The Story of Together in This

It all started when…

In concept, Together in This originated in July 2017. Co-founders Blake Baird and Jeannette Siemers began discussing the notion of starting a business as they were walking back from dinner while at an IIRP Restorative Practices training in beautiful San Diego, California. The rest as they say, is history.

What started as an idea, quickly became reality. As full-time administrators in public education, both Blake and Jeannette believe in the power of relationship and community as an integral part of their daily work. 

“Learning the stories of youth and families in our semi-rural community, I was made aware that many of those we work with come from a traumatic childhood. ACEs scores that caused me to cringe and behaviors that represented something so much deeper led me to seek out evidence-based practices to support our community in a more intentional, authentic and trauma-informed manner. Restorative Practices is what I found.”
-Jeannette Siemers, Licensed Restorative Practices Trainer

Serving others is at our core. Empowering and building capacity in others come in a close second. Passionate about our greater community, we became IIRP-licensed trainers to have the ability to meet our goal of having our entire school district staff trained in Restorative Practices. We had realized that by the time we started working with youth and families in high school that what most really needed was an earlier start. We now provide free training to our local school district employees with the intent to create a healthier environment for our staff and students and build a healthier community. 

Giving back is central to who we are as individuals. We each bring the same non-negotiable to our partnership and that is financial support of the communities we serve. At every training we provide, 10% of our fee is given back to a chosen youth organization in that respective area.