Overcoming Childhood Trauma: How Parents and Schools Work to Stop the Cycle

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shift from KQED Imagine a small town. Hyah Belong road near the top of a breathtaking canyon. It smells like the pine and oak trees that shade the streets and lawns and cover the town's outskirts. It's paradise. Well, at least that's its name. It's a town in Northern California, about 26,000 people tucked into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Driving in. You even pass a sign that reads, May you find paradise to be all its name implies. But that doesn't happen for everyone who lives here. Paradise is in Butte County, which registers among the highest rates of childhood trauma in California. We're trying to turn that ship around right. We're trying to change our practices. Two years ago, the school board adopted a resolution.

All of you County adopted the initiative to be trauma informed.

I'm health reporter Laura Clive Ins and Im ki sung. You're listening to the mind shift podcast. Ah, look at the future of education and what it means for our kids today, our colleague Laura will take us to paradise where we'll look at those high rates of childhood trauma. What does having serious trauma as a kid mean for health? How does it impact schools on what are the ways to help kids overcome painful experiences and become the adults they want to be?

Paradise High School has more than 1000 students. It has a football team, a swim team, a bunch of AP classes. It's the home of the Bobcats, and if you get kicked out of Paradise High School, then you'll probably end up at Honey Run Academy. Honey Run is really just three portable classroom buildings with parking in front and a basketball

driving by. You could easily miss it. I did. Honey run is for kids from seventh to 12th grade, but it's tiny, averaging 10 to 20 students a year. Kids come to honey run, usually after being expelled from other schools or because their probation officers sent them or because they're chronically absent.

Principal Dina Cap Sallis says they have to do more than a regular school because of what's happening in paradise these days, I think that rural America really has become the new inner city in so many ways. Many families are isolated, living deep in the woods. The lack of jobs here, coupled with a wave of meth addiction in the 19 nineties, has left a lot of residents in poverty.

That creates a recipe for childhoods marked by deprivation and sometimes trauma.

Some of the students at Honey run our homeless. Others wear ankle monitors assigned. They're on probation away from this place. They're tough kits at honey Run, though you can feel how they're just grateful to have a place where they're fed and nurtured. Looked after we consider ourselves one part Statue of Liberty. In one part, emergency room principal Deena's students are all living with childhood trauma of one form or another, and a school like honey run small with a low student to staff ratio.

Guided by the simple idea that you work with the whole child, not just the student, that's what these kids need. Children have to be healthy enough to learn. That's something that all school districts can agree on, and mental health is part of overall health. That's childhood psychiatrist and Stanford professor Shashank Joshi. He says you have to keep thes school averse kids coming to school and taking part in learning and in order for Children to have access to the curriculum.

Teachers air now learning ways to create trauma sensitive environments At Honey Run, that environment is built from the idea that each student is an individual and that every interaction is significant. And so what we try to do is recognize that the student comes to school. That's a thing. And if there on time, that's another thing. Um, we might say We know that there's nobody getting you up in the morning.

We know that you're you're on your own and yet you're here. It's five minutes before the school starts. That tells us that you want to be a student today. That tells us you want to be successful. Today, Dina. The teachers and staff are careful not to assume anything about their students, what kinds of homes they come from, or even that they have homes.

Stacy Pew is unstructured. All eight. We have to understand where they came from. What, you know where they might have been last night? They might have slept out in the park. They might have slept on somebody's couch. They may have gotten a fight with a parent. Parents may be using drugs or alcohol. Honey run academy, maybe the one constant in these kid's lives.

Teachers and staff keep that front of mind even in the most mundane ways. Have the eaten breakfast in the morning always try to make sure they've eaten. We have two brushes here and deodorants and things, and we have a washer and dryer where we they can come and bring their clothes. We just have to really be gentle. And if it works,

besides helping in the classroom, Stacy Pew has her informal rules. Surrogate mom, counselor, friend, confidante, adviser. A lot of times they get here waiting to talk to me in the morning. When I get here, some of a meeting come up to my car. Teoh. Tell me what's going on in their life and what they need Help with

Dina Cap Solace. The principal picks up that theme as we cross a parking lot from the office to one of the classrooms. It's little interactions versus the big interventions that make the most impact.

So those little interactions are relationships, and that's that's what we do really, really well here. And that's what we always have. We have this on every door. What does it take? Keep us with you.

Teacher Anthony Sansoni kicks off the class as the last few students come inside from playing basketball.

Today is our last Monday together. It's kind of a sad Monday, ready for today in history. The class jumps into a history lesson. Then, since it's the last week before summer vacation, teacher Anthony offers an end of year reward a round of monopoly right in the middle of class time after the nearest railroad,

the nearest railroad. You know, advanced

Stacy Pew scopes out dirty hands and circulates with a bottle of antibacterial gel offering a squirt. Here and there. You can tell the students are right at home. In what Dina describes as a trauma informed classroom, lots of seating options stand up. Desks sit down desks that allow restless knees to jiggle, even a rocking chair. The usual classroom fluorescent lighting is softened with a cloud covered fabric, and there's another thing that softens the tone in this room.

It has to do with the way these three adults interact with students, the words they use show a mutual respect leader. I ask Dina about it. We don't use a lot of junk food language. We don't say things like you rock your awesome. We call it junk food language because it just disappears very quickly and has no credibility, she says. Honey run students would see right through it.

And it's not just the teachers at Honey Run who are trained to think about how they speak to the kids. It's everybody at the school who comes in contact with them. Food service people, bus drivers, crossing guards, yard duties, registrars, front office people, instructional aides, etcetera. So these are the folks that makes school district's run and that spend a lot of time with students.

In the case of bus drivers, for example, at the beginning and the end of their day food service, when they're at their most hungry and vulnerable emotionally and then yard duties, you know when they're in unstructured environments

way. Listen to Pam Parker, who serves the kids breakfast. She takes a moment to connect with each kid and tow offer praise for the smallest of positive choices. You take whatever you think you need today, I've got something different that just gets with no sauce. Oh, the burrito. Grab me some fruit or some. All your so good. Thanks, honey.

You guys all have a day. What becomes clear when you spend time at Honey Run Academy is that school day is not actually a day. It's a mosaic of small moments, thoughtfully handled by adults who grasped the importance of stopping toe. Listen to these kids to whom no one ever listens. The girl who approaches you at the start of the day, needing to tell you something urgently before you've even had the chance to pull into a parking space.

Or the boy at the breakfast cart who, one morning out of the blue, asked for fruit with his burrito. Multiply those moments over the course of a day, a week, a month, and you start to see Children growing healthy enough toe learn

honey run is a place for kids to reset. It's a place to bend the trajectory of their life for the better. But how did educators figure out how to design it, how to run it? And how do we know that it works. Some of the answers can be found in the growing field of childhood trauma research. One of the people championing this work is doctor Nadine Burke Harris, a pediatrician who works in San Francisco with low income kids.

Through her work, she saw a link between high rates of health problems like high blood pressure, depression or stunted growth and problems going on at home like a mom who drinks or a dad who hits. She likens thes scary experiences to seeing a bear in the forest when the body goes into fight or flight. That's a helpful response to adversity, she says, when there is a one time threat.

But if you have too much of that threat, what we now understand is that all of these things change a child's biology. This cumulative adversity is overwhelming. Toe a child's biology, Dr Burke Harris says. When this hormonal cascade repeats, it can hurt the body. It can lead to long term changes in kids, developing brains, their immune systems and even work its way into their D n.

A. Some of the best evidence for how that damage affects real people's lives came from thousands of Kaiser Permanent, a patient's in San Diego. In that study, they asked 17.5 1000 adults about their histories of 10 categories off what they called adverse childhood experiences or a says which were stressful or traumatic experiences in childhood.

So these included physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Neglect. Domestic violence growing up in a household or parent was mentally ill substance dependant, incarcerated or divorced.

Just look back at the students at Honey Run. They're experiencing a lot of these hardships addicted or incarcerated parents. Physical abuse, neglect Researchers created a scale for these adverse childhood experiences from 0 to 10. For each negative experience someone had they'd get 1.4 or more points is considered a lot. The total number is called Your Ace Score a C E for adverse childhood experience.

But what the study also did was take a scores and use them toe. Look at people's entire life trajectory. What the study found Waas really groundbreaking first, that having one of thes childhood traumas is incredibly common. 2/3 of on had experience at least one adverse childhood experience. Second, that the more of these experiences someone has the sicker they are not only mentally but physically.

Your body carries that trauma later in life. For a person with four or more of these adverse childhood experiences, they had double the risk for heart disease, double the risk for cancer 2.5 times the risk for stroke and almost four times the risk of chronic lung disease. And that's not just because people with difficult childhoods may do riskier things.

When they're older. That's part of it. But even for people who eat healthy exercise, avoid drugs, their bodies are still more vulnerable than people who didn't grow up with trauma. But the impact of trauma can be tempered with interventions, especially early ones, especially ones that focus on building and repairing relationships with adults.

Honey Run Principal Dina found her way to this idea through trial and error. We really had a different way of interacting with all Ted students and especially students who were expelled. Then they learned about aces then that made so much sense when we learned about trauma and what it does to the brains of bodies of Children and how it impacts their behavior and learning.

And so then we thought, Oh, that makes so much sense, which is what led us to feel like, you know, at the end of the day, we had it all along. But what if you don't get to go to a place like honey run? Or what? If its effects don't stick? How can an adult he'll from their trauma and escaped? The fate, Science says is there's coming up after the break.

I've had a score of eight, and that's huge. But here I am still, and you know I'm doing it. I'm making a work. Stay with us.

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Way. Welcome back to my ship podcast. I'm Lorik livens. Earlier this year, I met 33 year old Sabrina hates at Youth for Change, a nonprofit in Paradise, California that, among other things, helps kids and adults who've had serious childhood trauma. Serena experienced a lot of pain, violence and neglect. Growing up. She has an ace score of eight out of 10.

When she was a teenager, she skipped school. She regularly hurt herself through cutting or attempting suicide. She got into unhealthy and abusive relationships. She looked a lot like the students at Honey Run. After finishing high school, she battled a meth addiction for five years. Eventually she landed in jail. That's where the first change happened.

She was forced to sober up, and with a clear mind, it dawned on her. This'll didn't have to be her life. I just knew that I wanted something better. I wanted to change

for a fresh start. She moved to paradise, a place that for her has lived up to its name. I have not touched dark sense. So it's been over 10 years on. DSHEA kept moving forward. When she was 27 3 years sober, she started taking classes at the local community college. I was like, Oh, really? Do you like school? Cause I mean, when you're in high school, you're made to do it.

You don't want toe. I got to choose my classes. So that was definitely plus. And then the following semester, the spring semester of 2013.

What I found out I was pregnant. Just like to talk

that Sabrina's daughter, Aurora. She looks just like Sabrina did when she was young, a skinny kid with blond hair and blue eyes. I personally was happy because I wanted to be among. But Aurora wasn't planned, and her biological father wasn't ready to be apparent. Sabrina would have to do this on her own. Another challenge was that Sabrina would have to learn how to parent differently than her mom and dad did, because the impact of aces can be passed from one generation to the next.

I don't want to hurt, have to go through those adverse experiences. I want her to have a fulfilled life and to be happy. Sabrina had a tough pregnancy. Her blood pressure kept spiking, so her doctor told her about a nonprofit where she could get support. It turned out to be a great decision. They're like family now. You know, they've been such a huge support, and I think it's things like that that really helps somebody to survive.

Week after week, she'd go back to youth for change, to get ready for the baby. As she did that, she strengthened her bond with the staff. There she learned about aces, which she says helped her process her past trauma. I've had a score of eight, and that's huge. But here I am still and you know I'm doing it. I'm making a work. The youth for Change staff helped Sabrina right out goals and follow them little by little for so long, I kind of played that victim role.

Poor me. Poor me, Poor me. All those things are going bad. And when I was doing things for myself, finally, I was kind of like, widely the victim. There's so much out when this world that there's discover and maybe I can make an impact. First off the new baby would need Ah, hopeful name. She chose Aurora. It means Don, and she spelled it differently with the word roar in the middle like this girl's gonna come out roaring.

So that's like it was like, Yeah, Aurora. I don't like sharper fake rhyme. How

that's Aurora singing her own version of a Taylor Swift song

Auroras almost five. Now she loves to read, and she's starting to spell out words. She likes bright colors and dancing around any space she occupies. Basically, she's a very normal, healthy, happy seeming child. Serena works hard to make that happen. Because of her past. She's constantly trying to strengthen her parenting skills. She does that now through a weekly therapy session at Youth for Change.

It's different than you'd expect, though therapists and clients aren't even in the same room. Instead, mother and daughter play in one room while therapist Laurie Taylor observes from another. She watches them through a two way mirror and talks into a mike. They go straight to an ear bud Sabrina's wearing thistles called Parent Child Interaction Therapy.

The goal is to help parents and their kids communicate. Better

reminder. Remember others to rules for special place. Remember where there's two rules for special Playtime's. The first rule is played. First role is played gently with the toys. Fickett rules played gently with each other and the second roles to play joking with each other. Aurora on Lee. Here's her mom's voice. You're doing a great job of pulling the rules.

You're right. That is another pony. It's great. I'm so glad I get to be here to play with you.

You're fun to play with Thisted of Therapy, which focuses on improving communication between parent and child, has been proven to help with behaviors like tantrums and aggression. In kids,

Sabrina and Aurora start playing doctor with a plastic stethoscope and colorful band aids. There's a brown stuffed bear on the table through Sabrina's ear. Bud Therapist Loury explains Why. Okay, so I put that in there today because, you know, she's been having problems with Sabrina and Aurora. Pretend to give Mr Bear shots, then Aurora says she'll be the patient.

I would love to take care of you. Thank you for letting me be the doctor.

Right. Okay, You're sitting on that chair.

Okay, so this is a great feeling activity that you guys great that she's letting you take care of her.

Keep your body calm. I know next time we go to the doctor's office, you're going to be able to keep your body cone, cause see how calm you're being right now and you just got four shots.

This kind of therapy around parent child communication is just one tool that helps families who've seen trauma. Sabrina Haynes says she's completely different from who she was as a teenager. Now I look at life as something amazing and beautiful and all the things that you can get out of life. She loves school. She's finished two associates degrees and is on track to get a bachelor's in child development.

Next year, she'd like to get a Masters to someday. Sabrina Haines wants to run a preschool. For now, she volunteers as a teacher at Youth for Change. She works once a week in a classroom with toddlers and their parents. We're going on a bear hunt. We're going to catch a big one. What's a beautiful day? Sabrina reads the Children's book. We're going on a bear hunt.

The kids listen, some of them snuggling closer to their moms for comfort when they're afraid we're not scared. Uh oh. A cave. A narrow, gloomy cave. Sabrina knows there will be dark times still ahead for her, For Aurora to there will be difficult times for the honey run students, but now they're better prepared for those gloomy days. We can't go over it way Can't go under it.

Oh, no. We've got to go through it. Tiptoe, tiptoe, tiptoe. Wait for the mind shift. Podcast. I'm Lorik Livens, Health reporter for cake. This story was produced in collaboration with the U. S C. Center for Health Journalism's California Fellowship. You can find a more in depth version of Sabrina's story on KQED Ease, The California Report and Im ki Sung.

Our editors. Jacob Conrad and Set Samuel is our audio specialist. Holly Kernan is KQED is vice president of News, thanks to our colleagues carry fireable Paul Lank or Victoria Melian and Susie Rocco for their help with this episode. If you want to stay in touch for more stories about teaching and learning, subscribe to this podcast. And while you're on your favorite podcast app, let us know how we're doing by rating us or leaving a comment.

Your feedback helps us figure out what to cover next. See you next time.