Amanda J. Butler

Amanda J Butler was born in New York. She is an educator with over 15 years of experience in the public school system. She has also worked with the youth in foster care through the Department of Child and Family Services. She obtained her Bachelor of Elementary Education degree from North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina. She has also served in children’s ministry at her church where she served with Mighty Conquerors, children with special needs. Raising three children of her own the passion to confront mental illness is very important. She knows very well the state of being that ‘overlooked’ child. Although she did not exhibit the ‘problem-child’ label she did struggle to successfully pass tests without having to struggle through hours of studying and at time retesting to get a passing grade.

 

In her current line of work she encounters rapid changes in child behavior that is directly related to the state of mind. Often the students she encounters have some form of behavior attached to their name before she meets them. Unfortunately the label ‘problem-child’ has been preassigned before a proper analysis has been confirmed. These students often slip through the cracks before the current systems have recognized there could have been more done to resolve the behavior rather than overlook it. Her passion to teach led her to pursue a Specialist degree in BrainSMART Education from Nova Southeastern University in Florida. This allowed her to have a different approach in her teaching style to address the needs of all learners. She sees the day to day struggles with children who have a hard time dodging labels because of the inability of the proper systems to be put in place. These systems are supposed to accurately diagnose and address the current mental health issues that plague many school-aged children. From personal experience she realizes without the proper conversations and research the issue of mental health will remain unresolved until the powers that be begin to have the ‘real’ conversations necessary to make certain that mental health issues will be handled appropriately.