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1. How to Know Higher Worlds: A Modern Path of Initiation (CW 10)

2. Findus at Christmas

3. A First Book of Knitting for Children (2nd Edition)

4. History in English Words

5. When Findus Was Little and Disappeared

6. Healing Stories for Challenging Behaviour

7. How the Future Can Save Us: Fresh Perspectives on Waldorf Education: Principles, Methods, Curriculum

8. Turning Lead into Gold: The Transformative Alchemy of Waldorf Teaching

9. Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path: A Philosophy of Freedom (CW 4)

10. The Maria Thun Biodynamic Almanac 2023: North American Edition

11. Findus and the Fox

12. Becoming Fully Human: The Significance of Anthroposophy in Contemporary Spiritual Life (CW 82)

13. The Light in the Lantern: Stories for an Advent Calendar

14. The Spiritual Hierarchies and the Physical World: Zodiac, Planets & Cosmos (CW 110)

15. The Gerda Muller Seasons Gift Collection: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter (Board Books)

16. Autumn: A Collection of Poems, Songs, and Stories for Young Children

17. The Language of Plants: A Guide to the Doctrine of Signatures

18. Children of the Forest (Mini Edition)

19. Old Age: Journey into Simplicity

20. The Kingdom of Childhood: Introductory Talks on Waldorf Education (CW 311)

Educating Traumatized Children: Waldorf Education in Crisis Intervention

Reviewed by David Kennedy, Waldorf Today

Our book reviews are arranged many weeks in advance. I had no way of knowing that current events in Europe would make the review of Educating Traumatized Children all the more relevant. 

Teachers and parents will both sense the relevance of this book in the modern educational landscape. Trauma, much as we might hope to relegate it to the purview of special educators and therapists, has become a daily facet of life.

Gone are the days when only one or two children in a class were in need of "special help".

Bernd Ruf found his calling at the time of the 2006 Lebanon War. Since then he has facilitated the development of "Emergency Education". He and teams of teachers, doctors, psychologists, and therapists have taken part in crisis interventions around the world. They work with psychologically traumatized children and young people in war zones and disaster areas. 

Bernd Ruf presents an anthroposophical understanding of trauma itself. There is a an extensive examination of psychological trauma and healing the frozenness of trauma. The book contains many vignettes of their trauma work and concludes with emergency education as threshold education. 

Although the book is written primarily out of the experience of emergency educators in trauma situations, I would imagine that many classroom teachers and parents would find much they recognize in their "normal" world. 

Five stars. Great book.

READ AN EXCERPT: "EMERGENCY EDUCATION"