EdSource: To overcome the stress of this pandemic, educators must lead with relationships, routines and resilience

Photo Credit: Brian Hatton Photography

Turnaround for Children Partnership Director Katie Brackenridge authored an article for EdSource on how educators can help children surmount the stress of the coronavirus pandemic.

Brackenridge explains that as schools resume this fall, teachers can buffer the stress and anxiety children are experiencing by focusing on Turnaround’s Three Rs: Relationships, Routines and Resilience.

She explains the science of learning and development and how prolonged periods of stress produce the hormone cortisol, which impacts the learning centers of the brain. However, Brackenridge notes that positive experiences such as “trusting relationships and safe, calm and predictable environments” produce oxytocin, the “love” hormone, which helps manage stress and build resilience.

The article was also republished by Lake County Record Bee and The Willits News.