On Amy Robinson’s desk sits a small model of a red schoolhouse. On the roof are the words, “Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.”

For 13 years, Robinson has been counseling students at Maxfield Elementary School, which sits in St. Paul’s Summit-University neighborhood. While crime statistics for the area are more moderate than other neighborhoods, the violence of 2019 has directly affected some Maxfield families, Robinson said.

So how do schools like Maxfield cope? They talk about it, Maxfield Principal Ryan Vernosh said.

“I have had a lot of conversations with colleagues (throughout the district) about shootings,” Vernosh said. “The community is hurting. The students are hurting.”

Robinson meets with other district counselors once a month to talk about how they can help alleviate stress and anxiety in students impacted by violence. Vernosh says school support teams are essential in helping students deal with difficult circumstances.

The purpose of the meetings: Counselors provide support to each other by sharing experiences and brainstorming ideas on how to create psychologically safe environments for students.

Support teams are made up of school social workers, psychologists, counselors and, in some schools, school nurses and behavior and cultural specialists.

The district also has a crisis team, a group of 50 counselors, social workers and nurses to assist in times of major tragedy, such as a student’s death or a fire destroying a family home. Maxfield has not had to call for the team’s help in 2019.

The energy and resilience of Robinson’s kindergarten through fifth-grade students are what keeps her going, she said. She loves that students are capable of flipping from a bad mood to a good one in a matter of minutes. She says adults complain about shoveling driveways when it snows; kids are just excited to play outside.

MORE: Homicides in St. Paul: How a violent 2019 changed the lives of so many

Despite the city’s jump in homicides in 2019 — four of which were within six blocks of the school — this year hasn’t felt too different, Robinson said. She reports to the same school four days a week, sits in the same wooden desk in front of the same handwritten thank-you notes and comforts students from the same classrooms.