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!

Making Reopening Easier with Farm to School

Vermont is caught in a catch-22. While some families and teachers have serious health concerns about students going back to school, other parents don’t know how to make work work without the essential child care school provides.  

Days ago, Governor Scott announced that school reopenings will be delayed until September 8. Across the state, districts are creating reopening plans in a patchwork response—ensuring that going back to school will look very different for families, students, and teachers. At Food Connects, the Farm to School (FTS) program is continuing to support schools and thinking of creative solutions to the realities brought on by COVID-19. 

We’re always wary of adding more to teachers' plates, preferring to find areas of overlap or lessons that can be enhanced through an experiential, FTS lens. This is true now more than ever for our team. It’s going to take a whole-community response to successfully reopen our schools and ensure the safety of our students and school staff. We see a part of that response as leveraging the work done by Food Connects and the VT FTS Network in integrating outdoor, place-based instruction into the school day.

Interest in gardens nationwide spiked this past spring and our FTS teams across the region worked diligently to ensure that their school-based gardens would be bountiful and in bloom this fall. These spaces provide countless opportunities for classes to get outside, spread out, and dive into cross-disciplinary lessons. 

The need for more outdoor learning is bringing new schools and classrooms into the word of Farm to School, which has already established curriculums, lessons, and activities that are ready to be implemented. Forest schools and long-standing FTS programs have experience bringing students outside in different weather conditions and know how to adapt spaces cheaply to create weather-protected outdoor classrooms. 

In addition to questions over logistics, there are concerns regarding the social and emotional effects the pandemic has on students—whether that is from decreased stability at home, heightened food insecurity, or generalized anxiety of the moment. Food Connects continues to champion the connection between FTS and trauma-sensitive responses in schools. Increased sensitivity to food-related trauma, the therapeutic nature of gardening with students, and the opportunities FTS programming provides students to build greater resilience will all be crucial in this coming year. 

School meals haven’t stopped since the pandemic started. From meal delivery via buses straight into an adapted summer food service program, school nutrition professionals continue to work tirelessly to feed their communities. Farm to School organizations like Food Connects help make that work easier by helping Food Service Directors (FSDs) submit equipment grants, create new food relief programs in partnership with schools and food shelves, and collaborating on meal enrollment campaigns and implementing new engagement strategies. We see our unique role as the regional support organization for school nutrition programs as crucial for this coming year. 

School is going to be different this coming year and difficult for every community. It’s going to require a truly collaborative effort to make the experience safe and engaging for students—who have been without the social and emotional support schools and peers provide for over six months. Food Connects is grateful to be in the position to support schools as they navigate these trying times. 

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.