Trauma-Informed Education
Trauma Sensitivity
Trauma is the most pervasive issue among students everywhere but is often one of the most misunderstood concepts. When people think about trauma, they often think of people who have experienced war trauma or extreme physical abuse. However, it is dangerous to assume that students have not experienced trauma. From a seminal study from the Centers for Disease Control, we know that childhood trauma is far more pervasive than we would have ever imagined, while often being invisible (Center for Disease Control, 2019).
Many make the mistake of thinking that only teachers who work in impoverished schools with gang violence need to be trauma-informed, but nothing could be further from the truth. Trauma traverses social-economic, racial and geographic lines. Children from wealthy homes, impoverished homes, of all skin colors, who live in cities or rural towns, children whose parents are divorced or not, children who come from religions homes or not...all are impacted. Trauma knows no boundaries and affects children throughout all schools.
Trauma is relative and can manifest in many forms. There can be trauma from an intense birth, trauma from a medical procedure, trauma from being left alone as a child, trauma from being teased or bullied, trauma from seeing someone being teased or bullied, trauma from growing up in a family with no structure, trauma from growing up in a family that was very strict, and on and on. Trauma can take as many forms as there are humans to experience it. Unless healed, its effects can create limitations on living a full life. Often, one doesn’t realize that they need to heal trauma until they learn the symptoms of trauma.
Throughout Transformational Education, we will not only discuss the social and emotional needs of the student, but also of the adults in the students life (educators and parents/caregivers). In order for us to be able to teach these essential life skills, we must also practice them ourselves. Social and emotional learning is not someething that is learned once and then the box is checked off and the learning complete, it is a lifetime process of inner personal growth which requires us, as adults, to work on our own personal limitations, triggers, and growth areas in order to be adequate teachers for our children. We begin here with the discussion of trauma by not only discussing student trauma, but examining our own trauma.
What are the symptoms of trauma?
One of the primary symptoms of trauma is dissociation. Dissociation is when your mind takes you to another place in order to find safety. It can be as simple as “spacing out” or having a hard time being present. Dissociation can also feel like not being fully alive, as if you are a bit numb. The more extreme manifestation of dissociation is Dissociative Identity Disorder, characterized by two or more distinct personality states, often a result of child abuse. Students who look like they’re daydreaming may just be dissociating in class. Trauma and its effects don’t only affect our students, trauma impacts us as well. While at times, it may be obvious that we are in the middle of a traumatic time of our life, sometimes, adult trauma is invisible and can be leftover from our own childhood.
Do you dissociate? Do you ever daydream, lose touch with your surroundings, or “check out” of where you are? Do you ever feel detached from your body or mind? Do you ever feel as though you are outside of your body watching events happening to you? Do you ever feel as if things or people in the world are not real, or feel detached from your surroundings? If so, you are not alone and you can learn how to become fully alive again.
Dissociation leaves people not being able to fully take in what is happening in the present and leaves them not feeling fully alive. If you began to dissociate as a child, you may not remember what it was like to feel fully alive. With the habit of dissociation you are angry less, but also you laugh less, and experience less joy. In essence, you are numb. Sometimes feeling numb may make you feel ashamed or guilty, like when you are informed of the death of someone and don’t quite feel sad, or when you experience numbness at a birthday party or other celebratory event. Because you don’t often feel truly alive, some brains respond by sending you back to where you did feel alive, to the traumatic situation, as in flashbacks or other times that you can recall feeling angry. I believe people who anger easily and often are simply responding to their somatic urge to feel alive due to unhealed trauma.
The response to trauma that is based in flashbacks is often worse than the original trauma, as the feelings may come unexpectedly. You may feel afraid or tense and can’t explain why. You may be easily angered or agitated. On the other hand, some people just blank out and dissociate. When you look at the brain in this state under a brain scan, almost every area of the brain shows decreased activation.
If you are unsure if you experienced trauma that is unhealed, you may think back to an intense experience and how you handled it. Did you “check out” and go to another place or did you remain in the moment? How do you handle fear? Do you avoid conflict? Do you have trouble sleeping? Do you feel extremely uncomfortable when you feel someone is angry with you or doesn’t like you? These are all indicators of possible unhealed trauma. There is no shame here. Almost every single human will experience trauma in their lives and because of our cultural need to “be ok” all of the time, it can be hard to heal alone.
For more than a decade of training teachers in Los Angeles, we’ve learned that when teachers learn how children’s brains respond to trauma, they are much more willing to embrace teaching social and emotional learning in their classrooms and try a more aware approach such as Transformational Education. We know that traumatic experiences are often the root of misbehavior. When schools discipline with shame and punishment, it re-traumatizes the students that are experiencing or have experienced trauma. What students need instead is a cure for the root of the behavior, not punishment for responding to a traumatic situation.
Research shows that a positive instructional approach is more effective than traditional punishment-based alternatives in improving student academic success and improving overall school climate (Horner, 2000; Myers, 2001). The key to undoing the damage to children’s brains caused by trauma is collaborative, caring, predictable relationships with adults (Craig, 2016). In other words, our toughest students, the ones with behavioral challenges, need adults they trust to collaborate with them to improve their behavior-- not adults they fear will punish them. Teaching educators the science and studies behind a Transformational Education approach is an essential first step to getting schools motivated to adopt SEL into their culture.
Trauma is the most pervasive issue among students everywhere but is often one of the most misunderstood concepts. When people think about trauma, they often think of people who have experienced war trauma or extreme physical abuse. However, it is dangerous to assume that students have not experienced trauma. From a seminal study from the Centers for Disease Control, we know that childhood trauma is far more pervasive than we would have ever imagined, while often being invisible (Center for Disease Control, 2019).
Many make the mistake of thinking that only teachers who work in impoverished schools with gang violence need to be trauma-informed, but nothing could be further from the truth. Trauma traverses social-economic, racial and geographic lines. Children from wealthy homes, impoverished homes, of all skin colors, who live in cities or rural towns, children whose parents are divorced or not, children who come from religions homes or not...all are impacted. Trauma knows no boundaries and affects children throughout all schools.
Trauma is relative and can manifest in many forms. There can be trauma from an intense birth, trauma from a medical procedure, trauma from being left alone as a child, trauma from being teased or bullied, trauma from seeing someone being teased or bullied, trauma from growing up in a family with no structure, trauma from growing up in a family that was very strict, and on and on. Trauma can take as many forms as there are humans to experience it. Unless healed, its effects can create limitations on living a full life. Often, one doesn’t realize that they need to heal trauma until they learn the symptoms of trauma.
Throughout Transformational Education, we will not only discuss the social and emotional needs of the student, but also of the adults in the students life (educators and parents/caregivers). In order for us to be able to teach these essential life skills, we must also practice them ourselves. Social and emotional learning is not someething that is learned once and then the box is checked off and the learning complete, it is a lifetime process of inner personal growth which requires us, as adults, to work on our own personal limitations, triggers, and growth areas in order to be adequate teachers for our children. We begin here with the discussion of trauma by not only discussing student trauma, but examining our own trauma.
What are the symptoms of trauma?
One of the primary symptoms of trauma is dissociation. Dissociation is when your mind takes you to another place in order to find safety. It can be as simple as “spacing out” or having a hard time being present. Dissociation can also feel like not being fully alive, as if you are a bit numb. The more extreme manifestation of dissociation is Dissociative Identity Disorder, characterized by two or more distinct personality states, often a result of child abuse. Students who look like they’re daydreaming may just be dissociating in class. Trauma and its effects don’t only affect our students, trauma impacts us as well. While at times, it may be obvious that we are in the middle of a traumatic time of our life, sometimes, adult trauma is invisible and can be leftover from our own childhood.
Do you dissociate? Do you ever daydream, lose touch with your surroundings, or “check out” of where you are? Do you ever feel detached from your body or mind? Do you ever feel as though you are outside of your body watching events happening to you? Do you ever feel as if things or people in the world are not real, or feel detached from your surroundings? If so, you are not alone and you can learn how to become fully alive again.
Dissociation leaves people not being able to fully take in what is happening in the present and leaves them not feeling fully alive. If you began to dissociate as a child, you may not remember what it was like to feel fully alive. With the habit of dissociation you are angry less, but also you laugh less, and experience less joy. In essence, you are numb. Sometimes feeling numb may make you feel ashamed or guilty, like when you are informed of the death of someone and don’t quite feel sad, or when you experience numbness at a birthday party or other celebratory event. Because you don’t often feel truly alive, some brains respond by sending you back to where you did feel alive, to the traumatic situation, as in flashbacks or other times that you can recall feeling angry. I believe people who anger easily and often are simply responding to their somatic urge to feel alive due to unhealed trauma.
The response to trauma that is based in flashbacks is often worse than the original trauma, as the feelings may come unexpectedly. You may feel afraid or tense and can’t explain why. You may be easily angered or agitated. On the other hand, some people just blank out and dissociate. When you look at the brain in this state under a brain scan, almost every area of the brain shows decreased activation.
If you are unsure if you experienced trauma that is unhealed, you may think back to an intense experience and how you handled it. Did you “check out” and go to another place or did you remain in the moment? How do you handle fear? Do you avoid conflict? Do you have trouble sleeping? Do you feel extremely uncomfortable when you feel someone is angry with you or doesn’t like you? These are all indicators of possible unhealed trauma. There is no shame here. Almost every single human will experience trauma in their lives and because of our cultural need to “be ok” all of the time, it can be hard to heal alone.
For more than a decade of training teachers in Los Angeles, we’ve learned that when teachers learn how children’s brains respond to trauma, they are much more willing to embrace teaching social and emotional learning in their classrooms and try a more aware approach such as Transformational Education. We know that traumatic experiences are often the root of misbehavior. When schools discipline with shame and punishment, it re-traumatizes the students that are experiencing or have experienced trauma. What students need instead is a cure for the root of the behavior, not punishment for responding to a traumatic situation.
Research shows that a positive instructional approach is more effective than traditional punishment-based alternatives in improving student academic success and improving overall school climate (Horner, 2000; Myers, 2001). The key to undoing the damage to children’s brains caused by trauma is collaborative, caring, predictable relationships with adults (Craig, 2016). In other words, our toughest students, the ones with behavioral challenges, need adults they trust to collaborate with them to improve their behavior-- not adults they fear will punish them. Teaching educators the science and studies behind a Transformational Education approach is an essential first step to getting schools motivated to adopt SEL into their culture.