Trauma and Nutrition Work Continues at Food Connects

Since she began working at Food Connects in the summer of 2018, Farm to School Coach Sheila Humphreys has been developing expertise on the rich topic of trauma and nutrition, including Trauma-Informed Cafeterias and Trauma Sensitive Farm to School programs. Sheila is a leader on this topic, presenting at statewide, regional, and national conferences and acting as a resource for educators and School Nutrition Professionals far and wide. 

Most recently, at the request of several Windham Southeast Supervisory Union (WSESU) principals, Sheila partnered with Brattleboro Area Food Service Director Ali West of Fresh Picks Cafe to record a 30-minute professional development session on the topic of Trauma-Informed Cafeterias to help support WSESU staff welcome new students from Afghanistan into the school district. The video is relevant to schools that recently welcomed new Afghan students and all schools interested in making trauma-informed changes to their school meal programs.

This professional development is free and available to all. To learn more:

1. Click here to watch the video

2. Click here to view the recommended practices for school communities

3. Click here to view the resource document for more information

This video and supporting materials are based on a full-day training that Sheila Humphreys developed with Vermont-based trauma-informed specialist Joelle Van Lent in the summer of 2019.

In addition, last month, Sheila led her first in-person Trauma and Nutrition Training for educators since the start of the pandemic. She presented to approximately 20 staff members at Winston Prouty’s Early Learning Center. “It felt great to connect with educators in person, get a sense of how the material was landing with people in real-time, and see their whole faces!” says Sheila. And the training was well received by the staff.

“I thought the training was great,” said Katrin Morgan, Child Care Referral and Food Program Specialist at Winston Prouty. “I think that the material was presented thoughtfully. And I appreciated that you shared at the beginning that there could be topics that could be triggering to some people and gave permission to step away or whatever to take care of themselves if needed. I think that this field we are in attracts compassionate and passionate people, and the fact that some people were tearing up and crying and continued to stay in the training showed that you created a safe space for such a hard topic to present.”

Want to know more about these powerful trainings offered by Food Connects? Click here to dig deeper.

The “Dream Team”—Trauma and Nutrition from Home to Cafeteria

In December, Farm to School (FTS) coach Sheila Humphreys teamed up with two other passionate presenters for a workshop hosted by Massachusetts Farm to School to discuss the topic of trauma and nutrition from home to cafeteria. 

The workshop covered how food and trauma are intertwined. Food can establish a strong sense of community, but can also be a point of stress and anxiety. The aim of the workshop was to "increase participant awareness of implicit biases about food, clearly articulate the connection between trauma and food, and provide tools for coordinating Farm to School and nutrition programs in their school through a Trauma-Sensitive lens. You can learn more about the workshop and watch it online.

This workshop wasn’t Sheila’s first rodeo—she has led or participated in other workshops on this topic that have been entirely school and cafeteria-focused. What was exciting and different about this discussion was that co-presenter Tracy Roth joined Sheila. Tracy is a certified nutrition coach based in Amherst, MA, who explored this rich topic through the lens of how families and individuals can address these issues at home. Tracy “is on a mission to end the diet industry because those quick-fix restrictive diets just make us feel bad about ourselves and mess with our relationship with food.” She shared her personal experience growing up with food insecurity and her work as an adult to heal her relationship with food and her body. She also provided practical suggestions to help shift our relationship to food, like mindful eating techniques, increasing food literacy, and honoring joy, culture, and connection through food. 

Diona Williams also joined the team. Diona is an early childhood education professor at the Tribal Community College on the Tohono O'odham Nation in Sells, AZ. Diona shared her personal experience as the adoptive mother of a child who previously experienced food insecurity. She discussed food hoarding and other challenging behaviors sometimes seen in children who have experienced food insecurity and how to approach these behaviors with compassion and understanding. Diona is passionate about early childhood mental health and shared inspiration from her many years of experience as an educator using the school garden as an outdoor classroom for special education preschoolers. 

Sheila knows the power and importance of weaving her own experience with food insecurity into her work. This opportunity to engage in a panel discussion with these two outstanding professionals who were willing to share their personal experiences as well as their professional expertise was a dream come true! They met several times before the presentation to prepare. They all felt a powerful synergy working together by the end of their presentation. They agree that they are a “dream team” and want to find more speaking opportunities together to move these essential conversations forward. If not for the virtual world we’re all living in now due to COVID-19, these three amazing women may never have had the opportunity to meet and collaborate, so that’s something to be grateful for!

Food Connects and Fresh Picks Cafe to Present at National Conference

Sheila Humphreys, Food Connects’ Farm to School Coordinator, and Ali West of Fresh Picks Cafe and the Brattleboro Town Schools’ Food Service Director, will present at the 10th National Farm to Cafeteria Conference. The conference will take place from April 21 to 23 in Albuquerque, NM.

The National Farm to Cafeteria Conference is a biennial event hosted by the National Farm to School Network. The conference convenes stakeholders throughout Farm to School to “source local food for institutional cafeterias and foster a culture of healthy food and agricultural literacy across America.”  

Sheila presenting at a recent Trauma & Nutrition training for local schools, hosted by Food Connects.

Sheila and Ali will present on the work they’ve done to incorporate a trauma-sensitive lens into Farm to School programming. With an increased awareness of the importance of trauma-informative practices in schools, teachers and staff are discovering the strong role food plays in the conversation. “Food and trauma are intertwined,” says Sheila. “Food can establish a strong sense of community but can also be a point of stress and anxiety, especially in an overwhelming cafeteria environment, and for students experiencing food insecurity at home.” 

Ali is an invaluable partner in this work and a Farm to School champion within the district and through statewide advocacy. She is instrumental in the implementation of new programs such as Share Coolers in the Brattleboro Town Schools, which allows students to share what they don’t eat, provides a quick and easy snack for others who may still be hungry, and reduces food waste. Through programs like these, and shifting the focus in the cafeteria to trauma-sensitive practices, Ali and Sheila work to reduce stigma around food, increase food access, and bring awareness to implicit biases. 

Food Connects’ intensive work on developing a trauma-informed approach to education in the Brattleboro Town Schools wouldn’t be possible without their partners within the district and a two-year grant awarded by the Thompson Trust. 

Food Connects Hosts Trauma and Nutrition Training for WSESD

In late August, Food Connects hosted a Trauma and Nutrition training for 31 Windham Southeast School District (WSESD) wellness leaders, including school nurses, counselors, behavior specialists, and food service directors. This training, funded by a grant from the Thompson Trust, educated wellness leaders on the connection between trauma and nutrition with the expectation that participants bring the information back to their school communities.

Professional development for schools focused on trauma and resilience is increasing. Schools that are more trauma-sensitive increase the chances of all students to succeed. On the heels of WSESD’s trauma-informed training for educators earlier this summer, Food Connects hosted their training specifically for school wellness leaders. Food and trauma are uniquely intertwined—food traditions can establish a strong sense of community but food can also be a point of stress and anxiety, especially in a loud and overwhelming cafeteria environment, and for students experiencing food insecurity at home. A central question participants were asked to consider when making choices about how students interact with food was “how do we raise awareness about food and trauma and how do we understand how our actions impact others so that we aren’t unintentionally creating stress for our students?”

Joelle van Lent, a licensed psychologist, and Sheila Humphreys, Food Connects Farm to School Coordinator, led the training. The group of school professionals listened with eager ears to their words—learning the foundations of trauma and how to create trauma-sensitive environments. The group took time to consider their implicit biases around food by recording their initial reactions to images food like salads, Cheetos, and chocolate cake. This activity dug into how being trauma sensitive includes being neutral and curious as opposed to judgemental. “I think this was the most impactful part of the day,” said Ali West, Food Service Director for the Brattleboro Town Schools. “It was insightful to see that while I thought YUCK at the boxed macaroni and cheese others felt nostalgic towards it. It reminded me of what one third grader said to me when he asked for ketchup for his toast and I went YUCK, and his response was ‘Don't yuck my yum.’ This has become a mantra of mine whenever I work in one of my cafeterias.”

Another focal point was to exemplify that we, as adults, make assumptions about how students view school food based on our personal experience. The group read aloud quotations from Vermont students about their cafeteria experiences—“No snacks at home equals no snacks at school. I just pretended I didn’t want one.” “It is noticeable that I receive free lunch.” “Too many people crammed in one place. I will probably just not eat.” It is clear that cafeteria spaces are not always safe spaces for all students. “Kids might not know if food will be present at home. This creates a traumatic association with food that can carry over to the cafeteria,” says Joelle. “The question becomes, how can we make getting food easy, calm, and predictable for all students?”

As part of the training, school wellness leaders were asked to create action plans for the school year focused on improving school meals and farm and food education through a trauma sensitive lens. Goals created by wellness teams included:

• Train all school staff on the material presented

• Change school culture regarding the use of food as a reward

• Increase staff awareness about implicit bias regarding foods students eat at home

• Teach social skills during lunch

• Decrease the chaos at lunchtime

• Have staff sit with students at lunchtime in the cafeteria

Food Connects will provide ongoing coaching and support to wellness teams throughout the school year to make progress on these goals, which will help to create a healthy school food culture for all students in WSESD schools. By strengthening the school community and making school meals feel calm, predictable, and a place for positive connections with peers and staff, schools can play an important role in preventing the development of eating disorders and lifelong struggles with food for our students. Co-facilitator Sheila Humphreys says, “I am looking forward to coaching wellness leaders as they work together to create strong school communities to support our most vulnerable students, because research shows that children can withstand a considerable amount of adversity when they are connected to a strong community and have predictable calm routines.”

This training was immensely impactful. In the training pre-assessment 65% of the participants reported that they had an understanding of the connection between trauma and nutrition but no participants felt that their knowledge was strong enough to teach the material to others. “I really took so much away from the training,” said West, “at first I was completely overwhelmed and thought ‘what on earth am I doing here. This is all behavior stuff not food and then it all clicked and I realized yup, glad I'm here.’” In the post assessment, there was a 70% increase in the number of participants who felt like they could train others on the material. The ability to bring this information back to schools to share with their colleagues empowers wellness leaders to critically look at their programs and enact change.

“My experience with the Trauma and Nutrition Training was very useful,” said Jody Mattulke, Family Engagement & Education Coordinator at Academy School. “Trauma and the infinite connections and associations with food fostered greater awareness of how students may struggle. Students may struggle with memories stimulated by olfactory senses, have  strong emotions evoked by inconsistencies in quality and availability of food and lack the skills to navigate these emotions as well as have difficulty with social settings and the systems around food in the schools. The module on resiliency was invaluable—relationships are the great protective factors to support students as they improve their confidence & competency to feel they belong in the community.” 

In the words of participant Matt Bristol, Physical Education Teacher and Athletic Director for the Putney Central School, "My big takeaway was learning suggested practices and policies to put in place school wide to ensure food security and a positive culture around food.” Schools are uniquely positioned to improve and change students’ experiences with food. Taking these skills back to the schools is essential for creating trauma-sensitive spaces. Students need a place where curiosity and acceptance are the standard, leaving judgement at the door.

In other words, “Don’t yuck my yum.”

Working with Food & Trauma

Six community partners come together to work on trauma-informed approaches.

On an early spring day in mid-April, leaders from six community organizations came together to explore the question of how traumatic life experiences (and even the experiences of our ancestors) shape the way we eat. Guided by gifted trainers Kendra Colburn, Deb Witkus, and Angela Berkfield from Equity Solutions, staff from the Vermont Foodbank, Groundworks Collaborative, Food Connects, Brattleboro Food Co-op, Retreat Farm, Putney Foodshelf, and Pathways Vermont gathered together in the community room at the Retreat Farm for a day of learning about the connection between trauma and eating.

The goals of the training were:

• Learn about trauma and how it can impact people’s relationship to food

• Practice telling our own stories related to trauma and food

• Interrupt related biases and assumptions that are getting in the way of connecting with people

• Apply trauma-informed practice to our life and work

At the beginning of the training, each of the trainers shared their own food stories and created space for all participants to share food stories with each other as a way to practice vulnerability. Participants were also invited to contribute to a potluck lunch and to share with each other the values and beliefs that were connected to the food that they brought. After lunch, organizations were introduced to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) 6 Core Trauma-Informed Practices, and working groups were formed to apply these practices to our work and to set goals.

The training was sponsored by the Vermont Foodbank, Groundworks Collaborative, and Food Connects—three organizations in the community that are actively engaged in conversations about becoming more trauma-informed in their approaches.  

Food Connects was the lead organizer of the event, and is the recipient of a 2-year grant from the Thompson Trust to support Trauma-Informed initiatives in the Brattleboro Town Schools, with a focus on the ways that Farm to School programming can support resiliency for students and families who have experienced trauma. Food Connects’ next step will be using SAMHSA's 6 Principles to a trauma-informed approach for an internal assessment, and based on that assessment staff will determine what actions make sense as Food Connects supports the Brattleboro Town Schools in their resiliency work.

The Trauma and Food training was one piece of the work that the Vermont Foodbank is undertaking towards becoming trauma-informed. The Foodbank hosted their annual Hunger Action Conference in early May with a focus on “Healing the Past.” The keynote speaker, Dr. Ken Epstein, gave a series of workshops throughout the day on trauma. Additionally, the Foodbank’s Community Impact Team hosted a daylong team retreat in early May to continue conversations and build on the action steps that came out of the Trauma and Food training.

At Groundworks Collaborative, food shelf staff met with residents at Great River Terrace and Groundworks shelter to gain insight from folks with lived experience on the food shelf intake process, hours of operation, and the physical layout, with the goal of gaining an understanding of why people may not feel comfortable using the food shelf and ways to make the space less stigmatizing and more inviting. Additionally, staff met with current volunteers to discuss ideas on how to implement each of the six principles of trauma-informed care. As the food shelf moves into a new space in the coming months, Groundworks hopes to use this as an opportunity to incorporate a trauma-informed lens in all decision-making processes.

Equity Solutions supported the training participants in gaining confidence in their ability to interrupt long-held biases, recognize the impact that systems have on individual outcomes, and take action for equity in their communities. Trainers encouraged the group to consider their own food stories and find the courage to share those with others. According to a post-training assessment, attendees demonstrated an increased understanding of what it means to be vulnerable and share stories with others.

After the training, one of the participants stated, “This training will dramatically impact how I approach my work, especially in the coming year with taking action on incorporating lived experience and figuring out how to walk with people in relational ways.”

Another participant said that they, “Loved that facilitators did not shy away from naming things people often talk around in ‘professional’ trainings—i.e. oppression, capitalism, power structures.”

Becoming a Trauma-Informed Community will require schools, community organizations, and town leadership to work together to change systems to better meet the needs of people in our community, and this training was one piece of the rewarding, challenging, powerful work that it will take to transform our community and make it a better place for all people.

Deepening our Work in the Brattleboro Schools

Food Connects was recently awarded two grants that will enable us to increase our commitment to building healthy families, thriving farms, and connected communities in Brattleboro.

Building Resiliency in Brattleboro Town Schools with help from the Thompson Trust

With the support of a $20,000 2-year grant from the Thompson Trust, Food Connects is excited to deepen our work in the Brattleboro Town Schools, strengthening nutrition and Farm to School programming as part of an effort to develop a Trauma-Informed approach to education in the Brattleboro Town Schools.

Trauma-Informed education provides support for students with high Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) scores. The ACE study measures 10 types of childhood trauma, including abuse, neglect (including persistent food insecurity), domestic violence, separation or divorce, substance abuse, mental illness, and incarceration. As ACE scores increase, so does the risk of disease, social, and emotional problems. The traumatic stress experienced by children with ACE scores of 4 or more has been linked to risky health behaviors, chronic health conditions, low life potential, and early death. Brattleboro Town Schools are actively engaged in conversations about how to support these students to have better outcomes, and we are proud to partner with them in this important work.

The objectives of this grant are to improve faculty & staff understanding of the connection between nutrition and trauma, to increase schools' capacity for coordinating food and trauma education and activities, and to strengthen local food purchasing and promotion by school cafeterias.

Collaborating with the Vermont Department of Health to Bring Healthier Food to Brattleboro Schools

In partnership with the VT Department of Health, we've been awarded $4,900 in funding to increase food access and improve student nutrition in Brattleboro schools. We will provide additional support to the food service staff at BUHS, BAMS, and the Brattleboro Towns Schools. Key activities will include: 1) purchasing kitchen equipment that will aid in the processing of more whole, fresh ingredients 2) investing in school meal marketing materials to promote school meals to kids and families, and 3) technical assistance provided to food service professionals around menu planning, marketing, and related activities, and technical assistance provided to food service professionals around menu planning, marketing, and related activities.

We’re looking forward to digging deeper into the relationship between trauma and food and exploring how school gardens, community harvest celebrations, and healthier food choices in the cafeteria can nurture the most vulnerable students in our community and help them to grow and flourish!