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National Center for PTSD resource

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Video

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My story | Elizabeth Smart | TEDxUniversityofNevada

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The abduction of Elizabeth Smart was one of the most followed child abduction cases of our time. In this riveting talk she discusses her abduction and encourages you that when you are faced with a trial, don't give up, don't surrender, move forward, because you never know the lives you will be able to touch.

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School Psychologist resource

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Video

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School Stories of Youth in Custody - "No Decision About Me, Without Me"

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Video

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Why We Need Trauma Sensitive Schools - Please the see updated version

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High School

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Three years ago, the story about how Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, WA, tried a new approach to school discipline and saw suspensions drop 85% struck a nerve. It went viral - twice - with more than 700,000 page views. Paper Tigers, a documentary that filmmaker James Redford did about the school - premiered last Thursday night to a sold-out crowd at the Seattle International Film Festival. Hundreds of communities around the country are clamoring for screenings.

After four years of implementing the new approach, Lincoln's results were even more astounding: suspensions dropped 90%, there were no expulsions, and kids' grades, test scores and graduation rates surged.

But many educators aren't convinced. They ask: Can the teachers and staff at Lincoln explain what they did differently? Did it really help the kids who had the most problems - the most adverse experiences? Or is what happened at Lincoln High just a fluke? Can it be replicated in other schools?

Last year, Dr. Dario Longhi, a sociology researcher with long experience in measuring the effects of resilience-building practices in communities, set about answering those questions.

The results? Yes. Yes. No. And yes.

In case you don't know Lincoln High School's story, here's a quick summary: In 2010, Jim Sporleder, then-principal of Lincoln High School, learned about the CDC-Kaiser Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study and the neurobiology of toxic stress at a workshop in Spokane, WA. The ACE Study showed a link between 10 types of childhood trauma and the adult onset of chronic disease, mental illness, violence and being a victim of violence. The Children's Resilience Initiative (CRI) organized a group of 30 people from Walla Walla, including Sporleder, to attend the workshop in Spokane. CRI is a community organization in Walla Walla that creates awareness about childhood adversity and encourages all sectors of the community - business, faith-based, corrections, law enforcement, education, etc. - to integrate trauma-informed and resilience-building practices.

Here's what Sporleder learned:

Severe and chronic trauma (such as living with an alcoholic parent, or watching in terror as your mom gets beat up) causes toxic stress in kids. Toxic stress damages kid's brains. When trauma launches kids into flight, fight or fright mode, they cannot learn. It is physiologically impossible.

They can also act out (fight) or withdraw (flight or fright) in school; they often have trouble trusting adults or getting along with their peers. They start coping with anxiety, depression, anger and frustration by drinking or doing other drugs, having dangerous sex, over-eating, engaging in violence or thrill sports, and even over-achieving.

Sporleder said he realized that he'd been doing "everything wrong" in disciplining kids, and decided to turn Lincoln High into a trauma-informed school.

With the help of Natalie Turner, assistant director of the Washington State University Area Health Education Center in Spokane, WA, Sporleder and his staff implemented three basic changes that essentially shifted their approach to student behavior from "What's wrong with you?" to "What happened to you?"

1. When a kid showed symptoms of stress, teachers intervened early to provide help - a quick talk, a longer chat with a school counselor, or intervention with a counselor at the adjacent Health Center.

2. For behavior that required more follow-up, such as not complying with a teacher after numerous requests, teens talked with Sporleder, who walked them through where they are in their decision-making ability: green, yellow or red. If they're fuming, for example, they're in the red zone, are unable to think clearly, need a day to think about things before they can discuss how to handle similar situations differently, and what actions will get them to that point.

3. In staff meetings, conversations switched from how to discipline kids to how to help them and their families.

Two years into the new approach, CRI brought in Laura Porter, co-founder of ACE Interface and former director of the Family Policy Council in Washington State, to work with Lincoln High teachers and staff to find out exactly what they were doing differently. They came up with four sets of new, interrelated practices:

1. Safety practices - Teachers provided an increased sense of safety to decrease trauma triggers and provided emotionally safe spaces.

2. Value practices - Teachers and staff held and expressed values of hope, teamwork, healthy family feeling, compassion and respect; more conversations that matter increased the quality of relationships that reinforced the values.

3. Conversation-relationship normative practices - The more "conversations that matter" that took place - the "What happened to you?" conversations - the more descriptions that occurred of behaviors of compassion and tolerance, the more behavioral norms were set and enforced.

4. Learning practices - Greater learning occurred due to fewer trauma triggers, generated by a greater sense of safety, due to different values and more 'conversations that mattered' between teachers and students, sustained by students' own reinforcement of different skills and new normative relations.

In Spring 2014, Longhi surveyed 111 students for their ACE scores AND resilience scores, and obtained attendance, grades and test scores from school records. The survey also asked students to reflect on their school and life experiences since coming to Lincoln High. (You can download the report from the Children's Resilience web site.)

The four types of students' experiences, related to the practices that teachers and staff put in place, included:

Learning to trust, confide, be liked and loved.

Learning to respect themselves and others.

Learning to be responsible for their actions.

Learning that others were proud of their academic achievements.

The three dimensions of resilience that increased included supportive relationships, problem solving and optimism.

The results? "Resilience trumped ACEs among students who had gained resilience at Lincoln High," says Longhi. "Resilience completely moderated" the negative impact of ACEs on students' grades and test scores.

Specifically:

72% percent of students with an initial low resilience level improved to average and/or high resilience levels.

Resilience made a difference even among higher ACE students: Higher resilience students had higher grades for all ACE groups.

Among low-resilience students, ACEs continued to affect their grades: Students with higher aces had lower grades.

Among high-resilience students, their ACEs did not impact grades: Grades were high, even for students with higher aces.

Although it measured a very small group (111 students) from only one school, this research is an important first step in measuring resilience and evaluating how resilience-building practices can help kids who have high ace scores perform better in school.

To give you an idea of what the differences were between a students who had little or no resilience, and those who had high resilience, here's a description from the report, in the teens' own words.

Teens with no or low resilience say:
Yes, I struggle with anger and depression

all the time - because I deal with it every day and it only gets worse

I punch walls - punch stuff

I get mad and want to fight people

I think and cry - cause I don't like talking with people

wWell, I don't cry, I hold my own... knowing nobody ever cares... really

I cry or bottle it up and freak out days later

I smoke weed

I cut myself

I take it out by yelling at my brother

I just like to have time alone. I'm more of a 'self-confine' person - I dislike to tell others about my problems because that would just get them involved

not be a bum

get a piece of paper that says I am better than the person without it

leave town

be homeless

die by age 20

The teens who have developed high resilience and are thriving say:

I used to not eat for 4 days at a time

I was too sad to do anything - felt worthless

I was always alone - no point in doing things

I was not doing good, but I had great friends to help me get through it all

I stopped smoking grew better relationship with my family- teachers realized that I was making a change...

The biggest change has been

my attitude - it has changed since I came to Lincoln - I look forward to every day

I have become a lot nicer - became close enough to a teacher... to talk about anything

I know that everyone has their struggles and all it takes is just to reach out to them and let them know it is okay

the only school that actually accepted me

being able to change my life with the support of staff - meeting people I wouldn't think I would have a good relationship with

when I was given support at Lincoln about what I can do - It helped me do more and work harder - to help me raise my GPA

when I got my grades - I achieved something I never thought I would until I came here

when I reached out for extra help in math which is something I probably would have been embarrassed about years ago

My school and future plans are

I want to graduate from Lincoln High School because I have come too far to quit

I also want to graduate because I can hold that as a memory that I was here as a part of Lincoln.

yes, graduate, so I can go to a 4 year college, learn more... make it into a career

I want to eventually get married and have children who will look up to me and be proud - give my children a good role model

But what about the 30 percent of the students for whom the changes at Lincoln made little or no difference?

"I don't think we can answer that from this work," says Teri Barila, director of the Children's Resilience Initiative. She offers an educated guess: "The impact trauma has on creating negative talk, negative scripts, negative outlook, is strong, and helping a student shift from that sense of failure is not easy."

In the meantime, more schools are implementing trauma-informed practices. With the support of CRI, trauma-informed practices are being introduced in Head Start and elementary schools in Walla Walla. Other schools that are implementing trauma-informed practices include Spokane and Seattle, WA; San Francisco and San Diego, CA; Blaine, MN; and New York City, NY. Jim Sporleder, who retired from his position as principal at Lincoln High School, has been working to help other high schools become trauma-informed.

What's useful to understand about Lincoln High School 's new approach is the context in which it made those changes - in particular, the large role the community played. The Children's Resilience Initiative and its many partners made a concerted effort to educate the community of Walla Walla about the new knowledge about human development, how punishment really doesn't help children learn, and how building resilience can give children hope and opportunity. They worked closely with the school to develop supports for students, including after-school classes and special services. The development of the Health Center, the clinic adjacent to the school, was the result of a community effort.

Barila and Longhi recently presented a strategy paper to Walla Walla school administrators. In it, they say:

Research shows that starting earlier, at younger ages, with trauma-informed practices in schools, with community-wide supports, leads to better results....Adding new programs focused on students may not be enough to break the intergenerational cycle of ACEs. Breakthrough impacts...can only come from collective impacts of changes in adult caregivers, including teachers and parents, and in the communities where students live."

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Resilience practices overcome students' ACEs in trauma-informed high school, say the data

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Three years ago, the story about how Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, WA, tried a new approach to school discipline and saw suspensions drop 85% struck a nerve. It went viral - twice -- with more than 700,000 page views. Paper Tigers, a documentary that filmmaker James Redford did about the school -- premiered last Thursday night...

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Summer 2020

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Resiliency

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The upside of crisis | Joseph Logan | TEDxBoulder

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Effects of Divorce on Children's Mental Health

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Effects of Divorce on Children's Mental Health

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The Effects of Divorce on Childrens Mental Health Through the Life Course First Hand

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Understanding Grief Within a Cultural Context

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Understanding Grief Within a Cultural Context

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Cancer.Net resource

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Many people experience grief and a sense of loss after the death of a loved one. But the ways in which they experience and express these feelings may differ across cultures. Culture is the mix of beliefs, values, behaviors, traditions, and rituals that members of a cultural group share. Each culture has its own rituals that influence the expression of grief. Carrying out these practices offers a sense of stability and security. Rituals can also help people who are dying and bring comfort to the loved ones who are preparing for their loss.

Culture and the meaning of death

Every culture has its own set of beliefs that describe how the world works and people's roles in the world. In societies in which most people share the same religion, religious beliefs significantly shape the culture. Each culture has its own beliefs about the meaning and purpose of life and what happens after death. This informs how people in those cultures approach death. For example, people may find death more bearable if they believe in a life after death. In some cultures, people believe that the spirit of someone who has died directly influences the living family members. The family members are comforted by the belief that their loved one is watching over them. In general, beliefs about the meaning of death help people make sense of it and cope with its mystery.

Cultural rituals regarding death

In each culture, death is associated with rituals and customs to help people with the grieving process. Rituals offer people ways to process and express their grief. They also provide ways for the community to support the bereaved. A person who is bereaved is in a period of grief and mourning after a loss. Death can create a sense of chaos and confusion. Rituals and customs provide a sense of routine and normalcy. They provide a set of directions that help structure the time surrounding death. Also, they direct people's roles during this time. Rituals and customs can help address:

How people care for people as they approach death. This includes who is present and what ceremonies are performed at the moments before and after death.

How a person's body is handled after death. This includes how the person's body is cleansed and dressed, who handles the body, and whether the body is buried or cremated.

Whether grief is expressed quietly and privately or loudly and publicly. This includes whether public crying or wailing is appropriate.

Whether people of different genders or ages grieve differently.

What rituals people perform after death and who is included in these rituals.

How long family members are expected to grieve. And how they dress and behave during the mourning period.

How the deceased are honored over the lifetime of the family. This includes ongoing rituals to celebrate or talk with the deceased.

What new roles family members are expected to take on. This includes whether a widow remarries or an oldest son becomes the family leader.

Personal differences in grief and mourning

People often adapt the beliefs and values of their culture to meet their unique needs and circumstances. As a result, grief responses within a culture vary from person to person. This is especially true in societies made up of people from many cultural backgrounds. A family with members from 2 or more cultural backgrounds may develop its own set of rituals and customs.

In some instances, a person's experience of grief may be at odds with cultural norms. For example, someone who is quiet and reserved may not feel comfortable crying in public as expected. Others may have a level of despair that feels out of step with cultural beliefs about life after death. Despite cultural norms, people need to grieve in ways that feel right to them.

Grief and cultural sensitivity

There is no correct way to grieve. Mourning rituals that are normal to one culture may seem strange to another. It may be difficult to know how to be sensitive to a grieving person from a different cultural background. Consider the following questions as you seek to support a person with a different cultural background:

What emotions and behaviors are normal grief responses within the person's own culture?

What are the bereaved family's beliefs surrounding death?

Who should attend mourning ceremonies, and how are attendees expected to dress and act?

Are gifts, flowers, or other offerings expected?

What special days or dates will be significant for the bereaved family?

What types of verbal or written condolence are expressed?

Consider talking with someone who shares that cultural background or searching for information on the Internet to learn more about the customs and mourning practices of a person from another culture.

Related Resources
Coping With Grief Coping With Change After a Loss

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Understanding Grief Within a Cultural Context

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Many people experience grief and a sense of loss after the death of a loved one. But the ways in which they experience and express these feelings may differ across cultures. Culture is the mix of beliefs, values, behaviors, traditions, and rituals that members of a cultural group share.

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Dougy Center Resource

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If you're faced with telling a child or teen that a family member or friend in a hospital or care facility is likely to die soon, you might be feeling confused and overwhelmed. It's never easy to share this news, and especially so when there might be factors that prevent you and your family from physically visiting the person who is dying.

In the midst of personal loss and life changes, grieving children, teens, and adults are needing to alter and disrupt their daily lives even more. Although physical distancing doesn't mean we can't still find ways to connect, it's hard to substitute technology for in-person hugs, tears, and nods of understanding. On top of this, the person we would have turned to for support in all of this might be the person who died.

While children and teens reside in the foster care system, away from their original families, most are faced with not knowing if or when they will return home. We have learned from years of research and through the L.Y.G.H.T. program, this uncertainty results in youth experiencing loss, grief, and ambiguity.

Fortunately, many children and teens in the foster care system are surrounded by a team of adults who are dedicated to ensuring their safety, health, and well-being. This important network of support may include adults such as: foster caregivers, children's home staff, case managers, original parents, siblings, grandparents and other extended family, attorneys, guardians ad litem, therapists, coaches, teachers, and neighbors. Each adult in this network serves a fundamental role in supporting and meeting the needs of children and teens in foster care.

However, the increased forced isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic means these children and teens are experiencing even more heartbreaking losses and disconnection. They are in even greater need of support and help from the adults in their lives.

If you know a child or teen who is grieving the death of a grandparent, auntie, tío, or other extended family member, you might be wondering, "What do I say? How can I help?"

Here are a few basic principles to keep in mind...

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Tip Sheets | Grief Resources | The Dougy Center

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If you're faced with telling a child or teen that a family member or friend in a hospital or care facility is likely to die soon, you might be feeling confused and overwhelmed. It's never easy to share this news, and especially so when there might be factors that prevent you and your family from physically visiting the person who is dying.

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GriefSpeaks Resource

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Understanding Cultural Issues in Death

Information for Schools and Crisis Response Teams

Schools and crisis response workers in many parts of the country will be helping children cope with the concept of death as a result of the war and concern about terrorism. Some children are suffering a personal loss. Others will have a heightened fear of death either because they are worried about further attacks or they have family members in the military, active reserves, or public safety roles. Some children may simply be more aware of death and trying to sort through their feelings and thoughts.

Most important in working with children in these circumstances is to understand and respect the views and wishes of their family, as well as to involve family members in the process. It is also important for school personnel and others to understand various cultural and religious perspectives on death so that interventions are appropriate to the cultural context of the children and families being served. Keep in mind that many of the people dealing with death are also dealing with trauma, and that culture impacts trauma reactions as well. Although not comprehensive, the following information provides describes some of the funeral/mourning practices present within our region.

Impact of Culture on Trauma

Cultural perspectives can shape people's reaction to a traumatic experience. Specifically, culture:

1. Influences what type of threat is perceived as traumatic

2. Influences how individuals and communities interpret the meaning of a traumatic event and how they express their reactions to the event

3. Forms a context through which traumatized individuals or communities view and judge their own response

4. May help define healthy pathways to new lives after trauma

Observances and Practices of Various Cultures

Common practices include:

Common practices include:

Some common patterns include:

Common patterns in the aftermath of death are:

1. High involvement of the priest in the funeral plans.

2. Family and friends are encouraged to be part of the commemoration

3. The rosary is said by surviving loved ones, often at the home of the deceased. Among some Hispanic groups the rosary is said each night for nine nights after the death. Some families say the rosary every month for a year after the death and then repeat it on each anniversary.

4. Funeral services often include a Mass. Loved ones are encouraged to express grief and many are involved in the procession to the grave.

5. Many Hispanic survivors commemorate the loss of their loved ones with promises or commitments. These promises are taken very seriously and those who fail to honor them are considered sinners.

6. Money gifts to help cover the expense of the funeral and burial are not unusual.

General tendencies include:

1. Friends and family gather at the home of the deceased or family member to support and share in the common grief. This practice usually occurs following the announcement of the death.

2. High dependence upon a funeral director and/or person of the clergy in preparations for mourning and burial.

3. A visitation and/or viewing at a funeral home is typically followed by a religious and/or graveside/crypt side service.

4. Funeral services tend to rather subdued.

5. Traditionally, dark clothing tends to be worn during ceremonial services; although this trend has shifted in recent years to a more color-based wardrobe focused on creating an atmosphere of celebration and hope.

6. Interment is followed by a gathering at the home of the deceased, or a family member where food and refreshment are provided.

Religious Observances of Death

The role of religion is important for most victims/survivors because their answers to religious questions form their view of life, death and meaning. Many people do not know their position on religion until disaster strikes, and then their religious faith and beliefs are formed. Some religions give individuals more power over life than others. Some religions give collections of individuals power over life. Some religions give spirits more power over life than the living. Some give free will. Some give fatalism. All have defined ways of dealing with death. Some religious differences include:

1. Since the Second Vatican Council, the terms "last rites" and "extreme unction" are no longer used by the Catholic Church.

2. The Sacraments of the Sick are prayers that are said as the person is dying, and involve confession and communion. If a person dies before the sacraments are given, the priest will anoint the deceased conditionally within three hours of the time of death.

3. There is often a wake and, if so, the priest will conduct the service or say the rosary.

4. There are distinct phases to "The Mass of Christian Burial."

1. Prayers at the funeral home

2. Welcoming the body to the church

3. Covering the casket with a white cloth

4. Sprinkling the casket with holy water

5. The Eucharist is celebrated

6. Prayers are said after the Mass

7. Casket is escorted to back of church

8. At the cemetery, the grave is blessed.

5. Consecration is a reaffirmation that the person will rise again. Prayers address not only the dead but the survivors - their faith in eternal life is encouraged.

6. The one-month anniversary of the death is often celebrated by a Mass, as are those of other anniversaries.

There are a wide range of Protestant observances, including:

Traditions differ in every country and the Turkish interpretation of Islam is in some ways different than those in other Arabic countries. These comments are basically relevant for Turkish culture:

1. Death is considered an act of God is not questioned. Faithful followers believe that all the events in the life-course of an individual, including the time and type of death, are pre-written by God.

2. People in grief are encouraged to show their feelings openly. They are encouraged to cry loudly as it is believed that crying cleans the soul. Any expression of rebellion against God's decision to take a person away from her/his dear ones is considered a sin.

3. Friends visit the house of the deceased and talk with the family members, encouraging them to describe how the death occurred, what they were doing at the time of death, etc.

4. For seven days, the family members are never left alone. Friends and neighbors bring food, as no cooking is supposed to be done in a funeral home during those seven days.

5. Traditionally, no television, radio or any musical devices would be allowed for 40 days but this practice has waned in recent years.

6. There is a religious prayer at the 40th and another at the 52nd day after the death.

7. Muslims are very sensitive to where their beloved ones are buried. They definitely want them buried in a cemetery for Muslims. They also want the funeral prayers to be led by a Muslim, not by a rabbi or a Christian priest.

8. A special ceremony and prayers accompany the funeral. The body is buried without the coffin and wrapped in white clothes, as it is believed that the body should touch the earth.

9. The body must be washed/bathed with certain rituals before the funeral ceremony begins. This usually takes place at either a special section of the mosque or in the morgue of the hospital. It is very upsetting when a body is buried without being washed.

10. When meeting with someone who has lost a relative, conversations start by saying: "May you be alive and May God's blessings be on him/her - the deceased."

March 2003. Adapted from material posted on the NASP website following the September 2001 terrorist attacks.
In light of the recent tragedy in Haiti, I thought I would begin with Haitian/Americans.

Practices of the Haitian-American Culture:

Although there is diversity in religious practices among the Haitian/Haitian-American population, they tend to share the following common patterns in the aftermath of death:
Close family members and relatives make arrangements for the funeral and church services.
A gathering of family members and close friends at the home of the deceased to pray and to offer support.
A wake is held at the home of the deceased every night from the time of the death to the time of the burial. At the wake, they chat, eat, drink, and share jokes.
A viewing is followed by the funeral service and burial. Close family members mourn by dressing in black or white. The wearing of bright colors such as red is not considered an expression of mourning. It is preferable to wear dark colors such as blue, purple, and brown to attend a funeral.
Many Haitians express grief with the physical manifestation of great emotion. After the burial, family members and friends usually gather at the home of the deceased for a reception, where flaky pastries, black coffee, tea, and other foods are served.

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Information for Schools and Crisis Response Teams Schools and crisis response workers in many parts of the country will be helping children cope with the concept of death as a result of the war and concern about terrorism. Some children are suffering a personal loss.

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the Kim Foundation Resource

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Know the Signs

Learning the warning signs of suicide could save someone's life. While an individual may not be experiencing all of these warning signs, most will experience more than one and for an extended period of time. Some are obvious while some are more subtle, so it's important to know what to look for and what to do next if you do notice these behaviors in someone you care about. With each of these warning signs, watch for a change from the individual's typical behavior. Scroll over the warning signs below to learn more.

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Suicide Warning Signs - The Kim Foundation

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Learning the warning signs of suicide could save someone's life. While an individual may not be experiencing all of these warning signs, most will experience more than one and for an extended period of time.

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Dougy Center Resource

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Website with an endless amount of resources for grief.

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At Mourning Hope, children, teens, young adults and families have the opportunity to participate in
grief support groups with peers their own age who have experienced similar loss.
Participants and clients are taught healthy coping skills for dealing with the death of a significant person.
They are given the freedom to grieve in their own way and at their own pace.
Ultimately, they learn that hope and healing are possible, and that no one ever has to grieve alone.

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Mourning Hope | Grief Support for Children, Teens, Young Adults | Lincoln

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At Mourning Hope, children, teens, young adults and families have the opportunity to participate in grief support groups with peers their own age who have experienced similar loss. Participants and clients are taught healthy coping skills for dealing with the death of a significant person.