Cheerful Helpers is not your average training facility. I toured the school and interviewed with Janet and Jaclyn in the summer of 2024, and from the very beginning, I realized this place was
different.
In the classroom with the younger children, a small girl was having what I would soon learn was called a “big feeling.” I remember thinking, Whoa… what am I in for? Jaclyn calmly turned to me, noticing the chair I'm sitting in, and narrated the following: “Oh, her dad is here today, and you're sitting in his seat. I’m wondering if she’s confused about why her dad isn't in that seat?”
The little girl, in the middle of her emotional storm, paused and looked over at Jaclyn as if no one had ever articulated her feelings so accurately before. Then she resumed her “big feeling.” I was stunned. How did Jaclyn do that? I remember thinking. Wow, she’s good.
What I didn’t know then was that, a year later, with the guidance and support of the Cheerful Helpers staff, I would be able to deliver similarly calm and effective narration myself.
After visiting the classroom, we moved to the outdoor play area, where we watched a little boy proudly build a tower and enthusiastically call for Jaclyn to come see it. When the tower
unexpectedly fell over, I braced myself for tears or frustration. Instead, he simply shrugged and said, “Eh, it’s okay… I’ll rebuild it.”
My overly expressive face must have said it all: How did he do that?! After witnessing the distraught little girl earlier, I wasn’t sure any child could arrive at such a calm, logical response
so quickly. Truthfully, I wasn’t even sure I could have responded that way at his age. Yet there he was—present, regulated, and resilient. I then asked, dumbfounded, “How long has he been
at this school?” In the same matter-of-fact way, Jaclyn replied, “ 2 years”. I remember thinking, Well, I guess the program works if you work it.
Now, in the spring of 2026, after working in the classrooms, helping facilitate social skills groups, participating in play therapy and dyadic play with that same formerly “distraught” little girl—who is now rarely distressed and can identify the tools that help her—training in and
performing therapeutic holds when necessary, and participating in illuminating supervisions with
the same incredible Jaclyn and Janet, insightful Quint, and the deeply supportive staff and interns that Cheerful Helpers is so fortunate to have, I truly feel like an active member of this empathetic and revolutionary community.
I’ve even adopted the language in my own life, telling people what “my plan is” or warning them when I’m having a “big feeling.” Cheerful Helpers has been profoundly significant in my personal and professional growth, and it will be a bittersweet day if and when I depart.
