All-Women School Safety Center

The Northwest Educational Service District 189 (NWESD) is excited to introduce our all-women-led School Safety Center (SSC)! Pictured above from left to right is the team of Erum Mohiuddin, Erin Wood, Natalie Gustafson, and Caylie Edlund. They offer comprehensive and trauma-informed training, support, and guidance to school leaders implementing physical and psychological safety measures. Their contributions are crucial to the success of our region’s efforts to enhance school safety.

Partnering with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and other Educational Service Districts in Washington, the NWESD SSC aims to advance safety programs and increase services throughout the northwest. The center offers a range of services, including behavioral health navigation, comprehensive school safety, crisis response, threat assessment, and more.

Natalie Gustafson, the Assistant Director of Behavioral Health and Prevention Services (BHPS), serves as the Behavioral Health Navigator, bringing trauma-informed leadership to our region’s suicide prevention strategies and collaborating with local youth and family care agencies to provide direct support to schools.

Erin Wood, the Safety Center Program Manager for the NWESD and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, specializes in trauma-informed prevention and intervention strategies for healthy youth, schools, and communities. As the Safety Center Program Manager, she supervises all School Safety Center roles and guides and enhances all school safety-related services provided to schools through the NWESD.

Erum Mohiuddin, the Comprehensive School Safety Coordinator (CSSC), has over 20 years of experience as an educator and has created programming to bolster students’ academic programs and support educational staff. She also co-created the first charter high school in Whatcom County, which supported underserved and marginalized students. The Comprehensive School Safety Coordinator provides guidance and consultation to district leadership in the areas of emergency operations planning and the provision of physical and psychological safety strategies.

Caylie Edlund, the Threat Assessment Coordinator, has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and has experience working with Juvenile Justice, Youth Mentoring Services, and various other community programs throughout Washington State and British Columbia. The Student Threat Assessment program offers districts training, support, and facilitation of the multi-level Salem-Keizer Cascade model, aimed at reducing and preventing school-based threats and violence.

The School Safety Center is comprised of women who strive to provide thoughtful, intentional safety measures for educators, students, and communities in a variety of circumstances. Through collaboration with other departments and services within the NWESD and the educational community, the SSC seeks to provide equitable pathways for everyone towards a more healthful, secure, and successful future.