07 Aug A Safe Space to Calm Down and Heal

Childhood experiences, both positive and negative, have a lasting impact on a child’s ability to learn and grow. Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, are harmful events in a child’s life, which may include emotional, physical, or sexual abuse or household dysfunction. A child dealing with ACEs may show physical or verbal aggression or be disruptive or anxious in the classroom, all of which influences their ability to succeed academically and socially.

Foust Elementary School in Owensboro, Kentucky is taking beginning steps to provide necessary interventions to children dealing with ACEs. In partnership with the Kosair Charities® Face It® Movement and the RISE Coalition, the elementary school is launching a pilot program focused on prioritizing trauma-informed responses for children dealing with ACEs.

This August, the school is opening a new intervention center and updated classrooms and counselor offices. The intervention room is designed to be a safe space for children to calm down during stressful situations in healthy and appropriate ways. Teachers are also being trained to respond to a child acting out in a trauma-informed way by using sensory objects with different textures and noise-canceling headphones as tools to help children calm down in the classroom.

Children are resilient, and a trauma-informed approach to children dealing with ACEs will only accelerate their ability to overcome. Face It is proud to partner on this project and we look forward to the success it will bring to the school, its children, and the community as a whole.