When Miss Kendra staff present the book in classrooms, Johnson said, the gaps in the story tend to draw the students in.“This is going to be awesome,” Colie says, upon arriving at the cabin she’ll be staying in for the next four months in “Bitterbrush,” marveling at the relatively modest accommodations that include water, slippers and, most excitingly, a poker set as she does some light sweeping. “Poetry and art are places where things are removed from the real world to allow children to project themselves into that world.” “We don’t really know where she lives, or how the child died,” he said. Johnson pointed out that a lot of the details of the story are left vague.
What we want is for this to be a healing legend that lives in the imagination of the kids.” “It’s not Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. “We tried on purpose to create some sense of mystery to it,” said David Johnson, a licensed clinical psychologist, founder of New Haven’s Post Traumatic Stress Center on Edwards Street, and a founder of The Miss Kendra Programs. It turns out that this goes straight to the heart of the thought behind it. The new videos have been made so that children can continue their relationship with Miss Kendra as a new fear sweeps the country. The program developed around the book - for Miss Kendra staff and for teachers - was designed to help children address their worries and fears by writing to Miss Kendra, knowing that Miss Kendra will always write back. And that thought will always make Miss Kendra happy, wherever she is.” As the book relates, “sometimes when the children found a bright red bead in their hand, or pocket, or backpack, they remembered how strong they were to live through the hard times. She gave them beads to hold to give them strength. Over time, children began writing letters to Miss Kendra and she answered them.
Starting in 2018, one of the primary vehicles for the Miss Kendra Programs was a book called The Legend of Miss Kendra, which told the story of a woman who lost a child when the child was 10 years old, and began working at a school where she then connected with the children there by asking them about any troubles they were having. It’s part of the outreach and adaptation of the Miss Kendra Programs as teachers switch from teaching in classrooms to online.
The new video, aimed at kids in kindergarten to second grade, is one of a series of videos designed to help students from kindergarten to middle school talk about and deal with the Covid-19 outbreak - a topic many adults have trouble talking about. The New Haven-based Miss Kendra Programs works in schools in New Haven and across the country to help students from kindergarten through middle school with trauma. “Today we’re going to be talking about the coronavirus and the way that it has been affecting all the kids and families around this community and all over the country - even all over the world.” Without losing her welcoming tone, she continues. “Oh! Hello! I’ve been waiting for you! Wow, it’s so good to see you. Miss Erinn, a representative of the Miss Kendra Programs, beams over jaunty yet gentle piano music.