10 Iowa School Districts Will Now Have Therapeutic Classrooms

Funding for therapeutic classrooms has been granted to the state of Iowa. This state funding will go towards 10 Iowa school districts and will be put into place during the fall of the 2022-2023 school year, according to KCRG.

On the first day of school for a lot of students across the state of Iowa, I want to personally wish all of you a safe and great school year. I always enjoyed the first day of school. The excitement and nerves as you walk into the building, being able to see all of your friends again, and finding out who would be in my classes... I loved it. If it was you or maybe your kid, I hope you both had a great first day. My mom always used to take our first day of school off so she could watch us get on the bus. Kids might not always think about it but it's the first day of school for parents too.

10 Iowa school districts will feature therapeutic classrooms as the Iowa Department of Education gave a little more than $2 million dollars to these Iowa districts, according to KCRG. A few of those districts include Decorah, Monticello, and Williamsburg.

These classrooms are intended to help kids who may have social or behavioral needs. Whether that is in mental health support or helping to deal with trauma or a crisis. There will be tools to help build social and coping skills with other students.

From what I've seen on social media, you either love this idea or hate it. When I saw this news story on the KCRG Facebook page I immediately went to the comments after reading the original article, knowing full well opinions for and against this funding would be front and center. Personally, I think these classrooms are a great idea.

My fiance is a social worker and on a regular basis, she deals with families, adults, and children who've been through traumatic situations. A lot of the people she's worked with have mentioned how grateful they are to just have someone care about what they're going through. The work of her and other social workers can quite literally be life-changing for some people. Being able to help our youth, who may be struggling with trauma or their mental health, in my opinion, is nothing but positive for the future.

Teaching our youth how to cope with traumas or mental health could very well be the reason some of these kids go on to graduate high school, make friends, or get into college. These classrooms might be the only place some of these kids feel safe when they're at school and can stay on task to complete their schoolwork. Personally, I think just about every school could benefit from having classrooms like these.