Written by Natasha Serba
Disengaged. Apathetic. Distracted. Stressed. Overwhelmed. Depleted. These are just some of the words that can be used to describe the young people that teachers have been encountering in post-COVID classrooms. While the world may have been looking forward to a “return to normal” the reality we have experienced is far from it. The impacts of COVID restrictions on the learning and development of young people were profound and if there is a path back to normalcy it will take years.
Even before COVID-19 the rate of anxiety and depression among youth was on the rise while the age of those being diagnosed was falling. Rather than creating it, the pandemic exacerbated a youth mental health crisis that was already well documented. In classrooms and schools, as in society at large, we continue to grapple with the results.
“I leave it to you, the reader, to imagine what our world would look like if we placed young people’s well-being in the forefront. What would it mean for parenting and for support for parenting, for childcare and education, for the economy, for what products we sell and buy, for what foods we sell and prepare, for the climate, for the culture?”
Dr. Gabor Maté
In his book, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture, Canadian physician and expert on child development and trauma, Dr. Gabor Maté, argues that the very culture in which we live creates the conditions that give rise to individual and collective disease. As he explains in the introduction, “chronic illness– mental or physical– is to a large extent a function or feature of the way things are and not a glitch, a consequence of how we live, not a mysterious aberration.” Drawing on his own clinical experience as well as many personal interviews, Dr. Maté explains that individual health and wellness is a function of the complex interplay between biology, biography, and the psycho-social contexts of modern life.
Rather than offering a limited perspective on individual disease and distress, Dr. Maté emphasizes that humans are biopsychosocial beings and therefore a person’s physical, mental, emotional, and psychological conditions must be understood in context of the systems they are embedded in. Because he is an expert on child development, Dr. Maté recognizes the powerful impact of the family system and its critical role in providing for the developmental needs of children. Either through overtly traumatic experiences (such as violence, abuse, or family dysfunction), neglect, or simple human failing, the family is often the site of early trauma that imprints itself on a child and often persists into adulthood. At the same time, other social, cultural, political, and economic systems also impact an individual’s worldview and behaviours, and, ultimately, their physical and mental health. The problem is that the various contexts of modern life are often rooted in systemic inequality or otherwise produce chronic stress and trauma, and this becomes understood as the “normal” condition of our lives.
“What if our intention, as parents, as educators, as a society, was to raise children in touch with their feelings, authentically empowered to express them, to think independently and be prepared to act on behalf of their principles?”
Dr. Gabor Maté
In our classrooms teachers are confronted with the results. Young people necessarily bring with them the impacts of chronic stress and trauma that manifest as behavioural issues, mental health conditions, social-emotional problems, and attention deficits that translate into learning difficulties. While COVID-19 and the move to online learning did not create these issues, the pandemic amplified them, and the impacts will likely continue for some time. The problem is that this reality remains largely unacknowledged and unaddressed as teachers and students return to the business of teaching and learning in a “post-COVID” world.
While Dr. Maté presents a detailed examination of the relationship between individual problems and the harmful conditions that society considers to be “normal,” he also offers guidelines for health and healing. Part of the solution presented in his book includes a trauma-informed approach to education. He explains that “education in such a system would encourage an atmosphere where emotional intelligence is valued as highly as intellectual achievement. We would no longer evaluate kids based on performance goals that still mostly reflect and bestow social and racial advantage but would provide settings where all were encouraged to thrive.” By showing the need for an education system that responds to and provides countermeasures for the unhealthy, inequitable, and damaging conditions of modern life, Dr. Maté offers a hopeful possibility for the future. Let us hope that this is a direction in which students and teachers can move forward together on our path towards true recovery. In fact, right now we are being presented with a unique opportunity for society to build back better and stronger while promoting healthy conditions for all.
Natasha Serba, EYSRA
Teacher with Lester B. Pearson, C.I., TDSB
Talk with Dr. Gabor Maté
Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture
Dr. Gabor Maté will be in Toronto on Thursday, May 1st, 2025, at 7:30 PM for a talk at Roy Thomson Hall: “Based around Dr. Maté’s new book ‘The Myth of Normal’, Dr. Maté will be exploring Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture”. More information and tickets available here.