We are partnering with the Center for Safe and Resilient...
Read MoreThe Center’s Mission
The Center for Resiliency, Hope, and Wellness promotes trauma-informed school systems that provide prevention and early intervention strategies, with the goal of creating equitable, supportive, and nurturing school environments. For over two decades, we have partnered with schools and communities to increase access to evidence-based trauma interventions for schools with ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse student populations.
In 2021, the Center for Resiliency, Hope, and Wellness in Schools merged with the Center for Safe & Resilient Schools and Workplaces (CSR) to expand this mission. Today, CSR continues to develop new trainings, interventions, and resources to meet the needs of school districts as they create safe and supportive school environments.
Our mission is to provide equitable and inclusive access to high-quality care in every school.
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Introducing LIFT
Life Improvement for Teens (LIFT) is a self-paced, confidential stress...
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Introducing STAT
Support for Teachers Affected by Trauma (STAT) helps educators understand secondary...
Read MoreTrauma-Informed Schools
Trauma-informed schools have two overarching goals: to provide tools and strategies to adults and students that promote coping with extreme situations and to create a culture of respect and support.
Trauma and Students
Creating Trauma-Informed Schools
Family and Community Engagement
Whole-School Safety and Prevention Planning
Staff Supports
Whole-School Trauma Programming
Classroom-Based Strategies
Early and Targeted Interventions
Trauma and Students
Trauma can have pervasive effects on children. Often, children and adolescents lack the coping skills needed to manage and heal from the impact of stressful or traumatic events in their lives. In fact, as many as one in three trauma-exposed students show symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
There is hope: Having the tools to manage and heal from traumatic stress empowers everyone in the school community.
After being exposed to a traumatic event, children are likely to experience the following symptoms:
- Reexperiencing: constantly thinking about the event, replaying it over in their minds, or having nightmares
- Avoidance: consciously trying to avoid engagement or trying not to think about the event
- Negative thoughts and moods: blaming others or themselves, losing interest in pleasurable activities, or showing an inability to remember key aspects of the event
- Arousal: being on edge, being on the lookout, or constantly being worried
Symptoms resulting from trauma can directly impact students’ ability to learn. Students might be distracted by intrusive thoughts about the event that prevent them from studying, paying attention in class, or doing well on a test. Some students might even avoid going to school altogether.
Studies also show that exposure to violence can lead to lower IQ scores, reading abilities, grade point averages, and graduation rates.
Traumatic events can interfere with youths’ ability to relate to others and to manage their emotions successfully. In classroom settings, these problems often lead to behavior challenges, which can result in reduced instructional time and higher rates of suspension and expulsion.
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Creating Trauma-Informed Schools
In trauma-informed schools, administrators, teachers, staff, and parents are all prepared to recognize and respond to those who have been impacted by traumatic stress. Students in these schools are given clear expectations and communication strategies to guide them through stressful situations.
The goal is not only to provide tools to cope with extreme situations but also to create a culture of equity, respect, and support.
Becoming a trauma-informed school begins with an environment that encourages open communication, clear behavior expectations for everyone, and sensitivity to the feelings and emotions of others.
Listen to Joshua Kaufman describe the components of a trauma-informed school.
There are many ways to weave trauma-informed approaches into the fabric of schools, including through strategic planning, staff trainings, and direct interventions with trauma-affected students.
The key components of a trauma-informed school are:
- Family and community engagement
- Whole-school safety and prevention planning
- Staff supports
- Whole-school trauma programming
- Classroom-based strategies
- Early and Targeted interventions
The Trauma Responsive Schools Implementation Assessment (TRS-IA) is a quality improvement tool designed for single assessments of a school or of school systems, with one designated manager who invites others to contribute. After contributors enter their information, the system generates a report in addition to lists of resources that can help fill identified gaps.
To access and complete the TRS-IA, register at the SHAPE System as either a school or district team.
Family and Community Engagement
Trauma- and healing-informed family and community engagement include:
- Staff trainings on racial and ethnic sensitivity and cultural responsiveness
- Engagement with communities on trauma and its impact
- Engagement with communities on approaches to healing
- Partnerships with community organizations that are successfully serving diverse racial and ethnic groups
Whole-School Safety and Prevention Planning
Trauma-informed schools rely on whole-school safety and prevention planning to address traumatic events properly.
In trauma-informed schools, whole-school safety planning includes comprehensive assessments of:
- Campus physical safety
- Adequate supervision
- Threat assessment strategies
- Bullying prevention trainings
Prevention planning includes:
- Routine climate assessments with perspectives from multiple stakeholders
- Training in trauma-informed emergency drills
- Clearly defined behavioral expectations
- Mechanisms for students to share concerns about their peers
Staff Supports
Staff supports include schoolwide policies and strategies that:
- Address the effects of trauma on educators
- Promote wellness among staff members
- Support the management of secondary traumatic stress and compassion fatigue
To learn more about how to address secondary traumatic stress among educators in your school, visit STAT.
Whole-School Trauma Programming
Whole-school trauma programming consists of programming and policies that support students affected by trauma, regardless of where the trauma was experienced.
Whole-school trauma programming includes:
- Training all staff members to provide emotional support to students following a traumatic event
- Developing and using clearly defined disciplinary policies that are sensitive to trauma-affected students
- Training school security personnel to identify symptoms of trauma and respond with tactics that avoid retraumatization
- Establishing and following a restorative approach to resolving conflicts that arise on campus
- Educating all staff members about trauma and its effects on students
- Providing all staff members with the skills needed to work with trauma-affected students
To learn more about how to incorporate whole-school trauma programming in your school, visit TISE.
Classroom-Based Strategies
Classroom-based strategies are procedures that create a trauma-informed climate. By fostering this type of climate, these strategies not only promote safety and belonging, they also provide opportunities for students to learn self-regulation strategies.
Classroom-based strategies can take many forms:
- Incorporation of social-emotional learning (SEL) principles
- Calm and safe classroom climates
- Schoolwide approaches toward classroom-based behavioral supports for students affected by trauma
- Schoolwide policies on special academic accommodations for students affected by trauma
To learn more about how to incorporate classroom-based strategies in your school, visit LIFT.
Early and Targeted Interventions
Early and targeted interventions include clinical strategies to identify and treat students affected by trauma.
Early intervention strategies include:
- Robust trauma assessment processes
- Implementation of evidence-based early interventions (e.g., CBITS, SSET, and Bounce Back)
Targeted trauma-informed programming includes specific school and community programs that help students who are experiencing significant symptoms related to trauma exposure.
These strategies include:
- Holding routine multidisciplinary meetings that incorporate an understanding of student trauma exposure
- Forming relationships with community health agencies that provide mental health services to students with trauma histories
To learn more about how to incorporate early and targeted interventions in your school, visit CBITS, Bounce Back, and SSET.