HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — It's never easy witnessing anyone go through a traumatic experience. Especially, a child. That's why a new program is coming to Huntsville City Schools, and the focus is handling students with care after they've been exposed to trauma or violence.
Erica Hachberger with the National Children's Advocacy Center explained that the program initially started in West Virginia in response to their opioid epidemic. Hachberger said other states started to see West Virginia's positive results and began jumping on the bandwagon. Madison City Schools jumped onboard first. Now, Huntsville City Schools is offering the program this upcoming school year. "So a little bit about Handle with Care Works when a first responder responds to the scene of anything, really, it might be an emergency, it mght be a crime, it could be, you know, a car accident, a fire or whatever. And they realized that a child is present. Then they can provide a handle with care notice to the school. And all that is it's just the child's name and their age or grade and handle with care."
Once the school receives this alert from first responders, they have a three level response. "And the first is just to watch and kind of keep an eye on the child and notice maybe they were really, really tired today and they're falling asleep. Maybe they just need a nap and then they're going to be fine. maybe they're hungry. Maybe, you know, any number of things that they can just provide in that moment on site. So that's the first level is just to kind of watch. and then if they notice that a child needs something more, they can bring in the school counselor who can pull that child and just check in with them. And again, not asking anything about what happened, but just kind of what supports can they offer. And then for kids who need it, then they can make a referral for therapy if that's something that's needed."
Hachberger continued that this program is also beneficial because it's assisting school staff to feel a little more equipped when it comes to these situations. "I think that they understand a little bit more about trauma and about how trauma can sometimes look a little bit like a behavioral issue. And just I think they feel like they know how to support kids and help them stay in school and be learning."