All caretakers in a child’s life need to have a shared understanding on how to support children to develop fundamental skills to resolve stress, overwhelm and trauma.

The health, wellbeing and development of a child cannot be viewed in isolation, or separate from their family, culture, school, and community. Nemer et al (2019) argues the quality of the relationship a child shares with their caretakers determines the overall wellbeing and health of a child. When a child is born, they are completely dependent on an attuned caretaker (parents and educators) to teach them how to settle and regulate in times of distress and overwhelm. It is through repeated experiences of being co-regulated by a regulated caretaker, that the child develops the neural circuitry that is required for self-regulation. For many adult caretakers the capacity for self-regulation and co-regulation can be constrained due a history of living with adversity, stress and trauma, and the recent impact of COVID-19.

Considering this, it is imperative that education systems provide teachers and parents training in the psychobiology of trauma, and skills for trauma prevention and resolution frameworks. “Trauma symptoms are not caused by the event itself. They arise when residual energy from the experience is not discharged from the body. This energy remains trapped in the nervous system where it wreaks havoc on the mind and body” (Levine, 1997). When an individual is dysregulated, the residual energy is stuck in the body causing overwhelm. It can present as anxiety, restlessness, defiance, aggression, shutdown and/or withdrawal. Dysregulation compromises the child’s capacity to feel safe, learn and form social connections with their peers and the world around them.