Pt 3 in a three part series on Berry Street Education
Our knowledge about trauma’s consequence on the neurodevelopment of children helps us when our young people become heightened, leading to flight, fight, or freeze behaviour.
Dr Bruce Perry has informed our work at Berry Street. Moving beyond the medical model, we work with Dr Perry’s Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (and his emerging Neurosequential Model of Education) as a structure for understanding the neurobiological development of children who have histories of threat, neglect, humiliation, degradation, deprivation, chaos, and violence.
We are building upon the Berry Street Model of Education, which encompasses nine domains of our trauma-informed education, such as the importance of the integration of clinical, welfare approaches, building positive relationships, developing community/pathway linkages, etc.
Significantly, Berry Street has a commitment to teaching children in mainstream settings through the collaborative creation of the Child Safety Commissioner’s program: Calmer Classrooms.
Post written by Tom Brunzell, Berry Street Childhood Institute Senior Advisor, Teaching & Learning.