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Trauma throws children into negative territory, but a teacher can make a difference

Several years ago I had a wonderful student, a boy who everyone loved. No matter what you asked him to do, he tried his best. He was the kind of child who brightened the whole room, the kind of child who would share his lunch or school supplies. So when he started putting his head down during class, and then getting into fights, I was very alarmed.

Two weeks went by in this miserable new state of being. I tried speaking with him in private, but he just shook his head. Then suddenly, after class one day, he was ready to talk. He pulled me to the side and told me that he, his mother, and his sisters were living in a car. It all made sense. The stress of homelessness had stolen his happiness and made him do things he had never done before.

Once he trusted me with that revelation, I was finally able to convince him to speak with the school counselor. She, in turn, set the wheels in motion for a county social worker to get them emergency housing. However, even though this story ends “happily” — with the family getting emergency housing, and three months later getting a more stable housing situation — the cost to this child’s mental health was real. Due to the sudden trauma of unstable housing, he had slipped into negative territory emotionally. In my experience, no disciplinary action moves a child out of that territory.

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