Within a rapidly growing council, leaders from the City of Casey’s kindergartens began noticing increasing vulnerability in their services.
Children were arriving with big emotions and behaviours, and educators were shouldering the weight of that complexity alongside their everyday responsibilities.
Sarah and Jude, Team Leaders of Kindergarten Programs at the City of Casey, were closely connected to these challenges. They were hearing directly from educators about rising child aggression, increasingly complex dynamics with families, and the emotional toll it was taking on themselves, and the children and families.
“Educators felt exhausted. They felt like they’d done everything they could and were fatigued with dealing with these big emotions and the unknown,” Sarah shared.
These challenges and the concern for educators feeling compassion fatigue led to Casey’s Kindergarten Programs Leadership seeking support through the Alannah & Madeline Foundation’s Trauma Consultancy Service (TraCS).
An Early Years Management-wide approach was chosen to support leaders, strengthen teams, and create safer, more responsive environments for children in Casey’s services.
Kindergarten Leaders engaged in professional learning days and regular reflective sessions, allowing them to gain shared language and understanding of trauma-informed practice and the impacts of trauma and vulnerability on children, families and educators.
The reflective sessions provided an intentional space to share information and knowledge, with leaders empowered to work through challenges together and with their TraCS Practitioner.
“Holding space in our reflective sessions was really beneficial to our team...holding space for those vulnerabilities in those services,” Sarah said.
Targeted support in services and opt-in online sessions extended this learning to educators on the ground. Jude greatly valued this consistency, with the shared language and strategy enabling stronger, more supportive conversations with educators when challenges arose.
Our work together brought trauma-informed frameworks to life across Casey’s Kindergarten leadership and services.
Sarah said the attachment-based approach, the Circle of Security, shifted her leadership lens and deepened her capacity to support the emotional needs of both children and educators.
“Just as children need someone to be with them in big emotions, applying that concept with our teaching teams as well to hold space for them.”
Jude felt especially empowered by the PACE (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity, Empathy) practice model developed by Dan Hughes. It introduced him to new ways of communicating, helping him to approach situations with greater curiosity and compassion.
After months of deep reflection, learning, sharing, and in-service support, trauma-informed practice is embedded in Casey’s Kindergarten teams. Jude now believes that adopting trauma-informed practices is a “strength and a power”.
“It can ultimately change the whole dynamic of your room and everyday interactions with children.”
Both Sarah and Jude reflected how the Foundation’s holistic support nurtured and strengthened kindness, reflection, and curiosity in leaders and educators alike.
Sarah said, “You can really see the shift...educators can finally take a breath and then look at those strategies and actively go into the room, willingly prepared to test them out, whether it be with language or a model that they’ve learnt.”
Discover more real-life stories of children’s healing, and the impact of our Care, Prevention and Advocacy programs, in our 2025 Report to the Community.
