Love is the Eye of the Storm: The Return,Part 2

The cycle repeats as easily as storms blow through Oklahoma fields, tossing, turning, rebuilding, and repeating. Children in trauma ebb and flow in their needs, in their cycles, in their own battles to regulate themselves and make sense of a world that at one time, or another, or all the time, has not made sense to them. I return, again and again, I listen, I observe, I work with staff to support my friend, and I meet with parents to provide family case management supports to assist them, and to develop their accountability around getting the child the help they need. This happens on the daily, the weekly, for many children and their parents/caregivers. This is my calling I believe, and I am in the people business, so I return, without question or thought, I return whether there is a radio call or not, because at some point that child will lash out, cry out, reach out, and I want to be there, on the other end of their need, to work through it with them to let them know they have a voice in this, they have a safe space to find their way through it, and that there are people here who want to help and not cause harm. Like I said in Part 1, the eye of the storm, the quietest, calmest place during the the landfall, but hard to reach. Sometimes for all we do I will struggle to help the child, I will fail at times, I will pour all I can in, and it still won’t be enough, or it won’t be the right kind of help or support because it might be so far beyond the school’s resources…it happens, and it hurts, but no matter what, I’ll return, I’ll step up and lean in, and let that child know that I am there, that I am around and will make safe space and safe time for them to release…and no matter how many times the storm rages, I will do my best to find its center, and there are times that the child will be right there with me, holding hands in that place, and we will breathe together, open up together, find our way through together…other days we never make it, but we return, again and again, we return.