incident. Bizuns tells the participants, “Remember, every single behaviour is communication.”

The training also covers staff self-care and wellness, so when there is an incident staff learn how to support themselves afterwards.

“Staff wellness is just as important as that of the students we are trying to help,” said Bizuns.

Power of communication

SIVA training includes a Proactive Safety Management Evaluation (PSME) which involves everyone who works with a particular student. It’s used to help the support team build a plan for the student. Bizuns says, “You really see the power of communication when everyone involved with the student, including the student, come together.”

Participant comments

Here’s what some of the participants had to say about SIVA training.

This is an excellent training session, especially learning how to protect ourselves during an incident, and how to support the student at the same time. It does happen and I feel much more prepared.

I have taken SIVA before, but this is an opportunity for me to realign and reinforce what I already know. It’s a reminder to be sure to debrief after an incident – to follow up on the plan and the recovery process for the student.

This was my first time taking SIVA training. I found it quite interesting, especially learning about the brain. It will certainly help me in some aspects of my job.

It’s a great opportunity to collaborate with other staff – we learn from others in the room, not just the instructors.

We don’t always know where a student is coming from, but this training helps us get the right plan in place for students, and we do it as a team.