This section provides an overview of each module topic.
Below, you will find the modules section with in-depth descriptions of each topic.Â
Use the buttons to navigate to each section, or scroll to find main content modules.
Practitioner Wellbeing and Self-Care
In order to care for others, we must first care for ourselves. Young children are incredibly perceptive to the emotional state of the adults that care for them. To co-regulate children's emotions and help them manage their own stressors, we must first be balanced and well-regulated ourselves. Maintaining our own health and wellbeing is essential to caring for young children. Â
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Review this module to better understand the interconnected ways we share in healing from stress and adversity.
Learning Modules
"This is where hope lives for all of us- in the unique ability of our miraculous brains... understanding how the brain reacts to stress or early trauma helps clarify how what has happened to us in the past shapes who we are, how we behave, and why we do the things we do."
-Oprah Winfrey
Research
Responsive Relationships
Human beings, especially children, are social creatures. We thrive through our connection to one another, and to nature. Experiencing adversity can make us feel disconnected and isolated. Responsive relationships help restore our inner balance and sense of belonging. Connectedness is the key to healing from traumatic experiences.
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Delve into this module to learn more about creating therapeutic relationships with children in your care.
ResilienceÂ
Resilience is the ability to adapt to, overcome, and grow from challenging life experiences. Children are not born resilient- resilience is learned within the context of supportive relationships. Learning to tolerate and manage stressful situations is a crucial life skill that develops over time, with practice and support. We can help children develop resilience strategically from within the classroom.
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Read this module to learn more about the relationship between stress and resilience, and how they relate to children's development.
ACEs and Child Development
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) is the term used to describe potentially traumatic events that occur in a young person's life before the age of 18. ACEs influence how children develop, and the accumulation of multiple ACEs may lead to serious, long-term negative impacts in the lives of young children.
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The good news is that ACEs are preventable and treatable. Explore this module to gain a better understanding of ACEs and how you can help young children and their families overcome adversity.Â
Module 1
The Roles of Stress and ACEs in Child Development
[Graphic provided by National Center for School Safety]
The Stress Continuum
In order to understand how early life experiences impact development, let's first take a look at the Stress Continuum (left).
Stress is a natural and positive process that occurs in the brain and body which allows us to react to world around us. Stress impacts the body differently depending on the duration and intensity of the event (stressor). When stress is kept to a manageable level, children build resilience and become better at managing emotions on their own.
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However, exposure to prolonged or repeated stress is not healthy and becomes toxic stress. Prolonged exposure to toxic stress is traumatic. Young children are most vulnerable to the negative impacts of stress because their brains and bodies are still in the process of developing the necessary systems for managing stress.
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Children learn best when they are calm, well-regulated, and are provided appropriate doses of Positive stress. On the other hand, traumatic stress disrupts early brain development and can permanently alter the brain's stress-response system, leading to dysregulation and dysfunction in childhood and beyond. Exposure to significant adversity may impede a child's ability to form secure attachment bonds with caregivers, self-regulate, and learn.
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The Impact of ACEs
The term 'adverse childhood experiences' was coined in 1997 to describe events that occur in an individual's life before the age of 18 that have the potential to cause life-altering trauma across the lifespan of the individual. Since then, we continue to learn more about the profound role that ACEs play in the health and wellbeing of our society at every level: individually, within communities, and across the board nationally.Â
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We now know that anywhere from 40-80% of children in America under the age of 5 have already been exposed to some form of trauma, with the highest rates among impoverished communities, BIPOC-communities, and among children under 3 years old. Cumulative ACEs are more likely to result in trauma. These numbers suggest that the majority of ECE practitioners are routinely serving young children with ACEs.Â
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The prevalence of ACEs in ECE settings demands our attention and action to prevent and mitigate the harmful effects of negative early life experiences for young children.Â
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Take a look at the graphic on the right depicting 10 Common ACEs. It is important to know that this list is not all inclusive, and most importantly, individuals respond to stress in their own unique way that is dependent on several internal (genetic) and external (environmental) factors. In other words, many events in a young child's life could potentially cause trauma, and simultaneously, having experienced one or more ACEs does not automatically mean that a child will suffer long-term negative consequences.Â
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We also know that certain experiences, protective factors or Positive Childhood Experience (PCEs), help to buffer children from the negative effects of exposure to trauma, prevent re-traumatization, and promote resiliency and healing. This is the essence of trauma-informed care.Â
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Our Role in Supporting the Healing Process
Understanding prevalence and societal impact
Understanding state-dependent functioning and individual impact
Avoiding re-traumatization
Awareness and Promotion of PCEs/Buffers
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The 3R Model: Regulate-Relate-Reason
With understanding of state-dependent functioning, Dr. Perry developed the 3R Model as a framework for addressing a person in the midst of a heightened sense of arousal/stress response: Regulate, Relate, Reason.Â
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Another way to envision this approach is Body > Heart > Mind.
If we wish to reach the minds of young children, we must first care for the body and heart. Taking a whole-child approach, we understand that all areas of development are interconnected. Â
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State-Dependent Functioning: How Stress Interacts With Learning
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Dr. Bruce Perry is an American Psychiatrist and Neuroscientist who has spent decades researching the impact of trauma on humans. His work has contributed significantly to our understanding of the importance of early life experiences. Dr. Perry explored the concept of state-dependent functioning in relation to stress and how children learn.Â
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Think back to the Stress Continuum.  Positive stress is beneficial to learning, but too much stress causes a heightened state of arousal which inhibits children's ability to learn. In a heightened state of arousal, the brain is unable to learn, as it is focused on survival.Â
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Remember, trauma disrupts the body's stress-response system. Therefore, children who experience trauma oftentimes have heightened sensitivity to stress. Our goal is to help children regain and remain a sense of calm security that is most conducive to learning and wellbeing, and to avoid re-traumatization or over-activation of the stress-response system.
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"Connectedness to family, community and culture
-relational health- is more predictive of mental health than history of adversity"
             ~Dr. Bruce Perry
The Heart of Healing
Positive, responsive relationships are the heart of healing from traumatic experiences, they are the single most important protective buffer against adverse experiences. Studies show that just one secure-attachment relationship with a caring adult is sufficient to buffer children from the harms of ACEs.Â
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Our connection to others is like an invisible web which sustains all health, wellbeing, and development. It is within the context of relationships that all learning and development occurs.
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However, when children experience traumatic events, their sense of trust and security become compromised and their ability to form secure attachments is diminished.Â
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Nurturing relationships help restore children's sense of safety. Consistent, responsive interactions with caring adults help children to develop a sense of trust and security in the world and the people around them. Responsivity builds trust and empathy.Â
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This sense of safety is the foundation for future exploration, curiosity, and growth. Think back to the state-dependent functioning model- when the brain is in survival mode, the body is dysregulated and learning is inhibited.Â
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Through calm, consistent, positive interactions with children, we help to restore their inner balance and enable healing. Within a positive relationship dynamic, we are better positioned to co-regulate and address challenging behaviors.Â
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Module 2
Nourishing Responsive Relationships
Our Role in Supporting the Healing Process
Rebuilding trust
Connection, compassion, empathy
Co-regulation > Self-regulation
Module 3
Nurturing Resilience
Taking Advantage of Positive Stress
Contrary to popular belief children are not inherently resilient. Resilience is a skill that is strengthened through practice. We can help children exercise resilience by supporting children in overcoming manageable challenges. Moderate, predictable, controlled stress is a necessary and healthy part of development.
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We can help children develop resilience by providing children with positive stressful experiences. Novelty activates the stress system. This means that, within an established safe environment such as your classroom, unfamiliar or new experiences are great opportunities to practice coping with stress and collaborative problem-solving with peers. Connecting and supporting each other through times of hardship reinforces a strong sense of community and fosters resilience.Â
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Our Role in Supporting the Healing Process
Attunement
Collaboration
Support
The Fight for the Right to Wellbeing
Practitioners' wellbeing directly influence their children's learning experiences and outcomes.Â
Early childhood educators are facing unprecedented challenges in terms of inadequate compensation, staff shortages, work-overload, burnout, and high turnover rates. These challenges are largely systemic, which makes them even more difficult for an individual to navigate and overcome.
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Working with children and families who have experienced trauma places practitioners at risk for developing a condition known as Secondary Traumatic Stress: compassion fatigue. When we experience compassion fatigue, our ability to connect with children in meaningful ways is largely diminished.
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Ultimately, these failures of the system impact young children in profound ways. All children need stable, attentive, and loving relationships with the adults in their lives. When caretakers experience compassion fatigue or burnout, continuity of care is disrupted. Providing the high-quality care and attention that children deserve becomes unmanageable.Â
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As early childhood practitioners, prioritizing our own health and well-being sets a foundation in which children can learn and thrive.Â
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Module 4
Prioritizing Practitioner Wellbeing and Self-Care
Self-Care: The Soil Analogy
As early childhood practitioners, we are helping to grow the future generations of our society.
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Our children are like seedlings. Relationships are the environment in which they thrive.Â
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We provide the light that guides their growth like the sun. This is our knowledge, our experiences and our love.Â
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We provide the water that supports their development. This is our healing classroom environment.Â
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But if the soil lacks nutrients, if we ourselves are depleted and unwell, our children will suffer. We can continue pouring all we have, yet nothing may grow.
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Maintaining our own wellness provides the healthy foundation that our children need to grow.Â
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Our Role in Supporting the Healing Process
Reflective Practice
Self-Awareness
ConnectionÂ