According to the UNITED NATIONS DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS POPULATION DIVISION, there were 965,006 MIGRANT CHILDREN aged between 0 and 4 registered in Europe in 2019 and a further 1,629,426 aged between 5 and 8 and these figures INCREASE DAILY. These CHILDREN will be UNAVOIDABLY TRAUMATISED TO SOME DEGREE from MIGRATION. This FACT needs to be ACKNOWLEDGED and RESPONDED TO in a manner which EMPOWERS SCHOOLS, TEACHERS, YOUTH and COMMUNITY WORKERS, EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGISTS, PARENTS and CHILDREN with INFORMATION and TECHNIQUES to UNDERSTAND EARLY LIFE TRAUMA and its CONSEQUENCES. The MI WINDOW PROJECT will SUPPORT TEACHERS IN IDENTIFYING, RESPONDING AND ADDRESSING BEHAVIOURAL PROBLEMS IN THE CLASSROOM caused by EARLY LIFE TRAUMA / TRAUMA UNDER 5 and to RESPOND ACCORDING TO CURRENT PSYCHOLOGICAL and NEUROSCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. EARLY CHILDHOOD TRAUMA / TRAUMA UNDER 5 is an AUTONOMICALLY STORED DEVELOPMENTAL RESPONSE TO PAST EXPERIENCE and it is TRIGGERED BY STIMULI UNKNOWN to the SUFFERER. SCHOOL MANAGEMENT, TEACHERS, PARENTS, YOUTH WORKERS, and EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGISTS must learn to be EARLY CHILDHOOD TRAUMA INFORMED to SUPPORT TRAUMA SUFFERERS to IDENTIFY the UNKNOWN STIMULI, CONSIDER THE STIMULI in accordance with their UNIQUE PERCEPTUAL MAP so they might GAIN AWARENESS of their BEHAVIOURAL PATTERNS and REMAIN in their PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM ABLE TO LEARN. The 7 MI WINDOW PROJECT PARTNERS ASPIRE (UK), The GOVERNORSHIP OF ISTANBUL (TK), IASIS (GR), KIST CONSULT (AUS), INFODEF and LA BIEN PAGA (SP) and INQS (IRE) cover a WIDE SCOPE of INSTITUTIONS which address SCHOOL CHILDREN and YOUNG PEOPLE from DIRECTORATES OF EDUCATION (TK), CENTRES for PSYCHOLOGICAL and EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT for YOUTH and DISADVANTAGED ADULTS LBP (SP) and IASIS (GR). And RESEARCH INSTITUTES (INFODEF) and PRIVATE COMPANIES (Kist Consult and INQS) WORKING IN EDUCATIONAL ADVANCEMENT and POLICY CREATION. All of the MI WINDOW PARTNERS are and have been ENGAGED in a RANGE OF PROJECTS which ADDRESS the NEEDS of MIGRANTS, REFUGEES and ASYLUM SEEKERS. MI WINDOW will create a set of 5 HIGHLY INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS to TRAUMA INFORM COMMUNITIES with OUTPUTS for ALL LEVELS of ENGAGEMENT and AGES to PROVOKE SELF REFLECTION and even CERTIFY INDIVIDUALS as TRAUMA INFORMED. They are; O1 ONLINE DIGITAL DATABASE FOR TRAUMA AWARENESS AND PARASYMPATHETIC ACTIVITIES FOR LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS O2 TRAUMA UNDER 5 THEORETICAL and PEDAGOGICAL BASIS and TRAINING CURRICULUM O3 TRAUMA UNDER 5 E-LEARNING COURSE WITH TRAUMA INFORMED CERTIFICATION O4 GUIDE TO TRAUMA UNDER 5 FOR SCHOOLS, TEACHERS AND PARENTS O5 MY MAP CHILDREN'S ANIMATION AND WORKSHEETS The MI WINDOW PROJECT dares to dream of a world where TRAUMATISED BEHAVIOUR is met with COMPASSION and UNDERSTANDING by those the TRAUMATISED INTERACT with IN PARTICULAR EDUCATORS. It will create TRAUMA INFORMED COMMUNITIES, SCHOOLS, COMMUNITY and YOUTH CENTRE and HOUSEHOLDS which can identify the effects of TRAUMA and EARLY LIFE TRAUMA / TRAUMA UNDER 5 induced behaviour, respond to it correctly with PARASYMPATHETHIC ACTIVITIES and see it for what it is as a DEVELOPMENTAL RESPONSE TO PAST EXPERIENCE and consider what the PROVOCATION might have been rather than PUNISH the REACTION. EARLY LIFE TRAUMA / TRAUMA UNDER 5 has been linked via STUDIES such as the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study to a range of DISADVANTAGOUS FUTURE OUTCOMES such as POOR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE, ATTACHMENT DISORDER which EFFECTS TEACHER STUDENT TRUST, POOR PEER RELATIONSHIPS, EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING, LACK OF READINESS FOR THE LABOUR MARKET, SOCIAL EXCLUSION, SELF MEDICATION THROUGH SUBSTANCE ABUSE, ADDICTION, POOR HEALTH, POVERTY, TRANSGENERATIONAL TRAUMA IN OFFSPRING and even EARLY DEATH. The PRODUCTS of the MI WINDOW PROJECT will be HIGHLY TRANSFERABLE to the aforementioned SYMPTOMS OF TRAUMA. Unaddressed A LACK OF AWARENESS to TRAUMA CREATES FRICTION in SCHOOL, THE CLASSROOM, THE HOME and the COMMUNITY. Being TRAUMA INFORMED is a BASIC KEY COMPETENCE for UNDERSTANDING HUMAN BEHAVIOUR, MANAGING SCHOOLS, CLASSROOMS, YOUTH PROGRAMMES and HOMES. The MI WINDOW PROJECT is DESIGNED TO PSYCHOLOGICALLY SUPPORT and INTEGRATE MIGRANT CHILDREN VIA SCHOOL but it will also SUPPORT ANY SCHOOL CHILD or INDIVIDUAL with EARLY LIFE TRAUMA for whatever reason. TRAUMA is an unavoidable part of the HUMAN CONDITION it knows NO BORDERS and its consequences ARE EXTREMELY COSTLY TO SOCIETY and to HUMAN LIFE. BEING TRAUMA INFORMED should NEVER BE OVERLOOKED as it is INTEGRAL to SOCIETAL STABILITY and HEALTH.
The Mi Window project dares to dream of a world where traumatised behaviour in children is met with compassion and understanding. It encourages teachers, parents and other childcare professionals to see trauma-triggered behaviour in children as an unconscious developmental response to past experience in need of empathetic understanding rather than a punishing reaction. OBJECTIVES: (1) Enable teachers, youth workers, parents and educational psychologists to gain knowledge, skills and competences related to Developmental Trauma (under the age of 7) (2) Create trauma-informed school communities that recognize and are able to respond appropriately to the needs and behaviour of vulnerable children triggered by developmental trauma. (3) Identify nervously dysregulated behaviours of migrant and vulnerable children along with nervously regulating activities using current psychological and neuroscientific research (4) Shift the perception of children’s traumatized behaviour from punishable to an unconscious developmental response and so encourage empathy and compassion, particularly in schools. (5) Use child friendly visuals to present the Map-Terrority relations as a core concept of the project as defined by ALFRED KORZYBSKI
According to the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division, there were 965,006 migrant children aged between 0 and 4 registered in Europe in 2019 and a further 1,629,426 aged between 5 and 8. Migrant children will be unavoidably traumatised to some degree by the separation from family, friends and familiar people and places, particularly if they have had to escape violence, poverty or war. Developmental Trauma comes from a myriad of adverse circumstances impacting very young children as they develop, which includes migration. A developmentally trauma-triggered primary school student does not have access to the part of their brain responsible for the retention of learning, so they cannot learn until they feel safe and calmer in their bodies, i.e. are nervously regulated. Mi Window aims to create developmentally trauma-informed communities and address the needs of schools, teachers, parents and children to have an increased knowledge and awareness of Developmental Trauma and its consequences, thus helping schools to improve their social inclusion and offer psychological support to migrant and other vulnerable children, so that they can become nervously regulated enough to learn.