Hi Chris,
I've shared with Jamie Redford who is filming Lincoln as part of his documentary on ACE's...."you have to share the whole story of Lincoln, to show the impact of ACE's and the resiliency". In a trauma sensitive school, your life is enriched and and the relationships are branded on your soul. But with joy comes the painful fall to substance abuse, feeling unworthy to succeed and self destructing. We have enjoyed watching lives being transformed....but we also see lives living out the predictable outcomes of their ACE's. I never want Lincoln to be misrepresented....we don't reach every student. This is why I believe a trauma sensitive school must model unconditional love. No matter how many times they fail....they deserve our love and forgiveness. I have never seen the level of stress than what I am seeing with my students this year. It has become routine for me to ask students that come in my office..."from a scale from 1-10 where is your stress level at?" We are reaching the end of the first semester, the lowest score I have been given was a 6, that was one time. The kids are telling me consistently 8-9. I follow up with asking them if there stress is school related....every student that I have talked to has told me their stress is outside of school. However, you can't carry an 8-9 and not bring it into school. I have spent more time teaching students about their brains and how stress can block their ability to learn, to problem solve, and I have been teaching students strategies to learn to identify where their stress is at, share how to self regulate and know when to tell their teachers they need a time out or they need some quiet time to bring themselves down. I have been encouraged by the student's ability to understand and to begin learning the process. My staff have the greater impact on a day to day basis. I love watching them connect and become one of the adults in their village of support.