A new movement to treat troubled children as ‘sad, not bad’ [HechingerReport.org]

...All day long, a steady stream of Crocker students, feeling overwhelmed and needing to talk, ask teachers for passes to Gauthier’s office. Some students want reassurance that they’ll be okay after water or electricity is shut off at home; others are burdened with worries about a loved one who is sick, has been arrested, or even killed. Some, like Sherlae, are coping with a family mental-health crisis.

In New Orleans, Crocker is at the vanguard of a collaborative of five schools launched in 2015 by the city’s health department. At each school, educators, experts in psychiatry and development, and mental-health providers work together to improve academic achievement by establishing a place where students can feel a sense of belonging and safety.

The concept behind these so-called “trauma-informed schools” is supported by research showing that traumatized students — those who have been exposed to repeated violence, abuse and deprivation — maintain such high levels of vigilance and anxiety that they cannot flourish at school until they can calm themselves.

To continue reading this remarkable story by Katy Reckdahl, go to: http://hechingerreport.org/a-n...dren-as-sad-not-bad/