Lincoln Program Spotlight: Park Middle School / La Tausha Wade, CPC Spotlight

When I accepted the position of Administrative Assistant at Lincoln in 2014, my goal was to play a small role in supporting mental health access in marginalized communities in Contra Costa County. What I received far outweighed my expectations. Every day I pushed back tears because I was witnessing a trauma-informed approach to education that I had only dreamed about. I realized that if I had received the same support that Lincoln offers youth and families as a child that perhaps my own unique brilliance would have been more cultivated earlier on. Looking in the face of the children and families that we serve is like looking at my own self in the mirror. I didn't learn until college that my learning style was different, not less than, just different. As one of my favorite quotes states: 

"Beneath every behavior there is a feeling and beneath every feeling there is a need. And when we meet that need rather than focus on the behavior; we begin to deal with the cause and not the symptom."

From the moment I started my journey at Lincoln, my colleagues understood what I had known in my spirit my whole life. That young, resilient, black girl inside my heart who was greatly misunderstood and had survived complex trauma growing up was validated.  

When the opportunity to serve as the School-Based Community Coordinator at Park Middle School came my way, I leaped and I could not be more fulfilled at this juncture in my life. Under the leadership of Jessica Rojas, LCSW, I am a part of a trauma-informed school administration at Park Middle School, that is diligent and intentional about investing in our youth and their families in ways that extend beyond the four walls of the classroom in East Contra Costa County.

Every day, I get to be the change that I want to see by supporting students and their families with resources that yield to their success emotionally, academically, and psychologically. I am one of the voices that reminds our families during times of heightened distress that it is ok to ask for help. I model along with my colleagues and Park Middle School Staff that wrap around care for our families is essential. Our partnership allows us to work with teachers and staff to facilitate a healing school environment whereby we begin to understand that resilience is brilliance. We bring HOPE and there is no greater work.

There are countless stories I could share from working with youth and families, and I’m thinking particularly about two students labeled as aggressive and violent. They would curse, yell, hit, or demonstrate some form of somatic expression to cope with their trauma. They each at separate times came to me with bright smiles after working together and said, "Ms. Wade, I got angry today. I almost hit a person but instead, I did like you showed me and decided to breathe."  

Many of our students face tremendous grief - we worked with a student's feelings of anger after watching her teenage brother die in her arms due to gun violence in Pittsburg, CA. She felt supported by us and this allowed her to learn new techniques to focus more in the classroom. Her teacher also felt major relief and support in this situation knowing that collaborative mental health services and resources are available on site. 

During the pandemic, we are supporting students and their families through distance learning, telehealth, and trauma-informed support groups. Families show up each week and learn tools and coping mechanisms in addition to receiving wrap around care. Our work is essential more now than ever, and I dream that one day this work at Park Middle School could grow into a Family Resource Center for the greater Antioch community. 

Principals, teachers, clinicians, counselors, custodians, administrative staff, community partners, advocates - we are a team. We do this work with our full hearts knowing that every day we are a part of dismantling the generational cycle of poverty and systematic marginalization of resilient and brilliant low-income communities of color. We are in the trenches together, building and learning as we grow. We're advocating for and bringing about changes that this world still has yet to truly know.