Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch, Bismarck, ND, was the recipient of a $2,020 grant from the Department of Public Instruction. Funds received will be used as part of an overall transformation of the Nutrition Center on our Bismarck campus. Specifically, funds will be used to purchase another freezer, to meet the needs of the growing population, as well as provide additional healthy food choices for students.…
Trauma Informed Care
Minnesota Power granted $1,500 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch to purchase LED lightbulbs for its Bismarck campus. The grant will help the Ranch convert the interior fluorescent ceiling lights to energy savings LEDs.…
St. Joseph's Community Health Foundation (SJCHF) distributed $15,535 to Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch to underwrite the costs of updating two Refocus Rooms in Dakota Memorial School, Minot—the on-campus school of Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch. Through the SJCHF's Twice Blessed program, we were able to raise $10,535 in addition to the SJCHF match grant of $5,000 to underwrite the entire project.…
We've been talking about trauma-informed care and trauma-sensitive classrooms for a long time at the Ranch. But, for me at least, it's been difficult to grasp what exactly that means, and how to explain it. When I interviewed the teachers featured in this article, I saw very clearly that trauma-sensitivity is much more than talk and some cool furniture. Dakota Memorial School (DMS) teachers are trauma-sensitive from the tops of their heads to the very tips of their toes.…
Many of our children are in so much emotional pain they think they'd be better off dead. North Dakota's suicide rate has increased 57% since 2000, and the state has one of the highest adolescent suicide rates in the nation. If we can alleviate some of this intense pain and despair with medication--if we can keep kids alive--Dr. Wayne Martinsen believes we are obligated to do so.…
I’ve always known “Trauma-Sensitive Classroom” was an important concept in education, but I wasn’t exactly sure what it looked like in my lesson plans or day-to-day interactions with students. I’m going into the teaching field, and I consider myself a nice person—that should be enough to indicate that I’m considerate to students and their trauma, right? Wrong. My assumptions of what it means to react to student behaviors in a trauma-sensitive manner were way off base.…
Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch received a $15,000 grant from The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) to enhance the Ranch’s evidence-based trauma-informed care approaches to treatment.…