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Principles for creating and sustaining trauma-informed schools

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Principles for creating and sustaining trauma-informed schools

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The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

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Creating, Supporting, and Sustaining Trauma-Informed Schools: A System Framework

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Presents a tiered approach to creating a trauma-informed school environment that addresses the needs of all students, staff, administrators, and families who might be at risk for experiencing the symptoms of traumatic stress.

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Childhood Trauma and the Brain | UK Trauma Council

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The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

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Helps schools assess what level of partnering currently exists within their school community, areas that require enhancement, and strategies for implementing these enhancements. This tool is for administrators and staff to drive further conversation about family-school partnerships. It builds on the NCTSN Trauma-Informed Schools Framework and is aligned with SAMHSA's 6 Principles of Trauma-Informed Care: safety; trustworthiness and transparency; peer support and mutual self-help; collaboration and mutuality; empowerment, voice, and choice; and cultural, historical, and gender issues.

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A Trauma-Informed Resource for Strengthening Family-School Partnerships

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Helps schools assess what level of partnering currently exists within their school community, areas that require enhancement, and strategies for implementing these enhancements. This tool is for administrators and staff to drive further conversation about family-school partnerships.

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The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

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Even in the closest of families, it is sometimes hard to remember that family members may have different reactions to the same traumatic event. Reactions will differ depending on each family member's age, developmental level, trauma history, as well as his or her relationship with the child, and personal exposure to the event. For example, one family member may have shared the child's experience, another may have witnessed it, and another may have heard about it after the fact. While all family members may be upset, only some will have traumatic stress reactions and each will take a different amount of time to recover from the experience.

"I was so focused on my own worries that I almost didn't notice how upset my son was. But once I did, finding activities to help calm him ended up calming me as well."

How does trauma affect families?

Trauma changes families as they work to survive and adapt to their circumstances and environment. Research demonstrates that trauma has a range of impacts on individual family members, their relationships with each other, and overall family functioning.

Individuals can experience a range of reactions to a traumatic event. Initial distress is likely. Subsequent responses range from resilience to thriving, or on the other end of the spectrum, short-term to chronic physical health concerns (e.g. headaches, sleep problems, digestion problems, high blood pressure) or mental health problems (e.g. acute stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression). In both children and adults, these symptoms can inhibit developmental growth and cascade into changing the course of one's life.

The adult intimate relationships in a family can be a source of strength in coping with a traumatic experience and its aftermath, but when coping resources are stretched too thin and the stress is too high, partners can have problems communicating, managing emotions, and remaining close, which increases the chances for separation or even interpersonal violence.

How does trauma affect family relationships?

The parent-child relationship is vital to the child's development and recovery. Parents' protection, nurturance, and guidance speeds recovery and supports their children's coping in the face of trauma. When parents are not available or are struggling with their own reactions or behavioral and/or physical health problems, they may have trouble staying attuned with their children's reactions and responses to the traumatic experience, leading to changes in parenting behaviors.

Sibling relationships are important sources of companionship, comfort, daily support, and family connection, especially when living under stressful conditions or impacted by trauma. When the stress and burden of such changes are too heavy, sibling relationships can become over-taxed and typical developmental rivalries can turn into more intense conflict or feelings of rejection.

Extended family and kinship relationships can offer the day-to-day assistance as well as the emotional support needed to recover from trauma. Families separated from their extended kin often develop a new "kinship" network close to where they are.

The family, as a whole, provides resources to meet the basic needs of each of its member (safety, love, food, shelter, health, education, etc.) and supports the family's well-being and day-to-day functioning. Traumatic circumstances often drain families of resources, such as time, money, and energy, interfering with growing, learning, and working. The burdens often associated with trauma (e.g. costly court proceedings, moving to a new home, changing schools, etc.) result in cascading effects such as loss of income, as well as the time to spend with family and friends. When trauma limits access to needed resources and social support, families have difficulty carrying out daily routines and sustaining important traditions that bind them together.

How can providers support families after trauma?

Growing awareness of trauma's impact on families-including the important roles families play in helping children recover-highlights the importance of putting families at the center of trauma services. When families carry out routines, rituals, and traditions, they strengthen their connections and grow stronger together. Talking, laughing, sharing memories and feelings, as well as working together to solve problems, manage stress, and plan for each day and the future are necessary for resilience and recovery from traumatic stress. If families experience numerous or ongoing traumas, resources diminish and the "wear-and-tear" effect on health and well-being may call for family-informed trauma services in addition to resources for recovery and ongoing healing. Providers who actively engage primary, biological, extended, kinship, birth, and foster families and work with professionals in other child- and family-serving systems are better partners in the delivery of family-centered, trauma-informed services.

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Even in the closest of families, it is sometimes hard to remember that family members may have different reactions to the same traumatic event. Reactions will differ depending on each family member's age, developmental level, trauma history, as well as his or her relationship with the child, and personal exposure to the event.

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Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine

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Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine

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Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT) provides telemedicine or telehealth programs to school districts to help identify and assess the behavioral health needs of children and adolescents and provide access to mental health services.

If you're interested in joining TCHATT, please email us at tcmhcc@utsystem.edu to see if it is available in your region.

Who Can Access TCHATT

Any public school in Texas can have TCHATT at their campus once a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is in place with the school district they're a part of. On the map above, you can see if your school or school district is enrolled or soon-to-be enrolled.

When to Use TCHATT

Call TCHATT any time behaviors are seen or reported that have you concerned for a student's mental health.

How to use TCHATT?

1. Share your concern with your school's designated TCHATT liaison or refer the student to your school's designated TCHATT liaison. (The school liaison is often the school counselor.)

2. The school TCHATT liaison will ensure required consent forms have been
signed by the appropriate party (i.e., student, parent, guardian). If the parent/ guardian agrees to TCHATT, the liaison will collect some basic information to share with TCHATT.

3. The school TCHATT liaison then submits the referral via a TCHATT portal.

When the School TCHATT Liaison Calls TCHATT

For urgent issues, further screening via telemedicine will be scheduled with the most appropriate TCHATT mental health specialist.

For less urgent issues, we will schedule an assessment of the mental health needs.

After a TCHATT Encounter, TCHATT staff may refer the student to a local pediatric psychiatrist or other mental health professional; a local pediatrician with support from pediatric psychiatry faculty; or the local mental health community center.

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Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT)

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Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT) provides telemedicine or telehealth programs to school districts to help identify and assess the behavioral health needs of children and adolescents and provide access to mental health services. If you're interested in joining TCHATT, please email us at tcmhcc@utsystem.edu to see if it is available in your region.

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Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline |

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Information about Trauma informed schools by the Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative conducted by Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC)

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Tools and Resources - Trauma Sensitive Schools

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Tools and Resources for Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools What is aTrauma-Sensitive School? Learn More Why Do We Need Trauma-Sensitive Schools? Learn

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Modules/ Courses created by the National Childhood Traumatic Stress Network

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The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

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NCTSN e-learning courses typically include multimedia resources, such as self-paced training modules, instructional videos, and supplemental resources. Courses are available for different professional audiences and include both introductory and more advanced learning.

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Modules created by the Texas Education Association

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Skip to main content

As a result of school closures and remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students have been at higher risk of exposure due to adverse childhood experiences and first hand exposure to the effects of COVID-19. We also know that many educators have themselves experienced a prolonged state of stress over the course of the pandemic and share many of the concerns regarding loss of safety, health and predictability as students upon the return to school.

That's why TEA has launched Project Restore and this trauma-informed training video series, which is designed to address these extraordinary and unprecedented needs and connect you to relevant science and strategies that can help you address your own emotional needs as well the needs of your students and colleagues. This series will help educators create an environment that jump starts teaching and learning and drives student achievement.

Get Started

© Copyright 2020 Texas Education Agency (TEA). All Rights Reserved.

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Skip to main content As a result of school closures and remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students have been at higher risk of exposure due to adverse childhood experiences and first hand exposure to the effects of COVID-19.

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Modules created by the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Engagements

- Topics included:

Understanding Trauma and its impacts

Building-Trauma Sensitive Schools

Leading Trauma Sensitive Schools

Implementation Guide

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NEA's COMMITMENT

The National Education Association (NEA) is committed to ensuring that school is a safe, welcoming, and inclusive place where all students can thrive, regardless of circumstance or ZIP code, and where educators have the support and resources they need to be successful. We believe supporting students who suffer from childhood trauma requires whole school involvement and transformation. All school employees play a crucial role in supporting students impacted by childhood trauma. In keeping with this vision, the Association and its affiliates are actively engaged in finding ways for schools and educators to address the issue of trauma and its implications for learning, behavior, and school safety.

FRAMING THE ISSUE OF TRAUMA

From school shootings that shock the nation with grim regularity to the daily toll of violence, poverty, abuse, and addiction in our communities that rarely makes headlines, America's students and their families often experience traumatic events that can shape their lives forever.

Decades of research and studies have established that children who experience adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) not only are more likely to exhibit negative behaviors at school, but are more likely to develop risky behaviors. They are more likely to face a host of negative health consequences over their lifetimes, including reduced life expectancy. Data from the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) showed that 46 percent of America's children had experienced at least one adverse childhood experience with the number rising to 55 percent for children aged 12 to 17. One in five U.S. children had two or more ACEs.

Given the pervasiveness of ACEs across the population, most educators encounter trauma-affected students throughout their careers, whether they know it or not. Often these students exhibit a sudden change in behavior, from social withdrawal to violent outbursts or self-harm. When an educator frequently interrupts instruction to address disruptive behavior, teaching and learning for the entire class can suffer.

These outbursts and the punishments that often follow affect the psychological well-being and safety of both educators and students and, left unexamined, contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline that NEA is committed to eradicating.

ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF TRAUMA

Unions and districts across the country are working together to address the epidemic of trauma in schools with students' and educators' needs in mind. They are collaborating to transform schools into "trauma-informed" or "trauma-sensitive" environments, taking deliberate steps to become safe havens for every student and safe working environments for every educator.

ACEs awareness and engagement on a national level is imperative to ensure students are healthy, safe, engaged and supported so that they are ready to learn. Trauma-sensitive and trauma-informed environments allow educators the opportunity to collaborate in a way that supports a student's mental and physical health so that learning can occur. School communities that engage in paid professional development, practice and support for all school employees create a culture that builds resilience for all students. Trauma-sensitive focus on education fosters a school climate where students feel safe and confident in their ability to learn, can differentiate between trauma induced behavior and appropriate behavior, and connect with adults and peers in a positive manner.

NEA believes that supporting students' needs around the issues of trauma will enable them to come to school ready to learn and meet academic challenges that reinforce the development of life skills, mental stimulation, and student learning. When schools become trauma sensitive, they strive to ensure that all students are receiving the supports they need to succeed.

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Supporting students who suffer from childhood trauma requires whole school involvement and transformation. NEA and its affiliates are actively engaged in finding ways for schools and educators to address the issue of trauma and its implications for learning, behavior, and school safety.

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Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS)

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DFPS protects the unprotected - children, elderly, and people with disabilities - from abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

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Ohio's Statewide Family Engagement Center

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Family Engagement within Trauma-Informed Schools: Toolkits for Middle/High School Staff - Ohio's Statewide Family Engagement Center

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This toolkit was designed for a facilitator to present to middle and high school staff (leaders, teachers, other staff) seeking to offer support to families when their children experience trauma. This toolkit can be used as an introduction to trauma-informed practices or as a supplement to a more robust trauma-informed schools training program.

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Offers on-demand and in-person training on trauma education that is approved by the Texas Psychological Association according to their site

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TraumaTALKS:
High quality, trauma-informed training and professional development presentations.

On Demand Courses

On demand trainings designed for staff and volunteers at child-serving organizations, parents, and advocates. This activity is approved by Texas Psychological Association. TPA is an approved provider of professional development approved by Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists to offer professional development for psychologists.

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Now offering internationally recognized CNEs for nurses. Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

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See what students are saying
about our TraumaTALKS!

"Excellent presentation! Mr. Nemeth is well versed in the subject matter and is a wonderful speaker who knows how to captivate his audience."

"One of the very best trainings I have ever taken. I absolutely loved it!"

"IT WAS AMAZING! I really didn't want the training to end."

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TraumaTALKS:High quality, trauma-informed training and professional development presentations. On demand trainings designed for staff and volunteers at child-serving organizations, parents, and advocates. This activity is approved by Texas Psychological Association. TPA is an approved provider of professional development approved by Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists to offer professional development for psychologists.

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Counseling services

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Counseling Services - DePelchin Children's Center

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Counseling Services We strengthen the lives of children by enhancing their mental health and physical well-being. Counseling at DePelchin DePelchin provides high-quality counseling services to children and their families. Our... Continue reading →

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Houston Organization with resources for primary school aged children who have experienced trauma

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Through ChildBuilders programs, learn assertiveness, emotional control, empathy, and non-violent conflict resolution to stay safe & healthy.

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Tips for De-escalation in the Classroom 

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Tips for De-escalation in the Classroom 

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Dartmouth Trauma Interventions Research Center