(Repost of an August 2024 post on Regional Education Laboratory Program.)
So what can school staff do? To manage students undergoing trauma, educators do not have to become mental health experts or take away their attention on teaching and learning commitments. To assist students affected by potentially traumatic events, all school personnel are able to gain new information and practices relating to four domains of trauma-sensitive schools: knowledge of trauma and its effects on schools, establishing a trauma-sensitive school climate and classroom, identifying students who require additional trauma-sensitive services, and well-being of educators.
This blog post delves into these four topics and provides ready-to-use training and coaching resources to equip all school staff with the knowledge and evidence-based strategies to support students and staff who have experienced trauma.
Set the foundation: What is trauma and how does it affect schools
This transition encompasses knowing that challenging student behavior and the poor academic outcomes that may be the consequence of traumatic experiences can be a communication. Students are not out to rebel against the teacher or bother other people, but are demonstrating lack of need fulfilment. With a trauma-sensitive mindset, teachers would move beyond the question: “What is wrong with the students?” to asking the question: “What (went wrong) happened to them and/ or how can we help them?”
To get some ideas of how to establish this knowledge base about trauma and its effects on schools, review these REL Appalachia training and coaching materials, which include:
Implement strategies for all: Creating a trauma-sensitive school environment and classroom
School staff may not always know if a student has been exposed to trauma. Therefore, one of the best approaches is to have school staff proactively provide trauma-sensitive supports throughout the school for all students.2 Implementing universal strategies reduces the activation of students’ trauma response and reduces the possibility of re-traumatization.
The graphic below shows strategies for all school staff to use. When delivered with care and attention to students’ and families’ historical, racial, and cultural experiences, these three strategies can support all students, not only those impacted by trauma.
To learn more about how to create a trauma-sensitive school environment and classroom, check out these REL Appalachia training and coaching materials, which include:
Take advantage of screeners: Identifying students who need more intensive trauma-sensitive supports
Students who have experienced potentially traumatic events may need specialized supports in addition to the strategies provided to all students in a trauma-sensitive classroom.3 Trauma screeners are critical tools for schools to identify students in need of support. However, families and students may be reluctant to complete trauma screeners, out of concern for how the results might label the students and what schools will do with this information. Guidance on what trauma screeners are/are not and how information will be utilized to support students and families will raise the level of buy-in and engagement by school staff. Without a screening procedure in place, students will not tell without being asked, and so they will not be known to be having symptoms, which can be cured with therapy.
To learn more about how to screen for students who may need more intensive trauma-sensitive supports, check out these REL Appalachia training and coaching materials, which include:
Care for yourself: Educator well-being
Educator well-being is associated with higher rates of educator commitment, lower rates of burnout and attrition, higher rates of educator efficacy, better understanding of classroom dynamics, and more.4 Educators may face increased stress and even trauma when supporting students, so they must also take care of themselves.
Educator well-being is a shared responsibility that depends on different levels of support and the collective engagement of multiple individuals in the school community. Below are strategies that school staff can apply at the individual and organizational levels:5
 Individual actions |
 Social and organizational actions |
|---|---|
| Seek self reflection and accountability and hold regular meetings with others. | Assure that the work is fair and ensures that the staff has a reasonable workload, pay/privileges and resources are distributed fairly. |
| Practice mindfulness/and or meditation. | Offer plentiful and varied high priority professional development opportunities, including adult self-caring. |
| Strictly protect a personal time (not going to work) and create hard boundaries at the workplace; make duties easier and straightforward. | Form a rapport and connections with teachers. |
School staff seeking to create trauma-sensitive environments to better support students and educators experiencing trauma can learn more about these strategies using the resources below.
Resources to learn more
Explore and consider replicating: Check out materials from the four-part training and coaching series where REL Appalachia staff supported educators in understanding and implementing evidence-based practices to support students and educators experiencing trauma. The links to several of these resources are embedded in this blog.
Find out more: Explore this compilation of additional resources aligned with each session of the four-part series.
Learn new tactics: Use the infographic Developing Trauma-Sensitive Classrooms: A Training and Coaching Series for Educators to learn even more steps to take in order to help students and educators.
Learn about our partnership: Read the Building Safe, Caring, and Trauma-Sensitive Schools partnership page to learn about how REL Appalachia is supporting district and school staff in western Kentucky in the implementation of evidence-based, trauma-sensitive practices.
Keep up to date: Be sure to subscribe to the REL Appalachia quarterly newsletter so that you are kept abreast of new products and projects as we serve students in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Footnotes
Topics:
Educator professional development and support Mental health Trauma
Tags:
Educator well-being