1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,600 Welcome to the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education Podcast, the space where education meets resilience. 2 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:14,080 I'm Dr. Joey Weisler, and in each episode, we dive deep into the personal stories of educators, students, 3 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:20,480 leaders, and frontline advocates who are navigating the complexities within modern education. 4 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:26,000 Whether you're just starting your teaching journey or are a seasoned professional looking for inspiration, 5 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:33,280 we'll explore how to foster meaningful change, prevent burnout, and build trauma-informed communities within our schools. 6 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:37,760 Now, let's take a seat at the front of the classroom as we get started. 7 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:39,760 Hey, welcome back to the program, everyone. 8 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:46,480 And this week, I'm deeply honored to welcome on Florida House Representative Christine Hunschofsky for a conversation. 9 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:51,920 And as the former mayor of Parkland and now a Florida state representative, 10 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:58,240 Christine has been a tireless advocate for mental health, education reform, and public safety. 11 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:04,160 And her leadership and ongoing work in fostering community resilience and legislative action 12 00:01:04,160 --> 00:01:06,800 have made her a beacon of hope and progress. 13 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:11,600 And it's really a true privilege for me to have Christine speak with me today because I've known her 14 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:15,760 even before her work in politics as a childhood friend of her son, Michael. 15 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:21,040 So, Christine, welcome, and I'm looking forward to our audiences being inspired by what you do in leadership. 16 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,080 Thank you so much for having me. I'm looking forward to our discussion. 17 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:26,320 Absolutely. It's going to be a really powerful one. 18 00:01:26,320 --> 00:01:34,560 So, Christine, you were our mayor of the city of Parkland in the aftermath of the events that took place on February 14th, 2018. 19 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:39,040 And as one of your followers on social media, you were speaking very heavily during that time 20 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:42,800 about the importance of taking care of ourselves, supporting others, 21 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:50,800 and really trying to help break that stigma for those in need in terms of the importance of getting professional help and therapeutic services when needed. 22 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:59,360 And so I wanted to ask if you can take us back to that point in time and just try and humanize as a leader 23 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:02,240 how you managed to maintain your own wellness after that event, 24 00:02:02,240 --> 00:02:08,400 and what advice would you give to other community leaders as well in the onset of tragedy and taking care of themselves? 25 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:10,400 Yeah, that's a great question. 26 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:16,640 Initially, I have to confess I did not take good care of myself at all. 27 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:23,120 When something like this happens, especially so close to home, especially with families who you know, 28 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:30,400 it's very hard to differentiate between your role as mayor and knowing that I'm also a mom, 29 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:34,640 and this is literally my worst nightmare. 30 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:44,400 And in the way that I chose to lead in the aftermath is to really just humanize what happened to our community 31 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:50,560 so that members of the community could see that everybody was dealing with this in their own way 32 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:55,280 and that we had to give ourselves and each other some grace in that process, 33 00:02:55,280 --> 00:03:01,040 but also to humanize it to the world beyond our area for people looking in. 34 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:06,320 I remember thinking of the other mass shootings that had happened prior to ours 35 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:09,680 and always remembering that they talked about the killer, 36 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:16,560 and they talked about it in such a non-human way that I really wanted people to understand 37 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:22,400 that there were real people, real families, real members of the community who were devastated by this 38 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:26,160 and whose lives would never be the same again. 39 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:34,160 And I encouraged, you know, we had people arguing with each other in our community about what should be done, 40 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,600 and somebody did too much of this, and somebody didn't do enough of that, 41 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:42,640 and I know when a massive trauma like this happens to a community, 42 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:45,680 that division comes very much in the wake of it. 43 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:51,840 It's very normal in a traumatic situation, especially something of this magnitude, 44 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:56,000 and I just wanted the community to realize that there was help available, 45 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:59,280 that it was important that we take care of ourselves, 46 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:03,680 it was important that, you know, we take a deep breath before we rush to judge 47 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:08,800 the intentions of another person whose shoes we don't walk in. 48 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:12,480 And at one point, I did trauma therapy myself, 49 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:17,440 and I actually took a picture of it while I was going through it and posted it on social media 50 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,560 to not just kind of tell other people what they should do, 51 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:26,400 but let people know that everyone was dealing with some sort of trauma from this, 52 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:33,120 and that it was okay and actually necessary to get the help you needed, 53 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:37,120 because how could you take care of your loved ones if you weren't taking care of yourself? 54 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:41,760 Absolutely, yeah, and Christine, you're making me think about a conversation 55 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:46,400 that you had through New York City, it was Zoom, because it was June 2020, mid-COVID, 56 00:04:46,400 --> 00:04:51,600 but I listened into it, and one thing that you made an observation on with Tony Montalto, 57 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:56,320 also on that call, who is the president of the organization Stand With Parkland, 58 00:04:56,320 --> 00:05:01,280 you mentioned that it's really hard to analyze trauma on individual levels, because, 59 00:05:01,280 --> 00:05:04,560 to some respect, we don't study it enough as we should. 60 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:09,040 And you mentioned that because of that, there is a big division that was occurring 61 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:13,440 through different trauma lenses throughout the community, and I was curious if you could 62 00:05:13,440 --> 00:05:16,000 just mention what those were and how they were rectified. 63 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:24,800 Yeah, for example, what I learned from this tragedy was that you can have a mass trauma, 64 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:30,240 but how individuals react to it is very specific to that individual, 65 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:35,040 and previous traumas they've been through, addressed or unaddressed, 66 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:42,560 it was all about giving people grace, meeting people where they are, and so when someone 67 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:48,800 would get upset at someone else, I would always go back to, do you think they're in pain as well? 68 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:55,200 And we don't know why their pain is leading them in this direction versus the direction 69 00:05:55,200 --> 00:06:02,800 you're going in, and that we all had the right to grieve in our own way and process in our own way. 70 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:08,160 So for some people, they wanted to protest, for other people, they didn't want to protest, 71 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:13,040 some people wanted to be public, some people wanted to be private, and I guess my point was 72 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:20,160 that everybody's path to healing will be different, and that we had to offer and allow as many paths 73 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:26,720 as possible. For example, at the one-year commemoration, we had a multitude of options 74 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:34,880 for people to kind of grieve in a communal way, whether it was at the Temple of Time, 75 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:42,720 whether it was doing a charity project of packing food, whether it was being with the therapy dogs, 76 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:51,680 whether it was art or music, whether it was painting rocks, or maybe it was just sitting 77 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:58,160 somewhere in a peaceful area by yourself, and we wanted to have as many options as possible for 78 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:04,880 people recognizing that everybody grieves and processes this trauma in their own way, 79 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:07,600 and that we needed to have space for that. 80 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:12,560 Absolutely, and I know under your leadership as well, we established the Eagles Haven, 81 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:16,720 and I believe they're going to speak with us as well in the near future because I too am a part of 82 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:22,720 the courses that they offer. The Eagles Haven offers free courses to the community in arts, 83 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:29,840 painting, I take guitar class there, and it's all just a way to help people recognize what options 84 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:33,120 are there for them, so I'm so glad you brought that up as well because I believe Eagles Haven 85 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:35,600 will echo you when their time comes. 86 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:40,160 And Christine, one thing we've already mentioned on this conversation here are just different ways 87 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:46,320 to provide psychological first aid as a leader. Under your leadership, what does psychological 88 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:51,600 first aid look like, and based upon your experiences, what can other leaders take from that and feel 89 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:52,960 inspired for themselves? 90 00:07:52,960 --> 00:07:58,960 I don't know if it was psychological first aid, but I tried to go to every community event 91 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:05,360 possible in that time. I went to as many funerals as I could, and I was very happy to be able to 92 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:11,280 attend as many funerals as I could. I went to as many school safety meetings as possible. 93 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:17,600 I wanted the community to know that they were not alone, and even if it meant at times I 94 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:23,280 got yelled at or people weren't very happy, I wanted people to know that no matter what, 95 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:28,480 we were here for them and that we were going to get through this one way or another together. 96 00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:38,320 When such a mass shooting happens, it really takes away people's trust in how things should be. 97 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:45,360 I think it takes away people's core sense of feeling safe, so people were not feeling safe 98 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:51,680 all the time. It was about reassuring. It was about showing up. It was about realizing what 99 00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:59,520 people were going through and trying to address it, whether it be through extra safety conversations, 100 00:08:59,520 --> 00:09:05,200 making sure people were aware of trauma services around, and just doing the best we could to make 101 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,960 sure that people had what they needed to get them through this. 102 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:14,400 Yeah, you're reminding me now of Frank D'Angelis, who was the acting principal of 103 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:19,600 Columbine High School during his time. One thing very much like you, Christine, is that he said 104 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:24,160 that the most important thing that he could do is show up and lead from the heart. 105 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:29,600 I know at the state level that you have been working on different initiatives and mental 106 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:35,520 health. I wanted to know if you could talk to us about that and how you were inspired to be 107 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:39,360 involved in those types of projects and initiatives and where they're going to go from here. 108 00:09:40,560 --> 00:09:48,240 Yeah, that's a great question. When I first got to the Florida house, we were in COVID, 109 00:09:48,240 --> 00:09:53,520 so it was a very different time than it is right now. It was very quiet at the Capitol, 110 00:09:54,160 --> 00:10:02,160 and I was looking for legislation. I remembered reading the third interim grand jury report 111 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:08,000 following the MSD shooting. One of the recommendations in there was to have a 112 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:14,720 commission on mental health. One of the bills I filed that session followed that recommendation 113 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:18,960 of establishing a commission on mental health, and we added substance use disorder. 114 00:10:19,680 --> 00:10:24,080 Almost didn't pass, but I was able to work with committee staff and leadership, and 115 00:10:24,080 --> 00:10:30,720 got the support, and it did pass. Actually, I'm currently the speaker's representative on that 116 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:38,480 commission. Over the last several years, we've made a whole bunch of recommendations for improving 117 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:46,080 access to quality mental health care and substance use disorder care. That's been important to me 118 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:52,080 because we have subject matter experts who join our meetings, help us with recommendations and 119 00:10:52,080 --> 00:10:57,600 working through of how we can turn those into reality. Then those recommendations get sent to 120 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:02,880 the Senate president, the speaker of the house, and the governor in order to be turned into, 121 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:10,880 hopefully, law. We've had a lot of improvements from that standpoint. We've done a lot with school 122 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:16,320 safety, making sure that there are additional barriers to entering schools, that there are 123 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:22,400 better protocols in place, making sure that we have mental health coordinators at the school 124 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:28,640 district so that people don't fall through the cracks. Another initiative was to make sure that 125 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:35,600 anyone who is getting any sort of treatment through the school, that their caregivers are also aware 126 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:39,680 of what's available in the community, not only to the student, but also to the caregivers. 127 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:46,640 There's just been a lot of work done, and what I've appreciated about this process is the ability 128 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:54,640 to focus on school safety and also mental health. It is, for me, the reason why I'm there, 129 00:11:54,640 --> 00:12:01,440 and it has been wonderful to actually see the leadership buy into that because so many families 130 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:06,560 are affected these days. Yeah, thank you so much again for letting us celebrate these efforts right 131 00:12:06,560 --> 00:12:13,280 alongside you. In 2018, I was actually trained as a community member and substitute teacher 132 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:19,760 in applied suicide intervention skills training as a way to be there for subjects in school while 133 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:26,160 also keeping them safe for now, and I wanted to ask what other resources are accessible to us 134 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:32,320 throughout the community in order to remain suicide safe? Initiatives that I was made aware of 135 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:38,720 after the shooting was the Columbia Lighthouse Project, and what that is is they will give you 136 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:46,560 cards if you're like a parent or a co-worker of questions you should be asking people, and what 137 00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:53,520 they found out is that talking about suicide actually can help prevent suicide. Asking someone 138 00:12:53,520 --> 00:13:00,480 if they've considered suicide, if they've made a plan for suicide, and if you go online you can 139 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:06,640 print out the questions. There was once an idea that if you spoke about suicide you were causing 140 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:11,200 it to increase, but it's actually quite the opposite. It's about letting people know that 141 00:13:11,200 --> 00:13:16,160 they're seen and that somebody's checking in on them, making sure they're okay, and 142 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:21,120 then if they are contemplating suicide it's an opportunity for them to talk about it and to work 143 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:26,240 together to get them the help they need. Definitely, thank you so much for that, and at the time of 144 00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:31,920 this recording there was also another recent passing within our community, and again I just 145 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:36,560 want to know if you can talk to us a little bit more again about what different proactive steps 146 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:42,320 members within a community can provide each other to prevent those types of events from happening? 147 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:48,480 Yeah, I mean there are wonderful programs online with suicide prevention. I think the first thing 148 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:55,200 we need to realize is it could happen to anybody, and I think approaching it with a sense of humility 149 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:59,840 is really important. We have mental health counselors in schools, we have mental health 150 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:03,360 counselors in the community. Eagles Haven is a wonderful resource of connecting people to the 151 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:09,200 resources they need. It's also a wonderful place that if somebody's in crisis and needs to be sent 152 00:14:09,200 --> 00:14:14,640 home with like a safe plan that can be done there. I think it's just important to talk about these 153 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:20,640 things. Suicide is not going away. Young people today are under a lot of different pressures. 154 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:26,960 There is increased anxiety disorder, increased depressive disorder, increased bipolar disorder, 155 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:33,520 and I think it's just really important that we're making sure that young people know that they are 156 00:14:33,520 --> 00:14:40,320 worth more than the grade on their last exam, they are worth more than their GPA, they are worth more 157 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:47,920 than their SAT or ACT scores, and that we recognize that they are human beings who are dealing with a 158 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:54,160 lot of things. I don't know, Joey, if you remember, I remember my teenage years not always the best 159 00:14:54,160 --> 00:15:01,760 times and that we provide them space to not only to do the things they love but also to 160 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:06,880 fail sometimes and letting them know that that's okay, that that happens to everybody 161 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:11,360 and that they have the support they need in order to get back up again. 162 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:16,720 This has been wonderful. We had a conversation today that has appeals to leaders and politicians. 163 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:22,160 We had a conversation that has appealed to teachers and even community members and artists. 164 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:26,880 So I think one population that we haven't looked at just yet, and this would be my last question, 165 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:32,160 Christine, for our takeaway in today's conversation, especially for our students listening, 166 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:39,200 who are training their minds at a much younger and local level, what are some things that we can gather from our dialogue here? 167 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:50,160 That every day is a new day. You are worth more than the sum of your test scores, your GPA, your SAT. 168 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:57,680 I think it's so important to give yourself grace when you're going through things in life 169 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:04,480 and to give others that grace as well. I think it's also important to find out the things you love to do, 170 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:12,000 what you're great at, and what you're not so great at. And remember that there is support available 171 00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:21,760 if you ever need it. There are people who love you no matter what. And so please reach out if you need a helping hand 172 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:28,240 and stretch out and give a helping hand to those who might need it who are with you in class. 173 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:33,840 Thank you for joining us on the Classroom Narratives Healing and Education podcast. 174 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:38,560 If today's episode inspired you or made you think differently, I'd love to hear from you. 175 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:43,680 Drop a comment or review wherever you listen to podcasts and stay connected with us on the 176 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:49,760 at Classroom Narratives podcast over Instagram and Facebook. Remember, together we can transform 177 00:16:49,760 --> 00:17:09,440 our scars into stars in education, one conversation at a time.