Going extra mile to help children facing trauma

Learning is made much more difficult under traumatic circumstances. School districts are forming plans and techniques to help students dealing with traumatic events, to help them cope and learn.

The movement to provide more resources for trauma is growing across the state, as Missouri enacted the Trauma Informed Schools Initiative. The Missouri Legislature created the initiative three years ago, authorizing online resources to schools. Missouri does not mandate school participation, but Cape Girardeau and Jackson are among local schools undergoing trauma-sensitive training.

Childhood trauma can include, among other things, parental divorce, the death of a family pet, and sexual or emotional abuse.

A recent report by Jay Wolz said that studies have found that nearly a third of all adults say they had a traumatic experience as a child. Four out of every 10 school-aged children say they have experienced a physical assault and more than 60% of youth younger than 17 have been directly or indirectly exposed to crime, violence or abuse in one form or another.

The statistics are even more troubling in Missouri, where a higher percentage of children age 17 and younger have experienced two or more adverse childhood experiences than almost any other state in the nation.

As part of the Trauma Informed Schools initiative, teachers, counselors and administrators are focused on undertsanding what causes the trauma and help support the students who are working through these issues.

Jackson Middle School counselor Lauren Butchtmann, balled the Trauma initiative a "paradigm shift." She said "it's a change in the mindset that will continue to deepen and change over time. We can't just flip a switch and say we're a trauma informed school."

At the Cape Girardeau School District, workshops developed by the Missouri Academy for Child Trauma Studies (MoACTS) began last week with junior high, middle school and Central Academy staffs.

Training sessions at Central High School and Franklin Elementary are scheduled for next spring, and the other schools in the Cape Girardeau district will complete trauma training during the 2020-2021 school year.

Children facing adversity need extra time and attention for many reasons, not just educational. But certainly, children dealing with traumatic situations will have a hard time concentrating and learning in the classroom. Here's to the great teachers and counselors who are going the extra mile to reach children in tough circumstances.