Safe Havens is pleased to announce that we have just ordered the ninth printing of Weakfish – Bullying Through the Eyes of a Child.  This book has been helpful to many school safety practitioners over the years because it helps them see the connection between what research says and the story of an actual child.

 We are excited that demand for the book is still strong after more than a decade.  There are many excellent books on bullying out there and as an author I am thankful that so many people still read Weakfish.   Though my first book to be stocked by bookstores Staying Alive – How to Act Fast and Survive Deadly Encounters is expected to sell far more copies, Weakfish is a very personal book to me. 

As a child who struggled to be able to read, I dreamed of writing a book someday.  Being able to publish multiple books is beyond my wildest childhood dreams.   Being a diagnosed Dyslexic, I can vividly recall not being able to read.  Thanks to a dedicated teacher and an amazing program for Dyslexic children, I am able to read and write today.  Each time a new printing of Weakfish comes out, I feel blessed that I received this critical assistance.

I felt honored to be allowed to serve as the closing keynote for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction at their awesome Building the Heart of successful Schools Conference in Wisconsin Dells last Friday.  The department had an amazing line up of amazing speakers including Dr. William Steele and Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade.  This was my second keynote in Wisconsin in the past four weeks and I feel blessed to have been able to present there on a regular basis over the past decade. 

Wisconsin has been a very progressive state in terms of school safety and has licensed our school crisis planning templates for every K12 school in the state through the Wisconsin Homeland Security Council.   I had a well-attended breakout session on Pattern Matching and Recognition followed by an energized and passionate group for the closing keynote session. 

It has been a very busy week and a half with a school security assessment for an independent school, the first day of a school security assessment for a public school system in North Carolina, several interviews with the Today Show and last Friday’s conference in Wisconsin.  I am tired, but it is that good type of tired that comes from meaningful hard work.  If you truly love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.  I must say that I have been fortunate to love what I do throughout my adult life.

 As I have said many times, I feel truly blessed to be allowed to interact with so many dedicated educators, mental health professionals, public safety officials, architects and other advocates for the children each month.