Chelsea Heights Trauma Tips
February 2016
Jim Sporleder, Paper Tigers
A Sense of Safety
This is an adaptive response; our brains were designed to do this to keep us safe. However, the student’s primitive response often looks like manipulation, defiance, and aggression and our tendency then is to respond with external controls (focusing on behavior.) This may keep students safe, but it doesn’t build capacity in our students. Our mantra should be, “mentor, not monitor.” We need to focus more on building capacity than on reducing pathology.
Common triggers for students at school
- Time out (particularly for those who have experienced physical or emotional neglect
- Separations (arrival and dismissal)
- Not being in charge
- Feeling incapable
- Reminders of loss
- Understand a student’s triggers
- Communicate with others when a trigger is identified
- Reduce risk by reducing exposure to unnecessary trauma reminders
- Enhance students' capacity/ability to cope and regulate
Self-Care Corner
Resilient students need resilient teachers. Good content teaching requires modeling of skills, and attitudes. If teachers themselves are barely coping, if teachers cannot bounce back from the challenges they face, how are they to sustain the strength needed to promote resiliency among their students? (Wolpow and Askov, 2008)
Watch your mailboxes next week for a tip on managing your stress and building resilience...