Butte County Office of Education (BCOE) held an event, Thursday, to help teachers and other school staff support students after the Camp Fire.

As people filled the upper and lower seats of the auditorium, the opening slide of the PowerPoint had a quote from the presenters advising attendees to sit with their colleagues. The speakers were Shelley Hart, Steve Brock, and Rob Coad. Each presented on topics dealing with self-care, stress relief and supporting students affected by the fires.

“You know what they say when putting the oxygen mask on,” Brock said. “If you have a child, put your mask on first because if you don’t take care of yourself first, you’re not going to be able to take care of your child.”

Throughout the presentation, there were several breaks for discussions and activities. For example, Hart lead in the ‘Mindful Moment,’ in which the lights were dimmed and she spoke in a calming, therapeutic fashion to help anyone feeling stressed to relax.

Some of the discussions were to comfort people near you in the auditorium and brainstorm ideas for supporting students.

BCOE has had multiple pieces of training similar to this one to provide tools and information to anyone with students affected by Camp Fire.

“The magnitude of this so huge that I don’t think anybody knows what to expect,” Aaron Benton, Special Education Local Plan Area Director at BCOE, said, “but we’re doing everything we can to prepare them.”

For more Camp Fire resources you can go to the BCOE website.

Justin Jackson can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @JustJack0176