School-based Services

Four Oaks has collaborated with local school districts across the state of Iowa to create unique and innovative school based programs to meet the needs of at-risk students. Programs are focused on assisting students in understanding the impact of their behavior choices, identifying alternative strategies and practicing self-management skills in order to help them successfully re-enter school and increase their chances for future academic success.

A Trauma Informed Approach

Four Oaks uses Trauma Informed Care in all of our programs, allowing us to look beyond a child's behavior to the deeper trauma that caused it.
“What happened to you?” is the question that matters.
This approach helps heal the child so he or she can truly move successfully into adulthood.
Skill sets that are internally adopted through safe interactions and progressive mastery result in long-tem success.

Four Oaks Classroom Types

Alternative Classroom

A classroom that focuses on middle school or high school aged students who struggle with anger management, substance abuse behaviors, etc. The behaviors have predictable and identifiable triggers.

Therapeutic Classroom

A classroom that targets middle school or high school aged students who have difficulty managing their mental health and have experienced significant trauma. These behaviors are unpredictable and do not have identifiable triggers.

Elementary Classroom

A classroom that is exactly the same as the therapeutic classroom, but focuses on elementary aged youth.

Trauma-Informed Professional Development and Consultation

We offer Trauma-Informed Care Professional Development to schools or districts that hope to better understand the social, emotional and behavioral needs of their students. Our professional learning options are customized to match the needs of your school.

We offer four core sessions: Intro to Trauma- ACEs and Basics of Neuroscience, Importance of Relationships, Understanding Trauma Triggers and Re-enactment, and Compassion Fatigue and Self Care. Learning about trauma-informed care is not a "one and done" session. Understanding childhood trauma and its long-term developmental effects on the brain and body is a complex endeavor. We will work with you to design a plan to best meet the needs of your staff and students.

We also offer Trauma Sensitive School Coaching and Consultation in order to help staff develop their internal capacity to become a trauma sensitive school. Our team is ready to facilitate long-term plans with building leadership teams to guide the process of creating a culture that is less punitive and more restorative in nature.

We help facilitate development of Trauma Champions within schools and districts through direct training experiences and access to our growing network of educators with similar goals across the state. We offer great flexibility in the service options and customize the product to fit your needs, ultimately helping staff learn how to apply a trauma sensitive lens to current and future practices, polices and initiatives.