Mathew Portell has dedicated a decade and a half to education in his role as a teacher, instructional coach, teacher mentor, and school administrator. It is through the collaborative team approach and building positive relationships that Portell is leading his school into success. He is currently in his fifth year as principal of Fall-Hamilton Elementary, an internationally recognized innovative model school for trauma-informed practices in Metro Nashville Public Schools. The school’s work has been featured on National Public Radio, the local documentary Enough, PBS, and Edutopia, one of the world’s top educational practices website funded by the George Lucas Foundation which resulted in over 7,000,000 views. 

He is the founder of the Trauma-Informed Educators Schools Network Group on Facebook which has connected over 20,000 educators in over 100 different countries! In July 2019, he launched the first annual Trauma Informed Educators Network conference which was attended by 150 people from around the world! In September of 2019, he launched the Trauma Informed Educators Network Podcast. Through this podcast he is viewing educators and practitioners from around the globe in which they are sharing their own trauma-informed journeys.

Mathew's Book/Resource Recommendations

The Trauma-Informed Educators Network 

The Trauma-Informed Educators Network Podcast

The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity by Nadine Burke, MD

The Trauma-Informed School: A Step-by-Step Implementation Guide for Administrators and School Personnel by Jim Sporleder and Heather T. Forbes

Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom by Kristin Souers and Pete Hall

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook--What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry and Maia Szalavitz

Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky

If you are interested in connecting and collaborating with Mathew, you can e-mail him at mathew@paradigmshifteducation.com.