Life is Good will send its action arm of experts in early childhood trauma, the Life
is Good Playmakers
(www.lifeisgood.com/playmakers/), to
Tuscaloosa to assist the area’s child care community in healing and
strengthening children affected by the recent storm.
The Playmakers will
provide intensive training, play equipment and continued support to
sixty child care professionals who will work directly with approximately
1,200 children in tornado-devastated areas of Tuscaloosa County.
Life is Good Playmakers will work hand in hand with trusted friends and partners on the ground. In 2010, at the request of Child Development Resources (CDR) at The University of Alabama, Life is good Playmakers trained some 300 social workers, clinicians and early childhood educators from the greater Tuscaloosa early childhood community. The training focused on the effects of trauma on brain development in young children and the social and emotional benefits of play. It also provided practical ways to incorporate healthy, guided play activities that are especially effective in helping children who have been exposed to trauma.
Traumatic experiences like the Tuscaloosa tornado can threaten a child’s healthy development. Very young children are particularly vulnerable. The young developing brain is highly sensitive to stress and will not fully develop healthy emotional, social and cognitive capacity if the child is exposed to significant threats and stress during the first few years of life. Fortunately, the sensitivity of young, developing brains also means that young children have an impressive ability to “bounce back” when they receive support from caring adults. Interventions centered on play are especially promising.
“The children of Tuscaloosa are not going to forget the tornado,” said Steve Gross, founder and chief playmaker of the Life is good Playmakers. “But caring adults can help them process the tornado, gain resilience and experience joy and optimism once again through the healing power of play.”
Life is good Playmakers have initiated a Tuscaloosa Giving campaign to provide financial support for their work in Tuscaloosa, scheduled for August, 2011.
