Back-to-School Season: Navigating Change Through a Trauma-Informed Lens
By Jen Bennethum
The Emotional Undercurrents of Seasonal Shifts
As the long days of summer give way to the structure of the school year, families often find themselves swept into a tide of change. The transition isn’t just about new backpacks and earlier bedtimes—it’s a full-body experience that can stir anxiety, grief, and overwhelm. For many children and caregivers, this shift reactivates nervous system responses that are deeply tied to past experiences of unpredictability, loss, or relational rupture.
From a trauma-informed perspective, change—even when expected—can feel threatening. The body remembers what it means to be unmoored. For children with trauma histories, the return to school may echo previous disruptions: separations, moves, or moments when safety felt compromised. Even joyful anticipation can be laced with unease. A new classroom might mean unfamiliar rules, sensory overload, or the pressure to perform socially and academically. These stressors can manifest as irritability, shutdowns, or somatic complaints like stomachaches and headaches.
“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.” Jim Rohn
Caregiver Stress and the Weight of Responsibility
Caregivers, too, are navigating layered emotional terrain. The back-to-school season often demands logistical precision—coordinating transportation, managing supplies, and reestablishing routines. But beneath the surface, many parents are also holding complex feelings: nostalgia, fear, and the invisible labor of emotional regulation. For those with trauma histories, this season may stir echoes of their own school experiences or amplify internalized narratives around competence and control.
There’s also the grief that comes with watching children grow. Each new grade level marks a passage, and while milestones are often celebrated, they can also evoke a quiet ache. Trauma-informed care invites us to honor this bittersweetness—to recognize that growth and loss often walk hand in hand.
Why Transitions Can Feel So Disorienting
The nervous system craves predictability. When routines shift, even in positive ways, the body may interpret the change as a threat. This is especially true for individuals whose early environments were chaotic or unsafe. The start of a new school year can feel like a rupture in the rhythm, activating fight, flight, or freeze responses. Children may regress behaviorally, struggle with sleep, or become more reactive. Adults may feel a spike in anxiety, perfectionism, or emotional exhaustion.
Rather than pathologizing these responses, a trauma-informed lens helps us understand them as adaptive. The body is trying to protect itself. Our role, then, is to offer regulation, connection, and choice.
Ritual, Regulation, and Reframing
One of the most powerful ways to support ourselves and our clients during seasonal transitions is through ritual. Ritual doesn’t have to be elaborate—it can be as simple as lighting a candle before the first day of school, creating a goodbye handshake, or writing a shared intention for the week ahead. These acts offer continuity and meaning, anchoring the nervous system in something familiar and sacred.
Regulation practices are also essential. Breathwork, movement, and sensory tools can help children and adults recalibrate. Consider incorporating grounding exercises into morning routines, offering transitional objects like calming stones or affirmation cards, or creating a quiet decompression space after school.
Reframing is another key tool. Instead of viewing back-to-school stress as a problem to fix, we can see it as an opportunity to deepen resilience. “What does this transition reveal about our needs, our boundaries, our growth edges? How can we respond with curiosity rather than judgment?”
Holding Space for the Nonlinear Nature of Healing
Healing isn’t linear, and neither are transitions. Some days will feel smooth, others jagged. A trauma-informed approach invites us to meet each moment with attunement. If a child melts down at drop-off, or a caregiver feels overwhelmed by paperwork, we pause. We breathe. We ask, “What does this moment need?”
Sometimes the answer is structure. Sometimes it’s softness. Often, it’s both.
An Invitation to Reflect
As therapists, educators, and caregivers, we have the opportunity to model attunement during these seasonal shifts. By embracing the back-to-school transition as a portal for reflection and growth, we can transform stress into an invitation: to deepen connection, to practice regulation, and to honor the stories that shape us. Please feel free to reach out to us at Integrate Therapy and Wellness Collective to let us know how we can walk beside you on your journey to wholeness.
