“When you feel comfortable and safe, you can learn.”
That, says Jean West ’88 LCSW, ACTP CT, is why she is working to get “Comfort Corners” in every school in the St. Joseph School District, and Missouri Western’s Organization of Student Social Workers (OSSW) donated funds for two corners that were set up in elementary schools this past fall.
Jean West ’88 talks to Bessie Ellison Elementary kindergarten students about their new Comfort Corner.
West, the district’s homeless social worker and trauma consultant and trainer, said when children act out, the teachers try to calm them down, but sometimes they have to be sent to the principal. A comfort corner, usually set up in the back of the room, allows the child to stay in the classroom, go to the corner and try to calm down.
Each corner contains a big, comfy chair and items that can help the child calm down – stress balls, crayons and paper, books (one is called “Calm Down Time”), and several sensory items like small craft pom poms and stuffed animals. A liquid, 10-minute timer tells the students when they need to leave the corner. West introduced the concept to the school district and set up five during the 2015-16 school year in elementary school classrooms.
She said many children face a lot of trauma and stress in their homes, and when something in the classroom triggers the stress, they may act out as a way to deal with it. The comfort corners help them learn coping skills.
“Our kids need to be mentally well in order to learn. We want to do whatever we can do to help them be successful.”
Each corner cost approximately $150 to set up, West said, and she hopes to set up at least one in every elementary school.
Ashley Buzzard, president of OSSW, said the Missouri Western student group is always looking for community projects they can help support. In the past, they have coordinated a walk for the homeless, adopted a highway, and adopted a family during the holidays. When they heard about the comfort corners, they knew it was something they wanted to support.
Buzzard said she volunteers in her son’s school, and she can understand how a comfort corner would help some of the students, and the teachers, as well.
Missouri Western faculty members in all her classes were supportive of Buzzard’s talking about comfort corners to her classmates when the student group was trying to raise funds for it.
“That’s what social work is all about – networking and building community, and working together to get things done,” Buzzard said.
“I’m so thankful to OSSW,” West said. “It meant we could help more children.”