Teaching With Trauma Awareness

Robyn Mills, Scholarship Recipient

It has been an honor to be a teacher at the MIPC (Merrit Island Presbyterian Church, Merritt Island, FL) for over 15 years now, I have grown over those years and continued to learn with these children. Starting as a teacher for 3-year-olds to now one of the preschool’s Co-Directors. Over the years, I have noticed that the children around me have changed, their behaviors, their needs. My eyes have been opened to see that our community needs help to support our children in different ways. One aspect in education that has emerged is the need for Trauma informed care. I wanted to know more, and I wanted to learn how this might be a way to help the children in our care.

Due to budget cuts from state and national funding, our income at the preschool has been reduced and we are trying to keep expenses down in any way possible. But I realized, the preschool needed to do something about the issues I could see happening around me.

Earlier this year, I was fortunate enough to receive two scholarships from the Presbytery and the Synod of S. Atlantic to cover the $400 cost of a continuing education course.  The course subject: Trauma Informed Care.

This course has taught me how to look at children’s behavioral challenges with more compassion and understanding. I have learned that the trauma in a child’s life (even before birth) alters the brain and affects different aspects of their life including learning, behavior and self-regulation. I also realize that, like most of us, many of our teachers have a history of trauma.

My challenge now is to teach our teachers how to look at the challenging behaviors of some of our children in a different light. So that, our children can have the tools they need to live beyond and learn to thrive despite life’s traumas. One of my assignments during the 2-month course was to create a training presentation on trauma informed care for the staff here at the preschool. I will be presenting that to the teachers on one of our upcoming workdays.

My hope is that each one of us here at MIPCP will make a difference to all the children in our care, but especially to the ones that may have suffered or are suffering from trauma. I am thankful that MIPC Preschool is here for these children and provides a safe and caring environment for the children in our community.  

I pray that God will use the preschool as a beacon of hope and light for our children and our teachers. I hope you will too!