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<\/p>\nAny trauma-informed practitioner should know that \u201cstressed brains can\u2019t learn.\u201d While this important adage resonates in any setting, the stress referred to can vary wildly. For Beryl Cheal\u2019s SuperGirls, the stresses of war, genocide, and displacement weigh heavy and present additional obstacles for them to overcome. Cheal is tasked with not only providing trauma-informed care, a testing task no matter the geolocation, she must also overcome translation issues, clashes of culture, and a lack of effective educational structure. The early success of the program, which was established in 2017 through the Collateral Repair Project in Amman, Jordan, is a testament to a career which was built upon, and gained momentum through, Cheal\u2019s trust in the limitless success possible for all children.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI found, early on, the key to success was listening to kids, caring about [them], and helping them find ways to belong,\u201d says Cheal, who began her career as a teacher in Southern California and Washington. Her first international service to children came through the American Friends Service Committee, an organization who challenged her with the task of directing a kindergarten system for 1500 Palestinian refugees in Gaza. Many opportunities and stops across the globe thereafter, Cheal has built an approach to care that not only will be recognizable by those familiar with the Mission of Starr, but directly influenced by its Certified Trauma Practitioner<\/a> curriculum. <\/p>\n \u201c[My work in Gaza and through the Red Cross and Peace Corps allowed me to work with] kids who had gone through really difficult experiences, and that all made me realize that teachers tend not to know what to do about trauma,\u201d recalls Cheal. This inspired her to seek out resources to solve that dilemma, ultimately leading her to Making It Better<\/em>, by Barbara Oehlberg, a Starr certified trainer and Cheal\u2019s first introduction to Starr Commonwealth. Oehlberg\u2019s thorough and thoughtful descriptions of understanding trauma, as well as ideas for strategies to implement, and her own personal research paved the way for Cheal\u2019s storied career dedicated to healing trauma in a variety of settings, including post-9\/11 New York, natural disaster-torn Philippine islands, post-Apartheid South Africa, as well as several refugee settings. As for Starr, it wasn\u2019t until the aforementioned SuperGirls program that Cheal took the leap into its many courses on trauma-informed care.<\/p>\n Cheal\u2019s initial task was to help the CRP establish SuperGirls, a leadership program for girls 6-12 years old, the majority being refugees from regions of war such as Iraq and Syria. Through games, storytelling, and play, the SuperGirls are overcoming trauma and building resilience. In this structured and safe setting, the girls are learning communication skills, mind body awareness, self-confidence, and independence\u2014all while having fun. \u201cWe know that kids who have experienced trauma can\u2019t focus well, as they have been rewired to simply survive,\u201d explains Cheal. \u201cBy playing games with specific rulesets, we can have fun while making sure we play the game the right way. We also have the opportunity to celebrate their culture by introducing games that originated in this part of the world.\u201d The results of this initiative were immediate, as CRP Executive Director Amanda Lane can attest.<\/p>\n \u201cSince 2006, CRP has been working deeply with Amman’s refugee community and offering up a number of community-based psycho-social support activities, but the SuperGirls program Beryl designed for CRP is by far our most impactful trauma-sensitive educational program to date,\u201d says Lane. \u201cBeryl’s love and enthusiasm for her work is infectious, and she has helped our staff to make real strides in integrating a trauma-informed approach throughout our programming.\u201d While she was quick to find success at CRP, Cheal\u2019s plans for 2019 take important next steps for the SuperGirls program. In addition, she\u2019ll be utilizing a fresh sets of skills thanks for Starr\u2019s online training.<\/p>\n \u201cIn between stays in Amman, I found [Starr\u2019s] programming, thanks to my familiarity with Oehlberg\u2019s book,\u201d recalls Cheal. \u201cI began with Trauma-Informed Resilient Schools<\/a>, which I thought was great, and it inspired me to adapt the curriculum for [Collateral Repair Project\u2019s] community center. I then received a note from CRP asking for me to help them become a more trauma-informed center. Naturally, I said \u2018well, of course!\u2019 So we added a youth program [for 2019], and I realized I could benefit greatly from the full Certified Trauma Practitioner<\/a> course.\u201d And while she\u2019s a teacher by trade, Cheal was challenged by her sister, a Ph.D. LMHC (Licensed Mental Health Counselor), to learn more about how psychology can help her program grow. \u201cSo, I signed up for the clinical track instead of the educational track, and I\u2019m really glad I did. Sure, some of the terminology was a bit of a struggle for someone who hadn\u2019t come from a clinical background, but Starr\u2019s courses taught me a great deal, while also reinforcing what I had found to be true about trauma-informed care throughout my career. The experts [at Starr] are validating my work, and that\u2019s really cool.\u201d It\u2019s that work, which has been fundamental in reestablishing the proper communal norms to take the next step for the SuperGirls program.<\/p>\n While the SuperGirls program has been focused on youth empowerment, the transformation of parent interactions with Cheal and other volunteers has provided an additional proof-point for the CRP\u2019s work. \u201cThe concept of trust is critical in this part of the world\u2014I can\u2019t emphasize it enough. Confidence is not always easy for refugees who have experienced so much fear, deceit, treachery, and discrimination to develop trust in strangers. Parents who hadn\u2019t brought their kids to schooling of any kind are now insisting on giving their daughters opportunities \u2018within the walls\u2019 of the CRP.\u201d The task challenge for Cheal in 2019 is taking the inter-generational healing and community building that has happened within the SuperGirls program, and begin to apply it to formal education.<\/p>\n A great number of SuperGirls have had no schooling whatsoever. In addition, cultural norms have meant that parents are not actively involved in schooling. Cheal is set to change these truths. In September, she will be traveling back to Amman to start a school readiness program under the SuperGirls umbrella. While the goals will be to introduce literacy and numeracy, the approach will remain the same: trauma-informed learning through play and games. To ensure the momentum of community-building that she has already helped make possible, she also plans on involving the parents in the educational process. \u201cThey don\u2019t realize the saying we have here that parents are a child\u2019s first teacher. For those who we\u2019ve built trust with, we still find them leaving their kids at the door and going to do something else while the kids interact. We\u2019ll be intentional about getting parents more involved [moving forward].\u201d<\/p>\n To learn more about the Collateral Repair Project, visit their website at collateralrepairproject.org<\/a>. The critical work being done by CRP and Beryl Cheal is made possible, in part, due to Cheal\u2019s status as a Certified Trauma Practitioner through Starr Commonwealth. If you are interested in how a trauma-informed certification can help you make an even greater impact in your field, visit starr.org\/certifications<\/a>.<\/p>\n All photos courtesy of the Collateral Repair Project.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Any trauma-informed practitioner should know that \u201cstressed brains can\u2019t learn.\u201d While this important adage resonates in any setting, the stress referred to can vary wildly. For Beryl Cheal\u2019s SuperGirls, the stresses of war, genocide, and displacement weigh heavy and present additional obstacles for them to overcome. Cheal is tasked with not only providing trauma-informed care, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"coauthors":[61],"class_list":["post-1555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/starr.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/supergirls-300x200.jpg\")
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