Review of World Premiere of "Paper Tigers" Documentary at Seattle International Film Festival

Last night I went to the Seattle International Film Festival's world premiere of the documentary, “Paper Tigers,” about the implementation of trauma-informed care, restorative practices, and a health center at an alternative school in eastern Washington state in a town called Walla Walla. The movie profiles 4-5 teens and 1 couple in their high school years as this school implements the techniques. There were a few hundred people (predominantly middle-aged white women) in the theater.

The film highlighted multiple dimensions of “at-risk youth” personalities (from silly to goofy and shy to violent and combatant or addictive), explained the physiological effect that trauma has on cognitive behavior and development of youth uncovered by the CDC's ACE Study , showed the negative impact that adverse childhood experiences (ACES) have on life expectancy and health, and interviewed youth and teachers to show various sides of the school’s progress (missteps, challenges, personal struggles, etc).  

The director, many of the teachers, and one student were present and took questions after the movie. All in all, the movie and the Q&A were great. I applaud this community for taking on the overwhelming task of implementing this much needed multidimensional system. I don't do direct service, and I am NOT jealous of those who do. I sing their praises, for I would never have the patience to do what they do. The movie shines a light on the complexity that poverty, substance abuse and alcoholism, disabilities, familial relationships, homelessness, romantic partnerships, health concerns, and mental illness can have on young people’s attendance and scholastic achievement.

Being that the documentary took place in a small town in eastern Washington, it was good to see a different “face” to at-risk youth than I am used to in Chicago. Most of the teens presented as white or latino, biracial, and possibly Native American. Few, if any, presented as black. I hope this highlights to people that these complex issues are not “a black thing” or a “city thing,” but that there are still young people throughout rural and small-town America who are coping with these problems.

There were two things I thought were a bit problematic in the film, and two things from the Q&A:

• One teacher (Mr. Eric Gordon?) said, “All you need is unconditional love”…which as you know, might imply that communities that don’t implement these practices don’t love their children. Which we all know is not true. The reality is that some people are equipped with better knowledge and skills, and others are not. Some people understand the complicated world that is trauma stewardship, and some have not yet had the opportunity to learn about this and other best practices.
  I understand that the intention of this teacher was not to imply that other teachers and these children’s parents don’t love their children, but if we continue to associate love with the manner in which we need to implement these programs, adults run the risk of alienating the very allies we are trying to inform and educate. Cultural sensitivities among families are difficult to navigate, and working with staff, administrators, and students is no different. Yes, love is a part of it, but I think what love develops is about respect, forgiveness, understanding, patience. All the things that lead to love, but there’s a danger in calling one type of affection the only way that affection can be validated. 
• Two, that same teacher had the youth self-quantify their ACES without consideration for whether or not the young people handled the traumatic events well. (For example, we wouldn’t expect a teen to react the same way if they lost a brother to gun violence as if he/she lost a grandparent to old age. In particular, we also must ensure that through intakes and sharing of information, that we are sensitive to pushing labels on youth who are only just learning self-identification and self-expression. We must ensure we do no additional harm to the youth as they self-identify with higher risks. The ACE intake/questionnaire should be a TOOL that professionals use to indicate potential areas for further discussion. It should be used as a means to circle back and check in, but not as a “this score = X.”
  Because that is what evaluations and tools are---just tools to provide some baseline and some sense of quantification to a world that largely relies on context. If we remove the context from the interaction, we risk harming those we wish to help.

Lastly, the Q&A identified two huge missed opportunity that the documentary should have emphasized:

• One, the documentary showed four main teachers and one administrator as the leaders of this initiative. And it’s true that there must be a leader of the initiative, but something a staff member stated in the Q&A was crucial to understanding the success of the school’s climate change: EVERY PERSON WHO WORKS AT THE SCHOOL MUST BE ACTIVELY TRAINED AND ENGAGED IN THE TECHNIQUES TO SEE PROGRESS. Two teachers will not be able to cause a shift in the student body. Staff must present a unified voice, presence, and attitude, else the efforts will have minimal impact. Much like recycling one bottle of water will not create a large impact in our natural environment, we must teach towns, companies, and schools the importance of system-wide recycling and pollution reduction programs. We cannot expect to see changes in our ozone when only 1-2 residents implement what is intended as a systems change. This, of course, feeds into my last point…

• Which may be the most crucial point that was overlooked: WITHOUT SUPPORT FROM THE ADMINISTRATION, THIS WILL FAIL. Many administrators pay lip service to providers about “creating a culture of calm” and wanting change, but they don’t want to take time out from preparing students for standardized tests to implement social emotional learning. This is not just an administrator issue….this is an American issue. Without allowing teachers the time to build social emotional skillbuilding into their classrooms, our young people will fail. We cannot teach to the test. We cannot expect youth who have been only “taught to the test” to come out of school prepared for leadership positions, to work with team mates on a project, or to have critical thinking and practical application skills. Without education reform, teachers will be seen as “continuing to fail our students” when America continues to fail our teachers.

During the Q&A portion, a (presumed) administrator asked how one implements the program, and the teachers said there was no road map. Which isn’t true---there’s local and international programs that offer trauma-informed care and restorative justice training. I provided the director with the name and contact information for Alternatives’ Restorative Justice program. I requested that he build a resource for people asking for follow-up information to the film, but I’m not sure he was hearing me. Still high on everyone’s excitement about the film.


EDIT: I just came across this article that also explains the correlation of ACEs in pop-culture relevant terms and thought I'd link to it. Not sure the #s are all correlated, but this is an important quote that I like to post: 

“When people are having problems,” Dr Robert Anda, another author of the ACE study, tells me, “it’s time to stop asking what’s wrong with them, and start asking what happened to them.”