Hope 4 The Wounded Educational Seminars, LLC

"I am writing in recommendation of Joe Hendershott.  Joe is a seasoned veteran in meeting at-risk students at the point of their need.  He has spent his adult life inviting those students into his strengths and helping them identify their own.  Joe is a world-changer.

To the benefit of the education profession and other fields that meet student needs, Joe is now endeavoring to be an educator of world-changers.  At Ashland University and in his speaking engagements, Joe delivers engaging, researh-based insight and practical, life-tested interventions to eager listeners.  His professional expertise is magnified by his reputation as a father, husband and faithful community leader.

My own professional experience includes in-home counseling, therapeutic foster care support, residential treatment, juvenile detention crisis intervention, in-patient and partial hospitalization.  Those settings give me access to the most wounded of students.  I know without a doubt that all of the students I have worked with needed a caregiver that was committed to the principles Joe teaches and lives by.

I have witnessed Joe deliver his message.  I have seen audiences respond with affirmation and appreciation.  Beyond that, I have had the chance to spend hours with Joe one on one.  His heart's cry is for the wounded student.  Your organization will be positively impacted by this man and his message."

William Gravitt III MA, PCC
Center for Family Leadership, Owner

"Mr. Joe Hendershott recently spoke to our faculty at Loudonville High School about wounded students and how to help them succeed.  As a former foster parent for a group home and a high school principal for more than 20 years, I can attest to the need for expertise in this arena.  Mr. Hendershott has that expertise.  His presentation was not only energizing, but timely, insightful and prescriptive.  He spoke with passion and held the complete attention of every member.  When the time we had reserved for Mr. Hendershott's presentation had expired, teachers expressed a desire for him to continue.  I asked if he could do so, and he graciously accepted.  More than one person thanked me for bringing him to our school and that rarely happens.  An English teacher said that it renewed her sense of hope and purpose in staying in the classroom.  His message is appropriate for anyone working with young people as well as the youth directly and certainly for foster parents.  Everyone listening will gain a new sense of purpose as well as being equipped with practical strategies for helping the "wounded" succeed.  Young people in attendance will be both inspired and challenged with Mr. Hendershott's positive message.

We will invite hime to speak with us again."

Ben Blubaugh, Principal
Loudonville High School

"It is with great pleasure that I write this letter as a way to highly recommend Joe Hendershott’s message and presentation on working with “wounded students.” The book Reaching The Wounded Student is a fantastic read filled with pertinent information and common sense strategies for helping students that have been injured along the way. These students often find life or school a struggle and need extra care and compassion to succeed.

 In today’s education world we use phrases such as positive behavior supports or response to intervention. Often these words reflect a program or process. After hearing Joe’s presentation we were able to work on these types of initiatives by developing a climate to help us want to help every student. We have developed a mantra of “Every Student Every Day” thanks to Joe’s message and continuing advisement. The message of the wounded student has transformed how we do business. I highly recommend you heed the message."

 

Jack Fisher, Principal
Finneytown Secondary Campus

"The purpose of this letter is to highly recommend Joe Hendershott, author of Reaching The Wounded Student, as a speaker and expert professional  development trainer on the topics of effective educational leadership and teacher development with regard to working with dropout-prone children and school youth.  In the past several years, I have had the pleasure of attending many of Joe's workshops and training sessions as a member of the Ashland University adjunct faculty.  Prior to joining AU some 10 years ago, I served as a teacher, principal, curriculum director, and superintendent in Ohio's public schools for the better part of thirty years.  I can say without any hesitation that Joe's ability to capture and hold the attention of a diverse audience of professional educators and, for that matter, any who work with children and families, is second to none.

Joe begins his presentations with some reflective and profound insights regarding his own successes and failures as a teacher and administrator, and details a turning point in his career when an event within his own family opened his eyes to a new understanding of "wounded" students.  He follows this opening with an array of compelling research and a host of common sense approaches to building leadership initiatives and classroom practices that help "wounded" students succeed and achieve within the school culture.

Throughout Joe's presentations, he honors the profession and the professionals in the room by never preaching and pontificating, but instead using himself and his own "trial and error" development as a model.  I have personally seen the reviews of principals, teachers, and other professionals following Joe's presentations and can attest to their praise for his insights and their passion as expressed in their desire to go back to their districts and begin to implement his ideas.

As a former superintendent, I lived and died with budget issues.  I can say without reservation that if my limited budget had allowed only one professional development speaker or trainer for an entire year, Joe would have easily been my choice." 

Kenneth H. Packard
Retired Public School Educator/Administrator
Adjunct Professor, Ashland University
ATE Clinician/Supervisor of the Year, 2011

My name is John D. McNeely; I retired August 1, 2010, after thirty-six years as an educator in Ohio.  For twenty-two of those years I was a principal and a member of the NASSP and OASSA.

In April of 2011, I took the seminar Understanding & Reaching the Wounded Student presented by Mr. Joseph A. Hendershott.

I wish I had been able to attend this seminar before I began my teaching career in 1973.  It would have changed how I dealt with students.  I went through my yearbooks for the first four years I taught and counted thirty-six wounded students that would have benefited from these concepts.  That averages out to nine students per year.  Over a thirty-six year career, that number is over three hundred wounded students.

Mr. Hendershott, the message he brings, and his method and style of presentation are excellent.  His message is relevant to the modern educator, designed to give them the knowledge and ability to reach wounded students that might otherwise fail.  Joe combines personal experience, power points, statistics, and group work in his seminar that educates and engages his participants.  The attendees will leave this seminar wanting to know more about these concepts.  As a former principal, I wish I had one more in-service day to have Joe tell my faculty what every educator needs to know:  How to identify and positively impact wounded students."

John D. McNeely
Retired Educator/Administrator

 Mount Vernon Nazarene University Focusing on Youth Issues Conference
June 16, 2011

"Very good--outstanding in fact.  His information is exactly what needs to be heard so we can begin to change how we work with our challenged behaviors.  He has more--bring him back."

"Excellent resources, ideas & suggestions.  Great ideas for school personnel."

"Could have listened to him all day.  A well of knowledge."

"Excellent presenter--very genuine.  Good sense of humor, of course very knowledgeable of the topic, & as an educator, I believe was probably better received by educational professionals."

"Unbelievable heart for the wounded child.  Lit the fire in my heart!"

"This could easily be an all-day presentation."

"Wonderful, evidence-based, great information."

"Great stories & examples.  Truly from the heart.  Very inspirational.  Awesome ending video."

"Fabulous--informative--pertinent info!"

"Enjoyed topic.  Really hit home that we need more teachers to teach social skills & inclusion & empathy.  We need to mandate teachers to come to this class!! I LOVED it!"

"Should be mandatory tracking & continued ed. for all educators/social workers."

"Joe knew his material.  This was very effective in the way I could understand & connect with children."

"Great speaker made me critically think!"

"Terrific! Created critical thinking--which I think was his goal. Lots of good food for thought."

"Top of the line workshop."

"Could have been a 2-part session or longer."