A FORMER teacher whose eyes were opened after she fostered a child suffering from trauma has published a book to shed light on a “blind spot” in the school system.

Claudia Herman, from Llandudno, said many teachers want to help but do not know where to look to understand the underlying experiences of children who are misbehaving as a result of early-life trauma.

Her new 24-page book, titled What Happens When I'm Scared: A Guide to Tricky Feelings and Big Emotions, aims to help children, their carers and teachers to understand trauma responses by putting names and faces to a range of emotions that traumatised children find hard to understand.

It follows the main character, a young boy, who has a variety of people living in the amygdala gland in his brain: ‘Downstairs Brain People’ such as Worried Wilf, Angry Annie and Scared Sid, and ‘Upstairs Brain People’ such as Good Choices Gertrude, Clever Clara and Kind Kevin.

Claudia Herman, who attended Prestatyn High School, went on to teach in south-east England before returning to North Wales.

Claudia Herman, who attended Prestatyn High School, went on to teach in south-east England before returning to North Wales.

Mrs Herman, mum-of-two, said: “When the Downstairs Brain People are freaking out, the upstairs people go offline.

“When it is triggered it is like a fire alarm, it is all you can hear and not anything else. And with trauma, you can’t differentiate between a burnt piece of toast and a house burning down.

“The book helps children and teachers to understand why they respond in ways that may be unhelpful and get them in trouble in school, and that this is not their fault. It depersonalises the issue and helps them to realise, ‘I’m not a bad kid’.”

There is only one specialist school for trauma in the UK and traumatised children attend school in many mainstream settings, where disobedient and antisocial behaviour can put mounting pressure on teachers.

Mrs Herman, who is studying for a master’s in counselling and psychotherapy at the University of Bangor, said it was not until she fostered now-son Tyler that she realised how often the behaviour of traumatised children can be misinterpreted by teachers, resulting in them being suspended or expelled.

“When he came to us I was quite gung-ho about the challenges as I had worked with a lot of kids in residential settings with big behaviour and emotional challenges,” she sad.

“I underestimated what it would be like living with a child and realised I needed to improve my skill-set. It was more difficult not to take personally than when working with children in a school setting, as I couldn’t go home.”

The front and back pages of What Happens When Im Scared, illustrated by John Peter Meiring.

The front and back pages of 'What Happens When I'm Scared', illustrated by John Peter Meiring.

The storyline for the book was developed with her son and reflects his experiences, which she believes will be more relatable to other children.

It was officially launched on Thursday, March 11 and has already been read by mums across the UK, taught at primary schools in south-east England, ordered to a customer in Australia and received a literary review in Sweden.

Mrs Herman said she has been inspired by positive feedback to publish a series of books in which she will work sensitively with children living with conditions such as dyslexia, autism and diabetes to put their experiences onto the page. She will also send copies to schools in North Wales to enquire whether they would wish to buy it.

“I have had loads of teachers in mainstream settings getting in touch to say resonates with their children and they really get it,” she said. “It is important to think about trauma at the moment as we have a generation of children living through global pandemic, and we all have our work cut out to process what has happened to us.

“I’m making sure that when I do write these stories, I represent and reflect young people’s experiences. I do not want too much of me in it, which helps to keep the story real as otherwise you have a textbook.”

The book is available in paperback for £7.99 via Amazon.