Nursery School

In this video, Nursery School Director Sarah Muil, MEd, talks about her work within the Austen Riggs Center Activities Program.

Working with the children in the nursery school, you can make a connection with yourself as a child. You will see that reflected back to you with the children you're working with, and that's really powerful. I'm Sarah Muil. I am the director of the Austen Riggs Nursery School on the campus of the Austen Riggs Center. At the nursery school, we have children who come from the local community as well as staff members who have their children here. So, a typical day we would have two teachers as well as two patients that come in to work in the classroom. When we have a full classroom of 10 students, we would typically have five adults in the classroom with them. A lot of children get a lot of one-on-one which is so important and incredible because they really are able to scaffold learning so much better when they can work one-on-one with an adult. I've had many patients that I've worked with over the last 6 years and a lot of them will come to me not thinking that they'll get much out of this experience other than it's a paid job. I just need to make a little money, I need to get back into the workforce, I want to see what this is like. So, sometimes they don't come with any other agenda other than that and then they start to realize what this is actually doing for them, and discovering that they can make an impact on these children's lives, and it can be really mind-blowing. So, I've actually had patients who have come here to work have stayed for more than a year and then have gone off to work in a preschool setting after they've discharged from the Austen Riggs Center, and it's amazing. We treat everyone as a human being here. You come as you are and sometimes that comes with emotions. Children can come in really upset some days. Maybe they didn't have a great morning and so patients can see that and know that it's okay to be vulnerable. and it's really wonderful for them to connect with that. You won't have a chance to not be present in the moment when you're working here with the children. The children don't give you a chance at that. And so we have this moment when you come in the door here, you wash your hands. So, I talk about washing away everything that you came in the door with so that you can begin again and be present in the moment with these children, and it's really powerful for both the patients and the children.