Instructional Playbook

Trauma-Informed Practices

Trauma-Informed Practices promote a safe and welcoming climate, create a predictable and responsive learning environment, build positive relationships to establish an atmosphere of trustworthiness, establish supportive practices that ensure safety for all, and use a restorative practices approach to conflict resolution. Trauma is defined as the emotional response someone has to an extremely negative event. An event becomes traumatic when it exceeds a person’s ability to cope. (American Psychological Association, 2024). Experiencing the same event can affect two people differently, depending on each person’s ability to cope at the time the event occurs. Trauma informed practice IS: the framework for understanding, recognizing, and responding to behaviors in a way that considers trauma as a possible reason for these behaviors a way to address a child’s needs and avoid inadvertently re-traumatizing the child. (Source: www.traumainformedcareproject.org)

Build connections with students Create a predictable environment with routines and procedures Ensure that classrooms feel safe for students Give choices when possible Be aware that some topics Critical Actions for Educators

of conversations may remind a student of a traumatic experience

Trauma informed practice is NOT: excusing misbehavior

asking school staff to be trauma therapists taking on the trauma from your students

Implementing trauma informed practices in a classroom adds protection for the student while the student is able to heal psychologically and emotionally. An analogy to think of is when you have a broken bone. A broken bone is put into a cast, which protects the bone while the body does the healing. In this analogy, the cast is the trauma informed practices that protect from further harm while healing is occurring for the student.

Compared to peers, students with a history of traumatic experiences: are 5 times more likely to struggle with attendance are 6 times more likely to display behavioral issues are at higher risk for a variety of physical and mental health conditions, and overall risk increases as the number of traumatic experiences increases Factors that mitigate the impact of traumatic experiences: having a sense of belonging with physical and emotional safety establishing positive relationships with at least one caring adult having predictable routines and procedures in at least one part of their lives