Recently I was at a gathering and someone familiar sat next to me. He knew that I worked for Lakeside and we began a discussion about trauma and what happened to so many of our students as a result of the pandemic.
As is often the case, the story turned to his own family. He was under a great deal of duress as a father of an adolescent young girl who struggled with her return to school post-COVID. It was clear from our discussion that she had profoundly changed and could not cope with the normal atmosphere of school. Her anxiety was extremely high, and her behavior changed radically; she went from a very sweet personality to a very reactive one.
As a family they struggled with what to do about her behavior and anxiety, which became increasingly difficult, and her school performance, which was completely compromised. She struggled to stay regulated and began to exhibit very unusual behavior. She would become hypervigilant about many different stimuli and eventually ran away from home.
This father became so frustrated that no one knew what to do for his daughter. She was sent to counseling which was not able to help. Finally, she was placed in a residential facility and, according to her father, was placed on nine different medications. They placed her in group work and attempted to manage her with counseling, groups, and extensive drug treatment.
As she experienced these drugs, she felt they were doing more harm than good and finally ceased the treatment of her own choice. She made the decision to check out of the facility and return home, improving on her own but still struggling with anxiety and a great deal of fear. In other words, she is currently doing better but needs more coping skills for her anxiety as she attempts to be successful in school and in life.
Our discussion turned to the known consequences of COVID and what happened to thousands of students who had difficulty with the aftermath of the pandemic emotionally and neurologically. He listened to me with amazement of how I explained it all from a trauma-informed perspective, becoming angry that all the people that were attempting to help his daughter did not know what happened to her. He was also wanting to know more for himself about the impact of trauma as it related to the mental health stability of his daughter.
He was relieved that there was hope, and continued to ask me why this information was not available to parents and to so many of the professionals that were supposed to provide care to his daughter. I assured him that Lakeside was committed to this kind of education but many of our systems of care were not yet educated, even though the information is readily available.
He wanted to become a much more informed parent. I gave him ways to be trained as a parent and he planned to take some of our trauma-informed courses so he could be better equipped to understand his daughter’s mental health, and know how to find help for her that would bring a trauma-informed perspective to her needs.
This conversation was completely spontaneous, but it made me realize how important our training is to both professionals and to parents. It also reminded me that many of our systems are not yet educated. This type of situation occurs across our country all too often and we must expand our knowledge and capacity in our systems of care for students, parents and those who have experienced trauma. This is the core of the mental health crisis among our youth, and we must rise to meet their needs with professionals and caregivers who are knowledgeable and proficient in their therapeutic approach in a post-COVID world.
Gerry Vassar
President/CEO
