About the Kathleen Liberty Project
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Kathleen Liberty has undertaken a large amount of research into the effects of the 2011 earthquakes on children and subsequent post traumatic stress disorder in children.  She has developed a number of strategies that have been proven to reduce PTSD in children: in 2018 we were excited to be a part of Kathleen Liberty’s replicate group.  As a school we are implementing:
  • Calmed down rooms
  • Play, eat learn timetabling
  • Drink to think- think to drink
  • Two hour eating breaks. The first of these is at 9:30 in class time. We ask that parents send children with a wholemeal sandwich with peanut butter or marmite for the 9:30 snack. Popcorn is also an alternative for this snack.
In 2017 we collected baseline data identifying needs within our school. In 2018 we implemented phase 1 of Kathleen's strategies, ran parent information sessions, and built staff and student knowledge and  understanding. In 2019 we will consolidate these initiatives.  Below is some information about this initiative. You can scroll through the slide show (or download) which gives more detail or read the information below this.
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Trauma in Children:
  • May affect their emotion-regulatory system.
  • Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis disruption, affecting corticotropin release
  • Neurological Development: Particularly: prefrontal cortex,  hippocampus, amygdala
  • May affect cognitive and socio-emotional development
  • Emerging schema of the physical and social world
    • Unpredictable
    • Dangerous
    • Many threats
  • Self-regulation
  • Over perception of negative events
  • Delay development up to  two years

Strategies to help reduce PTSD:

Calm down  the classroom
  • Remove hanging decorations.
  • Remove any decorations covering the windows.
  • Place student work  or instructional materials at child eye level or below to reduce distraction and overstimulation.
  • Seat children with learning problems near the windows during instruction time to improve lighting levels.
  • Indoor plants may be calming.
  • Limit classroom noise
  • Don’t over decorate the room - walls may still have displays up to door height

Play Eat Learn:
  • Align school schedule with natural circadian rhythm (body clock) for exercise, eating/nutrition, digestion, attention.
  • See the timetable above which has food and play breaks built into the day.
    • First eat break should be a wholemeal sandwich (Tip Top Super Soft Toast Bread Wholemeal 700g) with peanut butter or marmite)

Omega 3 Supplement:
  • Improve sleep/behaviour of children with highest arousal levels
  • Biological psychiatric research indicates that stress during sensitive periods of development, such as the years from 0 to 4 years, may affect the myelination of neurons.
  • Stressed neurons can cause the types of behaviour problems and body problems we see in some of our study children.
  • Good neuron connectivity is vital for emotional regulation. If the children do not have good brain health, this can be an important reason they are having behaviour and body stress problems.

Drink to Think/ Think to Drink:
  • Stress causes dehydration
  • The body forgets to tell you it is thirsty until very dehydrated
  • Children’s brains need more water than adult brains for developmental reasons
  • Research indicates most children of school age are dehydrated, even though regarded as healthy
  • Children to have their own drink bottles and be encouraged to drink - 1- 1.5 litres a day

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