Connecting Social Emotional Learning and School Health Education & Promotion

Trinita Ervin-Patton brings a unique combination of sharp business expertise and, as a certified health coach, medical knowledge to her role as founder of MEDS Coaching, a leading health coaching service that is exclusively for medical doctors and advanced practice providers.

Angela Bailey is an assistant professor in the Movement Arts, Health Promotion and Leisure Studies Department at Bridgewater State University (BSU). Her research focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluation of community-based behavioral interventions in health disparate areas. She grew up in rural West Virginia and her dissertation focused on the implementation of a behavioral intervention designed to reduce sugary beverage intake in rural Appalachian counties. Currently, she is interested in using service-learning as a strategy to increase student engagement and provide benefits to vulnerable populations. Her most recent work is focused on providing BSU students with experiential opportunities to promote healthy behaviors to teachers, parents, and students within an urban trauma-informed elementary school.

Sarah Tantillo received her BS in Public Health from Bridgewater State University in 2019 and is currently pursuing an MPH in Public Health Practice from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She currently works as a data analyst in the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. In addition, Sarah is also the project manager for a research grant focusing on physician wellness at the Brigham and Women?s Hospital in Boston. Her research and scholarship interests include substance abuse, public policy, advocacy for at risk-populations and decreasing health disparities and inequities. She enjoys spending time with her two dogs, cooking, reading, and listening to podcasts.

Current APHA Food and Nutrition Section Fellow, former 21st Century Scholar, and PhD Candidate Bree Bode is a skilled qualitative researcher who takes an interest in learning about community-based solutions to the food insecurity-obesity paradox. With practical experience in community-health, Bree's research trajectory expands over nutrition-related behavior, food environment policy, wellness, life course development, the social determinants of health and health equity. Bree brings her lived experience with federally funded nutrition programs, her MPH, and her CHES certification to her endeavors in the classroom and coalition work. She is passionate social justice, evaluation, and theory within the public health realm.

Katie joined the Candor Health Education team, after working for over twenty years as a teacher and administrator at the elementary and middle school levels. She has a rich background in child development, curriculum development and social emotional learning. As a building principal, Katie worked to improve the social emotional learning of the students in her building by leading a group of dedicated faculty members in developing an SEL mission and vision for the school. As Director of Education at Candor Health Education, Katie leads a team of dedicated health educators in hosting innovative, interactive and science-based drug and sex education for students ages 9-15. All Candor Health Ed programs utilize a blended learning model and infuse social emotional learning skills. Katie holds a Bachelor?s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master?s degree in Instructional Leadership from Loyola University Chicago.