Trauma Informed Practices

"Trauma, broadly defined, is an experience that overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope."

"Trauma-informed practice is a powerful but incomplete tool. Powerful because it helps teachers understand the children in their classrooms and bring individualized care and attention to build resilience. Incomplete in dangerous ways because it is rarely paired with attention to naming and addressing systemic injustice and racism. We also can’t help but notice that most of these pleas are in reference to children of color."

- By Simona Goldin & Debi Khasnabis

Reflect:

How might trauma in our society impact our school? How do we know this? What are we assuming?

How might historical and community trauma impact our city? Our neighborhood? Our school?

How might trauma impact our teachers? Our leaders? Our students? Our support staff?

How might trauma impact the families and caregivers of our students?

What are the healing practices of our community?

What are the coping strategies used by students? By teachers? By families and caregivers? By leaders?

What are the actions we are taking in our classrooms that have a trauma informed approach?

How can we be more culturally responsive with our trauma informed practices?

How might trauma be healed in our school?

Learn:

Something to read:

Asking how trauma is present in schools shifts the focus away from examining the behaviour of individual students and instead focuses on how trauma affects the entire school community.

Trauma-Informed Teaching StrategiesSmall changes in classroom interactions can make a big difference for traumatized students.

Understanding Trauma-Informed EducationThe principal of an internationally recognized trauma-informed school explains what this form of education is—and what it isn’t.

Humanity, Healing and Doing the WorkHonoring our collective humanity will result in an education system in which all children thrive.

Recognizing the Signs of TraumaTrauma may look different from student to student, so it’s prudent to always use trauma-responsive practices.

Why Our Trauma-Informed Teaching Must Be More Culturally Responsive - EdSurge NewsYears ago, before I became an educator, I took a contemporary Native American studies course as one of my first college classes. For the final research ...

If We Aren’t Addressing Racism, We Aren’t Addressing TraumaDuring my school years, I learned about white scholars, white inventors, white ideas, and white theories. I did not read a book about a writer of color until I was in high school, and even then, it wa

Trauma-responsive Education: Supporting Students and YourselfCo-hosted by former Learning for Justice Advisory Board members Kinette Richards, Ph.D., school psychologist, and Barbie Garayúa Tudryn, school counselor, this webinar will help you gain a common understanding of trauma and how it affects both learning and relationships at school—for students and educators alike.

How Trauma-Informed Are We, Really?To fully support students, schools must attend to the trauma that occurs within their own institutional cultures.

Trauma-Informed Practice Is a Powerful Tool. But It's Also Incomplete (Opinion)Trauma-informed practice must be informed by the individual needs of students and the systems that caused their trauma, write Simona Goldin and Debi Khasnabis.

Something to Watch:

Watch: Recording of "Unconditional Positive Regard" with Alex Shevrin Venet

Something to Engage With:

Teaching Through Trauma With the Applied Educational Neuroscience Framework - Alliance Against Seclusion and RestraintToday’s guest author is Connie Persike, M.S., CCC/SLP. Connie is a highly experienced Speech Language Pathologist and Educational Consultant. As founder of CP Consulting, she brings 20+ years of experience in educational settings to provide insight, guidance, coaching, and support to school districts, agencies, and families across Wisconsin — and throughout the country — who need

Trauma Informed Practices

Act:

Recognize Trauma Informed SEL Practices

Prioritize Creating Safe Learning Environments

Identify How Schools Cause Trauma and Disrupt

When Schools Cause TraumaTrauma-sensitive and trauma-informed schools are spreading around the country. But if they don’t start with how schools themselves can induce trauma, they won’t work.

What do we mean when we say trauma?

Trauma is best understood as the result of “an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects.”

A trauma-informed organization “realizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery; recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others involved with the system; and responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices, and seeks to actively resist re-traumatization.”

Teach Brain Regulation Skills to Students

Teaching Students About The Brain

Tracking Energy and Tension - Strategies for Social emotional well being

Who Are You and How Are You Lesson

Build a Trauma Informed Restorative School

Copy of Guide to Mental Health Supports and Community Resources FINAL

Additional Resources

Critical perspectives on trauma-informed education: Resource Round-Up

Teaching in the Shadow of TraumaWhen we teachers get a so-called “problem child” in class, it’s crucial to ask ourselves, “What is causing this behavior to manifest? What is occurring in this child’s life that we can’t see?”

Setting Priorities in Trauma-Informed EducationIn this excerpt from her new book, Alex Shevrin Venet explains how she makes decisions that support students who have experienced trauma.

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