When some form of childhood trauma affects 70 + % of all students in ANY classroom regardless of students’ economic status….
Isn’t it time to start teaching as though trauma mattered?
Hidden trauma causes depression, lack of motivation, ADHD symptoms, behavior outbursts, academic overwhelm, and a sense of helplessness.
Hidden trauma changes students’ brains and physical reactions and we have to adapt curriculum, teaching methods, and school policies to work with those changes instead of against them.
I can teach your school how to detect Hidden Student Trauma, address it effectively, and adapt curriculum and school practices to account for trauma-induced changes in students’ brains and physiology.
So schools can be Trauma-Embracing rather than merely Trauma-Informed.
Trauma-Embracing starts with the idea that how the adult in the room makes a student feel is the most important factor in that student’s success.
Why should Trauma-Embracing strategies and curriculum be the bedrock upon which you add your SEL curriculum, PBIS strategies, and Trauma-Informed knowledge?
SEL teaches students how to identify and manage their emotions. PBIS supports students in making good choices in class. Trauma-Informed…informs. It is helpful information, but what do you DO with that information? Some form of childhood trauma affects 70+% of students of all economic backgrounds. Students who experience a dramatic or repeated trauma without adult intervention suffer changes to brain function, behavioral responses, and lifelong health outcomes.
Shouldn’t schools be taking action on that first? Isn’t it time for school to have a systematic way to identify the students with trauma? And once identified, take action?
Trauma-Embracing Schools provides the foundation to SEL and PBIS and takes Trauma-Informed much further by teaching you, your staff, and your teachers the words, actions, and curriculum that build solid teacher-student relationships, systematically uncovers hidden student trauma, and addresses that trauma in the classroom, counseling office, and in every content curriculum. It’s built-in and embracing. Then your SEL and PBIS work so much better.
Trauma-Embracing understands that most student trauma is hidden and we can’t heal what we can’t reveal.
70+% of all students have experienced some form of complex trauma (divorce, a parent’s depression, etc).
The more frequent and intense the trauma, the more that trauma changes student’s physiological reactions and their brain functions. Identifying which students have trauma and then supporting those students is key to better behaviors and academic motivation.
But trauma is linked to shame. And asking for help is hard for adults, let alone children who don’t have the life experience to know that hard things are not their fault. So students say nothing.
The teacher then becomes the EMT, who uses Trauma-Embracing strategies to uncover hidden student trauma, respond immediately, then refer that student to counseling in a way that ensures they get help.
Trauma-Embracing means teaching differently.
Because trauma changes brain functions, we should start teaching in the way that traumatized brains learn.
These are applicable strategies across all content areas that take students from being unwilling or unable to start an assignment to being in the “I can” or “I can ask for help” mindset. All the empathy in the world doesn’t help a student if they resign themselves to failure because assignments are structured in a way that their brains can’t access.
Trauma-Embracing means behaviors are addressed at the root.
Too often, Trauma-Informed PDs leave off at informing you and your staff that a student has trauma so we should….what?
What is the appropriate response to poor student behaviors when you know that student has trauma in their past or in their lives currently? Too often, this unanswered question results in too-lenient behavior policies rather than a Trauma-Embracing, systematic, practical approach that supports, the student, the teacher, and the administrator.
You don’t want students being sent out of class regularly and you don’t have time to hang out with students who are frequent fliers in the office.
Also, the relationship that needs to be the most solid is the one between the teacher and the student. Beyond the student’s care giver, the teacher is the adult who sees the student most. It is the teacher’s relationship with the student that will support the student to put forth effort in classwork and behave in class. The teacher/ student relationship is paramount.
Trauma-Embracing means step-by-step relationship building in which each step serves an important function.
Trauma-Embracing teaches everyone how to systematically and easily find connections and what actions to take once those connections are made. As it turns out, teaching this way is far more enjoyable than the old way that teachers have been taught to conduct our classrooms. This is the way your own younger self wishes they were taught which is why this method resonates with teachers and all school staff.
Want to learn how Trauma-Embracing Strategies can help your students?
Email: JessieDorinCoaching@gmail.com
