German Trauma Team Helps Asheville Waldorf School Community

Collaborating with an international team of 14 volunteers  — led by Bernd Ruf, co-founder of the Free Waldorf School in Karlsruhe, Germany — the school offered a series of workshops, wherein parents and educators learned how to identify trauma in their children and how to help mitigate its effects.

Many healing Waldorf pedagogical methods also helped the children themselves process Helene-induced trauma through art, play, and music. The program was developed by the German group Friends of Waldorf Education and coincided with the “first day back to school” with the intention of assisting as soon as possible before trauma and reaction formations are already chronic.