. Ensuring a safe and equitable public education for all children has become increasingly challenging given the frequent reports

. of school violence, and the well-documented high prevalence of traumatic exposure amongst the student body.

Neurodevelopmental impacts resulting from childhood adversity hinder a student’s ability to engage in the academic setting

and manifest as disruptive, and often unsafe, behavior in the classroom. Creating “trauma competent”schools has become an imperative for administrators who work to ensure safety and promote learning for ALL students and who want to retain an effective and satisfied staff. School administrators play a vital role in creating trauma competent systems.

What is Trauma-Informed Care?
‘‘A program, organization, or system that is trauma-informed 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; and responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices, and seeks to actively resist re-traumatization.’’ (SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach Substance Abuse and Mental Health ServicesAdministration, 2011, p. 9).

SAMSHA’s 6 Core Principles of Trauma-Informed Care

1. Safety - Throughout the school/district, staff and the students and families they serve feel physically and psychologically safe.
2. Trustworthiness and transparency – School district operations and decisions are conducted with transparency and the goal of building and maintaining trust among staff, students, and family members.
3. Peer support and mutual self-help - These are integral to the organizational and service delivery approach and are understood as a key vehicle for building trust, establishing safety, and empowerment.
4. Collaboration and mutuality - There is true partnering and leveling of power differences between educational staff and students and among organizational staff from support services to district-level administrators. There is recognition that healing happens in relationships and in the meaningful sharing of power and decision-making. The school/district recognizes that everyone has a role to play in a trauma-informed approach. One does not have to be a therapist to be therapeutic.
5. Empowerment, voice, and choice - Individuals' strengths are recognized, built on, and validated and new skills developed as necessary. The school/district aims to strengthen the staff's, students', and family members' experience of choice and recognize that every person's experience is unique and requires an individualized approach. This includes a belief in resilience and in the ability of individuals, organizations, and communities to heal and promote recovery from trauma. This builds on what students, staff, and communities have to offer, rather than responding to perceived deficits.
6. Cultural, historical, and gender issues - The school/district actively moves past cultural stereotypes and biases (e.g., based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, geography), offers gender responsive.

Trauma-Sensitive Schools Defined
“A trauma-sensitive school is one in which all students feel safe, welcomed and supported” (Cole, Eisner, Gregory, & Ristuccia, 2013).

“Once schools understand the educational impacts of trauma, they can become safe, supportive environments where students make the positive connections with adults and peers they might otherwise push away, calm their emotions so they can focus and behave appropriately, and feel confident enough to advance their learning—in other words, schools can make trauma sensitivity a regular part of how the school is run. Trauma sensitivity will look differently at each school. However, a shared definition of what it means to be a trauma-sensitive school can bring educators, parents, and policymakers together around a common vision. “ (Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative)

School Administrator Activities for Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools

Example TRS Leadership Newsletter
Lead the TSS efforts in your school/district
Attend to school climate
Support staff participation in TSS activities
Review and revise discipline policies
Develop a tiered system of supports
Address staff STS

Improve family and community collaboration

The TI School Administrator: Collegial Leadership Qualities

• Administrators are friendly and approachable
• All faculty members are treated as equals by administrators
• Administrators are clear about their attitudes about the school/district
• All faculty members are treated as equals by administrators
• Faculty members know that their administrators will look out for their best interests
• Administrators are able to explore all sides of an issue and can admit that other opinions exist
• Questions asked by teachers are accepted without demeaning or minimizing the teacher’s comment
• Administrators go to great lengths to show appreciation for teachers
• Administrators go to great lengths to show appreciation for teachers
• Administrators go to great lengths to show appreciation for teachers
• Administrators as all levels are able to work collaboratively

Eight Steps Toward Becoming a TSS

1. Make a commitment to TSS & communicate it to all stakeholders
2. Develop a TSS “core team” that includes “champions” and potential challengers to the approach
3. Engage in a self-assessment process specific to TIC, but...
4. START WITH BUILDING ON STRENGTHS AND ELICITING VOICE
5. Develop a plan that incorporates feedback from stakeholders & is responsive to concerns
6. Conduct a kick-off event in the community to raise awareness (Resilience and/or Paper Tigers)
7. Provide foundational training in TSS to ALL school staff
8. Develop ongoing learning opportunities (learning communities, communities of practice)

Online Resources

NCTSN Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators
https://wmich.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/u57/2013/child-trauma-toolkit.pdf
http://www.nctsn.org/resources/audiences/school-personnel

Trauma Aware Schools
https://traumaawareschools.org/

ACEs Connection
http://www.acesconnection.com/g/aces-in-education

Adverse Childhood Experiences
http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/

Harvard Center on the Developing Child
http://developingchild.harvard.edu/