Overview
What is Trauma
Trauma describes challenging emotional experiences that are overwhelming and can lead to strong negative emotions that surpasses a child's ordinary adaptive skills. These experiences affect the ways individuals feel, think and behave and can disrupt one's ability to function normally in day to day life. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), defines psychological trauma is the result of a single or chronic experience that is perceived as a threat to an individual's physical or emotional safety, thereby detrimentally impacting their well‐being (SAMHSA, 2012). The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) indicates that children are at the highest risk for exposure to childhood trauma and are most vulnerable to its adverse effects. Children from certain racial and ethnic groups also are more likely to experience adversities that can cause trauma (Bartlett & Steber, 2019). For example, black, indigenous, and refugee children are exposed to more adversity than seen among white children. Childhood trauma is also more likely to lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than the trauma that occurs in adulthood (Bartlett, & Steber, 2019).
What is Trauma-Informed Education
Traumatic experiences can be linked to mental health and addiction issues. Trauma-informed approaches can assist those impacted. When children experience repeated traumatic events, their developmental trajectory is significantly altered in several domains, including attachment, biology, affect regulation, dissociation, behavioural control, cognition, and self‐concept (Cook et al., 2005).
Trauma-informed education includes examining the influence and impact on student's factors like racism (explicit, implicit, and systematic; and microaggressions) also poverty, peer victimization, community violence, and bullying (Portell, 2019).
Main Goals of Trauma-Informed Education
In a trauma-informed approach, all levels of the education system understand how trauma can affect the entire school community as well as the individuals within that community. A trauma-informed approach is inclusive of trauma-specific interventions and incorporates fundamental trauma principles into the organizational culture.
Trauma-Informed Practices
Trauma-informed approaches allow service providers to realize the impacts of trauma, recognize the signs and symptoms of trauma, and respond by integrating knowledge about trauma into their practices (Clarke, 2015).
The six fundamental principles of a trauma-informed approach include safety, trustworthiness and transparency, peer support, collaboration and mutuality, empowerment, voice and choice, and cultural, historical and gender issues (SAMHSA, 2014).
SAMHSA’s trauma-informed approach (Lang et al., 2015)
Trauma-informed practice in schools requires educators to recognize the prevalence, impact, and indicators of childhood trauma and to respond to student behaviour in ways that support traumatized youth without re-traumatization (SAMHSA, 2012). A trauma-informed approach seeks to acknowledge the ways in which a young adolescent's life is affected by trauma and to use trauma-sensitive strategies in place of the traditional school practice that has historically compounded the effects of student's trauma (Crosby, Howell, & Thomas, 2018). Trauma-Informed Schools integrate social-emotional teaching and learning into the school community. The members of the community recognize and respond to those who have been impacted by traumatic stress. They understand that the holistic health and wellbeing of all students is essential for achieving academic success. To do this, trauma-informed schools focus on fostering a supportive, caring culture, training their entire staff to recognize and support students suffering trauma. Also, students are provided with clear goals, expectations and communication strategies to guide them through situations that could be stressful.
Fall-Hamilton Elementary: Transitioning to Trauma-Informed Practices to Support Learning. A strong focus on relationships, social and emotional learning, and understanding students’ mental health inform how Fall-Hamilton’s staff interacts with students.
Key Principles of a Trauma-Informed Approach
This diagram shows the key principles of a trauma-informed approach to safe and supportive environments for all students. The successful implementation of a trauma-informed approach to school-based service delivery depends on identifying these complexities and alignment with careful planning and decision making (Chafouleas et al., 2016).
Trauma-Informed Care: What it is and why it’s important
Trauma-informed care is an orientation of care that uses childhood traumas as a lens to understand the cognitive, emotional and behavioural symptoms of an individual (Leitch,2017). This orientation capitalizes on safety, respect, empathy, and individual strength (Leitch, 2017).
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2015) has identified four main points that define trauma-informed care:
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Trauma has a widespread impact on individuals, families and communities and has an understanding paths of recovery
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Trauma-informed care has the ability to identify the signs and symptoms of trauma in others such as clients and colleagues
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Integrated into policies, programs and practices
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Trauma-informed care strives to avoid re-traumatization
Trauma-informed care is important and crucial to the healing process for individuals. Workers and staff who are not knowledgeable in trauma-informed care may misunderstand a child’s behaviour and symptoms, especially when they are disruptive, which may lead to further detrimental effects on the child or inappropriate mental health interventions (Conners-Burrow, Kramer, Sigel, Helpenstill, Sievers & Mckelvey, 2013).
Additionally, using trauma-informed care can be a timely and effective method of treatment. When used, it has the potential to decrease the risk of mental health issues in children who have been exposed to trauma (Conners-Burrow et al., 2013). A substantial number of children who have experienced trauma often receive inappropriate or no treatment to alleviate their trauma symptoms, thus furthering reinforcing the importance of utilizing a trauma-informed care (Conners-Burrow et al., 2013).
When it includes self-care in the curriculum, teacher education supports student resilience (Mansfield, Beltman, Broadley, & Weatherby-Fell, 2016)
References
Bartlett, J. & Steber, K. (May 9, 2019). How to implement trauma-informed care to build resilience to childhood trauma. Child Trends.
Chafouleas, S., Johnson, A., Overstreet, S., & Santos, N. (2016). Toward a Blueprint for Trauma-Informed Service Delivery in Schools. School Mental Health, 8(1), 144–162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-015-9166-8
Clarke, G. (2015). Healing trauma through a First Nation lens. Retrieved, from https://www.eenet.ca/resource/healing- trauma-through-first-nation-lens
Cook, A., Spinazzola, J., Ford, J., Lanktree, C., Blaustein, M., Cloitre, M., DeRosa, R., Hubbard, R., Kagan, R., Liautaud, J., Mallah, K., Olafson, E., & van der Kolk, B. (2005). Complex trauma in children and adolescents. Psychiatric Annals, 35(5), 390– 398. DOI:10.1002/jclp.21990.
Conners-Burrow, N., Kramer, T., Sigel, B., Helpenstill, K., Sievers, C., & Mckelvey, L. (2013). Trauma-informed care training in a child welfare system: Moving it to the front line. Children and Youth Services Review, 35(11), 1830– 1835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.08.013
Crosby, S., Howell, P., & Thomas, S. (2018). Social justice education through trauma-informed teaching. Middle School Journal: Conceptualizing Curriculum to Cultivate Social Justice, 49(4), 15–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/00940771.2018.1488470
Leitch, L. (2017). Action steps using ACEs and trauma-informed care: a resilience model. Health Justice 5, 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40352-017-0050-5
Mansfield, C., Beltman, S., Broadley, T., & Weatherby-Fell, N. (2016). Building resilience in teacher education: An evidenced informed framework. Teaching and Teacher Education, 54, 77–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2015.11.016
Portell, M. (2019, December 16). Understanding Trauma-Informed Education. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/understanding-trauma-informed-education
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2012). SAMHSA trauma definition. Retrieved from http://www.samhsa.gov/traumajustice/traumadefinition/index.aspx
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). (2014). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.