Building Resilience to Trauma: Creating a Safe and Supportive Early Childhood Classroom

Abstract

On Monday morning, a collective shock was felt throughout the school as news spread of a student's death. John, a playful 5-year-old, had died in a car accident. One child in the class had witnessed the accident, but others had also heard of the tragedy from their parents or television news reports. Even children who were not classmates of the deceased student were affected by the emotionally charged environment as the caregivers around them became distracted and often overwhelmed by the compelling events that resulted in the child's death. Few of the early childhood teachers had specific training or experience in responding to traumatic events, and many struggled to address the emotions associated with the loss. Fear, shock, and anger filled many hearts on this dark day and in the ensuing weeks. The event attacked the sense of safety and security among the teachers and students. The day of this tragedy, the day after, and the following weeks and months all brought new transformations of the children's responses to such trauma and new opportunities for recovery.