Equity Centered, Trauma-Informed Education

Trauma

An event or circumstance resulting in physical, emotional and/or life-threatening harm (SAMHSA, 2019).

Trauma

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)

potential traumatic events that occur in childhood ages 0-17. For example,

• experiencing violence, abuse, or neglect, witnessing violence in the home or community,
• having a family member attempt or die by suicide, experiencing violence, abuse, or neglect.
• aspects of a child’s environment that can undermine their sense of safety, stability, and bonding
• growing up in a household with: substance use problems, mental health problems, instability due to parental separation or household members being in prison(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020).

ACEs

Race and Intergenerational Trauma

Race

Racial trauma is defined as “the emotional and psychological response to racism-related incidents that are unexpected, experienced as threatening, and result in significant psychological stress.”

Intergenerational transmission of historical trauma may inform the extent to which youth are exposed to and affected by adverse experiences.

This was initially examined in relation to the Holocaust, with the psychological effects of this mass trauma continuing to be detected in the offspring of Holocaust survivors and even three generations later (Bernard et al., 2020).

The Brain

Trauma can affect anyone.

Stressors associated with the traumatic event are processed by the body's sensory systems through the brain's thalamus, which then activates the amygdala, a central component of the brain's fear detection and anxiety circuits.

Cortisol levels become elevated through transmission of fear signals to neurons in the prefrontal cortex, hypothalamus, and hippocampus, and activity increases in the locus coeruleus and sympathetic nervous system. High cortisol levels increase heart rate, blood pressure, and alertness.

Exposure to chronic trauma has been linked to decrease neurons and decrease branching of neurons in the hippocampus. The outcome of trauma exposure during development include negative effects on: cognition, immunity, arousal, and anxiety.

(De Bellis & Zisk, 2014)

The Brain

Symptoms

Symptoms

Academic: Lower GPA, high rate of school absences, increased dropout rates, more suspensions and expulsions, decreased reading ability, inconsistent academic performance

Cognitive: Poor attention, cognition, planning, organization and processing

Emotional: Overwhelming feelings of frustration and anxiety, headaches and stomaches, poor control of emotions, impulsivity, and under or over reacting to loud noises, such as bells

(Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators, n.d.)

Schools Falling Short

Schools fall short

Schools can cause trauma.

• ignoring systemic racism
• lessons, curricula
• tracking and labeling
• teaching responsibility without mentioning systemic challenges
• walking in a straight line
• embarrising practices for:
• not turning in homework
• talking too loud
• teacher-Student realtionship as a transaction(deserveness and gratitude)
• rigid school policies e.g., zero tolerance policies

(When Schools Cause Trauma, 2019)

Socio-Emotional Learning

SEL

To address the socio-emotional wellbeing of students, several programs have been implemented in schools, such as Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).

5 Competencies of SEL

Self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, relationship skills, and social awareness.

(SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING: ESSENTIAL for LEARNING, ESSENTIAL for LIFE, 2018).

Identify Biases and Inequities

1. Student culture is responsible for trauma-induced behaviors.

2. Oppression, racism and discrimination of all kinds are separate from trauma.

These biases and inequities are rooted in epistemology of ignorance.

For example: culturally unresponsive administration and pedagogy.

What can help?

1. Trauma-informed practices training

2. Equitable administration of schools

3. Teachers equipped to address the effects of trauma

Step 1

Take stock of perspectives. You'll find:

Students who are left without the necessary capacity to deal with the effects of trauma.

Parents who are blamed for the behaviors expressed by their children at school and are left out of the journey of educating their children.

Communities that are impoverished and disenfranchised. In the deficit view, they are responsible for the behaviors exhibited by their youngest members.

Teachers that are not properly trained to identity, respond, and avoid re-traumatizing students.

School leaders who, by not centering equity centered and trauma-informed practices in their leadership role, fail to address the socio-emotional needs of the student population and the larger community.

School Districts that fail to acknowledge or give minimal priority to the relationship between the effects of trauma and academic achievement of students.

Governments that fail to address the needs of students by priotizing the push for standardization policies and high stake testings.

The results of a society or country that neglects the mental stability of its members.

Step 2

Consider Various Challenges and Opportunities

Challenges

Resistance from school personnel , students and paretns who might see these practices as unnecessary

Opportunities

Trainings:

-4Rs of trauma informed schools

-historically responsive pedagody

-culturally responsive pegagody

-circles and restoriative justice practices

-Demystifying mental illness

-humanizing teaching and learning

Collaborations and Partnerships:

• parents
• community stakeholders
• universities

Step 3

Imagine Equitable and Just Outcomes

Step 4

School districts become equity-centered trauma-informed as part of an ecosystem with each member playing an important role and dependent on each other for success.

Schools become extensions of the larger community.

Classrooms become micro-communities in which all members are dependent on each other for success.

Teachers are trained in equity and trauma-informed lenses to structure their classrooms, lessons, and cultivate a safe community.

Mental health is recognized, responded to, and re-traumatization is avoided at all levels of the school system.

Brainstorm both immediate and long-term solutions

Professional development:

• 4Rs of Trauma
• Trauma-infomed pedagogy
• Culturally responsive pedagogy

School leadership team

• identifies and immediately end policies and practices rooted in inequity and traumatization
• Uses equity and trauma-informed lens to enact policies and practices
• Professional development about equity and trauma-informed topics is sustainable and ongoing.

Step 5

Craft a plan of action

Step 6

School leadership

• Uses equity-centered and trauma informed lens to guide policy and management
• partners with community stakeholders
• incorporate the arts, mindfulness in students' schedule

Teachers are provided with various ongoing professional development.

• culturally pedagogy
• historically responsive literacy
• , circles
• restorative justice
• trauma-informed pedagogy
• historicize their content to include possible biases, racism and discrimination.

.

Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed School

-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

-responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices, and seeks to actively resist re-traumatization (SAMHSA, 2014).

ECTI School

Principles:

1. Antiracist, Antioppresion

2. Doesn't attempt to fix kids

3. Full ecosystem, not strategies

4. Human centered

5. Universal

6. Social Justice Focused

(Alex Shevrin Venet, 2021)