Behavior is Communication.
Learn how to Respond.
Trauma-Informed Support for Early Childhood Care. Because what happens in early childhood shapes everything that follows.
Early childhood programs serve millions of young children during the most developmentally sensitive years of life. Many of those children arrive carrying stress, adversity, or trauma they don’t yet have the language to explain.
Early childhood care is uniquely positioned to buffer the impact of trauma and build resilience—but only when the adults who care for young children are equipped with the right knowledge, tools, and support.
Starr Commonwealth partners with early childhood programs to help caring adults understand what’s happening beneath behavior and respond in ways that create safety, connection, and long-term well-being.
Starr’s offerings meet you where you are. Whether you’re just beginning your journey or seeking to transform, we have a path forward.
When trauma-informed and resilience-focused adults work within trauma-informed and resilience-focused systems, the well-being and success of children will increase.
You Can’t Control What Happened—But You Can Control What Happens Here
Young children experience trauma differently than older children or adults. Big feelings show up in small bodies. Behavior becomes communication. Regulation must come before learning.
Program leaders and center directors carry the responsibility of ensuring that staff are prepared—not just to manage behavior, but to understand it. Trauma-informed, resilience-focused care isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing things differently—together.
Course Samples: Trauma Interventions and Activities
Wondering what the activities in this course actually look like in practice? The videos below demonstrate how simple, developmentally appropriate, sensory-based activities help young children process stress, build regulation skills, and experience safety and connection with caring adults.
Selected Programs and Resources for Educators
10 Steps to Create Trauma-Informed, Resilient Early Childhood Care
A practical and accessible guide outlining ten interconnected steps to help early childhood providers create trauma-informed, resilient care environments. The book explains how trauma impacts early development and behavior, while emphasizing the importance of building resilience. Each step offers clear, actionable strategies that can be implemented gradually, allowing providers to strengthen care practices and improve outcomes for both children and caregivers. This book is the companion to our Certified Trauma and Resilience Specialist in Early Childhood course and is included with the course.
Early Childhood One-Minute Resilience Building and Regulation Activities
A comprehensive workbook of age-specific, sensory-based activities designed to build resilience in children and adolescents ages 3–17. This resource complements SITCAP® intervention programs and includes dozens of practical, easy-to-use activities. Each intervention takes less than 20 minutes to complete and addresses core trauma and resilience themes to support emotional regulation, coping, and healing.
Practicing Resilience Journal: Essential Self-Care for Helping Professionals
A guided journal created to support self-awareness, authenticity, and sustainable self-care for helping professionals. Author Erin Reed encourages readers to slow down, reflect, and reconnect with their inner wisdom. Through thoughtful prompts and space for reflection, this journal reinforces the idea that resilience and self-care begin with understanding, accepting, and caring for oneself.
Courageous Choices Early Childhood
An SEL (social and emotional learning) program designed for Pre-K / early childhood learners, Courageous Choices equips children with emotional awareness, self-regulation, and resilience skills through trauma-informed, CASEL-aligned curricula.
Zero – Three Trauma Interventions Program
A SITCAP® program designed to support parents and caregivers in understanding the physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development of infants and toddlers. Using developmentally appropriate activities for children from birth to age three, the program helps reduce trauma symptoms, strengthen caregiver–child attachment, and foster early resilience, while decreasing the likelihood of long-term negative effects of trauma.
The Resilient Matters Podcast
A podcast for Educators & Administors
A podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of trauma and the pathways to resilience. Each episode offers expert insights, personal stories, and practical strategies to help listeners foster healing and growth.
