Learning can be a real struggle for students who have experienced trauma. Starr Commonwealth can provide the training, tools and resources you need to become trauma-informed and resilience-focused so you can set your students up for success. Our courses were designed with YOU in mind \u2013 teachers, school administrators and staff, psychologists, social workers and counselors.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a long, difficult year for staff and students in the program where I serve as a Behavior Interventionist.\u00a0\u00a0High staff turnover has led to a lack of consistency and predictability, undermining the felt sense of safety of our students and promoting premature burnout of our remaining staff from the increased workload.\u00a0\u00a0Needless to say, we were all heading into the last week before Spring Break on fumes.\u00a0\u00a0Volatile emotions and behaviors of students combined with low frustration tolerance of teachers is a recipe for disaster.\u00a0\u00a0As a program striving to become more trauma responsive, we know this.\u00a0Many of our students don\u2019t respond with the excitement that is typical of their peers before breaks.\u00a0\u00a0For our students, with some exceptions, a break from school means lack of structure, absence of an adult who is in a state to adequately provide for them physically and emotionally, no break from home or community turbulence or violence, and nothing, in particular, to look forward to.\u00a0For these reasons, we know that behaviors escalate before breaks and that we have a responsibility to respond proactively.\u00a0\u00a0But how, when we haven\u2019t had adequate support and time to discharge some of our own stress, could we do anything but react?<\/p>\n
One teacher had the audacity to suggest that we have a staff vs. student kickball game on the day before Spring Break began \u2013 a day that is known historically for: increased outbursts and physical aggression from students and increased anxiety for teachers as they rush to meet final deadlines.\u00a0\u00a0Not only did our director support the idea, but she mandated that all staff participate.\u00a0\u00a0It was okay if we couldn\u2019t physically play, but we all had to be present in the gym for the duration of the game.<\/p>\n
Friday was gameday, and as I entered our building I felt something different, but not foreign \u2013 a buzz of light-hearted excitement.\u00a0\u00a0Students were volunteering to help set up and staff were walking around in a variety of athletic wear, complete with mouth guards and eye block.\u00a0\u00a0We had accumulated ample food for concessions and students and staff worked to prepare hotdogs and nachos in our family living center.<\/p>\n
At 12:30 pm, everyone headed to the gym.\u00a0\u00a0Rules were explained, captains were named, and the game began.\u00a0\u00a0In that 2-hour period, between the game, the food, and the music, miraculous things occurred.\u00a0\u00a0There was spontaneous dancing and laughter.\u00a0\u00a0Students were helping and encouraging other students, students witnessed staff having fun, staff and students appreciated and enjoyed each other outside their typical roles, and students witnessed staff try and sometimes fail at something without having meltdowns.\u00a0\u00a0But there were also miraculous things that didn\u2019t occur.\u00a0There was no physical aggression, there were no outbursts, there were no major arguments \u2013 and the ones that did occur were short and required no adult intervention.\u00a0\u00a0Most interestingly, there were no refusals to get on the bus when it was time to go home.<\/p>\n
As I reflected on the success of the day, the lingering smiles on the faces of students and staff, and the camaraderie among staff that hadn\u2019t been present for a while, I realized what we had done.\u00a0\u00a0We had created a safe, supportive environment for everyone and had activated our social engagement systems through physical movement and play.\u00a0\u00a0In the most stressful of times, we had inadvertently fostered resilience in our students and each other.\u00a0\u00a0Walking down the hall to the buses, the calm was palpable.\u00a0\u00a0Students and staff alike had regulated their stress response through play by experiencing mutual joy, shared communication, and attunement.\u00a0\u00a0I couldn\u2019t imagine a more perfect way to send everyone their separate ways for a week.\u00a0We all should play a little more.<\/p>\n
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