Chitty Chats with Stacy

Stacy Nation: I am Stacy.

I'm back for another little sesh called
Chitty Chats with Stacy, and I have with

me someone that I'm excited to meet.

Uh, this is Eric, and I'm gonna let you
say your last name so I don't butcher it.

Notal.

Al.

All right, so Eric is one of the
wonderful members on the resilience

team with SSD a C, and I'm excited to
just introduce you and have you here

today and just have a conversation
about who you are and what you do.

So tell us a little bit about
who you are and what you do.

Eric Nachtigal: Oh my gosh.

I'm excited to be here and I
appreciate you having me, Stacy.

Um, like I said, I am Eric Negal.

I am the behavior intervention
consultant for sda.

Um, I have spent the last 29 years
in public education and working with

teachers and students with a large
majority of those years in counseling,

teaching, and now behavioral intervention
and social emotional support.

Um, so.

My goal is just, you know, help
kids, help kids who are struggling.

Some of those kids that we might say
are, are tough kids or things like

that, and they just need support
and there is so much hope for them.

So, um, my mission in life is to get
in there with those kids, give them

hope, give them joy, help them be
resilient, build their resilience, and,

and make a great impact on their life.

Love

Stacy Nation: that.

So one of the things we like to do
on this little show is talk about.

Why you got into this?

So you said you've been doing this for
29 years, is that what I heard you say?

This is

Eric Nachtigal: year number 29?

Yes, that's

Stacy Nation: correct.

Wow.

Decide, Hey, I'm gonna stay
in the biz for 29 years.

This isn't an easy business to stay in.

This isn't an easy like profession, right?

This is when I meet people who've
been in education and educational

settings for longer than a decade.

Really, there's a calling in that.

And so tell us a little bit about how
you landed in this, in this profession.

Eric Nachtigal: Know, I actually
recall from a very young age

helping out in daycare centers
and teaching swimming lessons.

And I, I remember even before high
school, going into high school, even

before college and you got a chick
where you gotta pick a major, I was

bound and determined to work with kids.

I was going into education, I went to
college and they said, well, what's

your major gonna be elementary ed?

There was no hesitation.

And you know, I have not
looked back since and I have.

I say loved.

I really have loved every minute.

Like you said, education is tough.

Not to say there's not tough moments.

There haven't been tough moments, sure.

But what keeps me coming back day in and
day out is the kids and that they need

the support of loving, caring adults.

You know, there's research out there
and the brain research and I've heard

wonderful people such as yourself talk
about how one caring adult can change

the trajectory of a child's life,
move a child from at risk to at hope.

Um, and so, you know, that just drives
me and I've done a lot of research

and a lot of reading about trauma
and ACEs and I think what excites

me the most in working with kids the
most is that trauma can be healed.

Yeah, through powerful relationships,
through positivity, through supporting

kids, and so when you talk about behavior
and trauma and things like that with

kids, you know, the drive for me to help
adults who are helping kids and directly

help the kids is just such a passion that
I want to keep doing it for a long time

because I think it can change the world.

Stacy Nation: Oh, I love that.

Change the world.

That's what we always say around here.

We change lives, we change the world.

Yeah.

And so I love that you're saying that
because I think it's so important

to talk about the reasons people
are staying in education and, and

you're talking a lot about that talk.

Helping the kids is huge.

But one of the things you said that I
think's really important is also helping

the adults and education's a team sport.

Right.

Education is a team sport.

Everybody has to be helping each other
to succeed because I think you're

all moving towards the same goal.

And when you have those little buddies
that are tough, the more the merrier.

The more people on the team, the
better the little buddy is, I think.

And so it sounds like, it sounds like
there's lots of reasons that you've

stayed and it also sounds like you knew
just very early on what you wanted to do.

Eric Nachtigal: I must have
admit credit to my parents.

They were both educators
for many years, so, okay.

The foundation was, was there,
the example was there, I saw the

powerful of what they did with kids.

Mm-Hmm.

Um, so that really laid
the foundation for me.

But like you were talking about in
schools, you know, I obviously, I had

my own journey of kind of, let's go
from, you know, behaviorism to more

brain research and trauma informed
re and trauma responsive approaches.

Um, so I had my own, but
when you talk about those.

Challenging those kids with ACEs,
the kids with trauma, the kids

that need that extra support, that
their brains are wired differently.

You kind of alluded to that.

That theory of it takes a village and
I go into schools and when I work with

teachers and you know, this teacher
is working with this kid and they are,

they are dedicated, they are loving.

There are so many wonderful
teachers out there.

Agreed.

We really, really in schools.

We need to take an all
hands on deck approach.

Let's surround those kids with so
much positivity, so much connection,

and give them so much belonging in
schools that they want to come to

school, that they want to do their best
because they are so connected, not only

first and foremost to their teacher.

But to other adults who are filling
their buckets every single day.

So it really is, like you were talking
about, it's an all hands on deck with,

with all kids, but maybe some of those
kids who have a little more struggles in

their life and your heart goes out to 'em.

So again and again, that goes
back to kind of why I wanna do it.

Those are the kids.

Stacy Nation: What's your favorite,
what's your favorite age of kids to work

Eric Nachtigal: with?

Um, I'm gonna have to go with second
grade 'cause that's what I taught.

I mean, elementary, elementary in general.

I love, I love, love, love the little
ones, but I taught second grade

and if anybody asked me of all my
roles I've ever done in education,

I will always go back to that.

There was something powerful about having
your own little family for a year and

gathering those little kids into your
heart and teaching them and molding them.

And having your positive
influence on them and growing.

Yeah, that, that was powerful to me.

So love it.

Elementary in general, but second grade.

Stacy Nation: Love it.

So one of the questions I ask often
on this show is all this work you do

on the professional side, how much
of what you learn professionally

lands in your personal life?

How much of this work are
you using in your personal

Eric Nachtigal: life?

A lot.

I probably should use more for full
honesty, I should probably use more.

Yeah.

But, but a lot, you know, when you
dive into that brain research, when

you dive into empathy, when you dive
into, you know, things like, you know,

more positives than negatives, um, you
know, and how your brain reacts and,

and taking deep breaths and calming
strategies that you teach kids and you

teach adults to teach kids, it sinks in.

Hmm.

And maybe we.

I admit, you know, we get
set in our ways as adults.

Yeah.

And, but slowly but surely, when
you start teaching it and you see it

effective with adults and kids, it's
like, oh, I should start using this too.

This could help me when I'm interacting,
you know, with my partner, spouse, all

that, or other people in public, it's
like, oh, they're having a brain reaction.

It's not a character issue, it's a
brain and I'm going to help them.

I'm gonna respond, I'm gonna
take, take deep breaths.

So.

You can't help but
integrate it into your life.

Uh, again, full, full disclosure,
I should do a little better.

You know, I'm, I'm a work in progress
probably like everybody else.

Stacy Nation: Aren't we all?

Aren't we all?

I use it so much, Eric,
that my family's like mom.

Could you just stop, like, we know
what dysregulation looks like.

You're in it right now.

Could you just pause?

We wanna move on?

I'm like, you're fair.

That's fair.

It's fair.

So, okay.

Let's talk a little bit
about this conference.

So I'm coming to Kansas in November.

Yeah, I'm super excited.

I wanna know, A, have you been
to this conference before?

And B, what are you most excited
about when it comes to the

Building to Resilience conference?

Eric Nachtigal: Yes, I have been.

So, I worked in a public
education setting for 28 years.

This is literally my first year at sda.

But the reason I am at SDA is
because of bridging the resilience.

Oh.

And going there.

That's great.

Okay.

I mean, so it influenced me amazingly,
like, I feel like it changed my

whole philosophy of teaching with
kids and how to approach kids and,

and how to help struggling kids.

Bridging the resilience changed my life.

So it is a wonderful conference.

So it is literally why I came to sda.

Um, one of the ladies that we
have working there who's amazing,

Rebecca Lewis Pankratz, um,
I saw her do a keynote there.

I saw her sessions, saw
Jim SPO leader there.

I am so looking forward
to hearing your keynote.

Um, 'cause I've taken your
course on Go bu so it's just so

yeah, bridging the resilience.

It's a great conference.

It's a national conference.

I can't wait to be there.

But yeah, it changed my life.

The sessions that you go
to there are brilliant.

There are wonderful speakers who
will give you applicable things

to helping kids immediately.

Stacy Nation: Love it.

Well, I'm so excited we had this time
today, Eric, because I wanna make sure

that my people know about the conference,
but also know about the humans behind it.

Right?

When we dig into humans, I think that what
we find is we all have a lot in common.

I.

And the reason that we're doing
this work is very personal.

There's something that's landed in our
hearts that say, we gotta get out here

and we gotta change lives, and we gotta
work together and we gotta impact things.

And so I appreciate you
taking the time with me today.

I'm so excited to meet you in

Eric Nachtigal: person.

Gonna be great.

Thank you for having me today.

It's been wonderful to talk to you.

All right, I'll see you soon.

Thanks Eric.

Okay.

Thank.