Back to School: Cultural Competence & Trauma Awareness.

August 1992:

It was supposed to be a five minute walk.

I spent many summer afternoons practicing the route, making sure I knew how to get to school and find my way back home. When you wake up in an empty house, are a latchkey kid, don't speak English, and cell phones don't exist, you better not get lost.

5th grade, here I come...

I can see the elementary school through the tears that cloud my eyes. I would give anything to turn back time and be back home. Not the home minutes away, the one across the Ocean. I'd rather be with my friends, even if it meant I had to walk an hour. I wouldn't care.

But this was my new reality. No complaining, no tears, no whining. Count your blessings & be strong. This was part of the American Dream, you have to sacrifice & struggle. Work hard, keep your head down, and don't complain. This is what immigrants are made of.

The crowd of parents in front of the school made the pit in my stomach rise a bit higher. I would give anything to have my parents here with me. Especially now, when I was coming in as the last kid, many minutes after the bell has rung.

It was not a five minute walk.

As instructed, I entered the office, spelled out my last name perfectly. After all, I practiced those 5 letters on repeat the entire summer. The rest of the day was a blur.

Everyone says that children are resilient, but just because kids are resilient doesn't mean they aren't affected. Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Looking back, I have no idea how I survived and coped with such traumatic life changes, but the tears helped. You know the Sunday scaries? Newcomers get them, not just on Sunday, though, all week long. It feels like the first day of kindergarten, all year long, on repeat.

If you're a teacher & have cried after the first day on the job, you understand. Both, you and your students are probably wondering if you're truly cut out for this. Do know that it gets better. Promise.

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When the Pandemic hit, everyone's peace was disturbed. We had no choice but to adjust to a new way of life. We were forced to learn a new way to live. In a blink of an eye, our worlds fell apart, our mental health suffered, our communities were shaken. Having this common experience helped us build empathy, become aware of our strengths and limitations, and hopefully become a stronger community.

Imagine if I told you that tomorrow you are moving to Eastern Europe. Just like that, in a blink of an eye. The country doesn't matter, because you have no idea where you're going anyways. You have never been there, you don't speak the language, you are unfamiliar with the culture, and very few people in the new community speak your language. No one knows how long you'll stay there, so pack accordingly. Best of luck and remember to relax, it's all gonna be fine.

I imagine most of us would be in survival mode the entire time, uncertain of our own safety. We would most likely spend the entire day in fear, anticipating tomorrow, still unable to process today. When you don't know the culture, can't speak the language, and lack any connection to the adults in the school, accessing services is nearly impossible. How do you communicate your needs when you can't speak? Whom do you communicate with when your parents aren't home, and who is going to advocate for you when they don't even speak English? How do you navigate a school system that is completely foreign to you? Google translate is not always the answer.

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Each child deserves an education that fosters cultural competence and trauma awareness. Cultural competence requires us to examine the most difficult and painful truths. We need to recognize & address the issues of inequity to resources, mental health stigma in world cultures & turn our conversations from "What's wrong with you?" to "What happened to you?" ( Perry, Winfrey 2021). Culture and trauma go hand in hand. Many times abuse is mistaken for cultural norms, and passed down through generations. Psychoeducation allows us to know better and do better. The most vulnerable populations, especially children, need to be aware of their rights, provided with resources in our community and guided in accessing support services.

When working with vulnerable populations, it is essential to be culturally competent & trauma aware. In order to help children and parents find support, we must be aware of cultural norms regarding discipline, mental health and community resources. We cannot be of guidance and support if we are scared to explore our own traumas and actively suppress them.

Life is not perfect, and it's undeniable that all of us experience adversity in our lifetime, which has a lasting impact on our overall health. In the end, what we choose to do with our pain and our experiences is a return investment in ourselves. How we treat others has very little to do with them, but everything to do with how we feel about ourselves.

"When you've lived through adversity, you can come to a point in your life where you can look back, reflect, learn, and grow from the experience. Adversity, challenges, disappointments, loss, trauma- all can contribute to the capacity to be broadly empathetic, to become wise. Trauma and adversity, in a way, are gifts. What we do with these gifts will differ from person to person (Perry)."

For more info on trauma: https://www.nctsn.org/treatments-and-practices/trauma-treatments