Developing Compassionate Schools: Helping Student Effected By Trauma Achieve Academic Success Bonnie Ducharme – Coordinator, Student Services Wendy Bleecker - Director, Student Services

What is Trauma?  A 10 year old student who habitually falls asleep in class. This child is frequently awakened in the night by the sounds of his mother groaning and pleading as his father strikes her repeatedly.

What is Trauma  A 16 year old student who doesn’t complete required homework. At home, are two parents; one that drinks too much, the other undergoing chemotherapy for terminal cancer.

What is Trauma?  A 12 year old student whose frustration explodes into angry displays of emotion. The fear: he and his younger siblings may be “taken away” from home because of violent behavior. Where will they sleep tonight? Will they be safe?

Activity  Please take a moment and think to yourself about a child that comes to the office that you know or suspect is suffering the effects of trauma.  Without sharing names, turn to your neighbor and discuss the symptoms that you see.  Share out.

Definitions  Trauma is an umbrella term used to describe the inability of an individual to respond in a healthy way (physically, emotionally and/or mentally) to acute or chronic stress.

Definitions  A compassionate school is not a program or specific curriculum, it is a process that is individualized to support student success.

Definitions  Compassion may be defined as a feeling of deep empathy and respect for another who is stricken by misfortune and the strong desire to actively do something about it.

Definitions  A compassionate school is the desire to affirm and support the capacity of a school to respond to the needs of students and families struggling with trauma. This movement has led to an approach that is called “Compassionate Schools”.

Symptoms of Complex Trauma  Hyper-arousal: This may be characterized by a persistent expectation of danger which may or may not be present.  Intrusion: This characteristic is manifested in trauma survivors as a reenactment of the trauma scene either unconsciously or in a disguised form.  Constriction: This category results in an emotional state similar to that of an animal transfixed in the glare of on- coming headlights.

How Trauma Effects Learning?  Acquisition of academics  Processing of verbal/non-verbal and written academic information.  Use of language to relate to others.  Ability to bring linear order to the chaos of daily experience.  Inability to solve a problem from a different point of view, infer ideas from text, exhibit empathy or participate in group work.

How Trauma Effects Learning?  Disruption in exhibiting executive functions: goal setting, developing a plan, anticipating consequences, carrying out goals, and reflecting on the process.  Difficulty with classroom transitions.  Trauma related behaviors are often misinterpreted as other mental health issues such as ADHD, Mood Disorders and Depression.

What Can You Do To Help?  Don’t take the student’s behavior personally.  Avoid power struggles –Offer choices –Offer “calm zones” –Offer planned transitions  Follow the six principals

Six Principles  Principal One: Always empower, never disempower –Empowerment fosters resiliency. –Controlling their environment appears to be a way to achieve safety. –Discipline/Language/Tone must never resemble the behaviors of those who perpetrated the child. –Discipline/Language/Tone should be consistent, respectful and non-threatening.

Six Principles  Principal Two: Provide unconditional positive regard –Helps the student feel worthy, take initiative and form relationships. –Reflective responses allows the child to know they have been heard.

Six Principles  Principal Three: Maintain high expectations –Lower expectations sends a negative message such as, “you are too damaged to behave or learn”. –Allows students to learn to differentiate between the arbitrary rules which led to their abuse and purposeful ones that assure their safety.

Six Principles  Principal Four: Check assumptions, observe and question –Identify our own assumptions/learn to make observations and ask questions based on those observations. –Listening to the student’s responses shows respect and unconditional positive regard. –When we make assumptions regarding who is likely to be traumatized based on a stereotype of a group, this may stop us from seeing who actually has been effected from trauma.

Six Principles  Principal Five: Be a relationship coach –Compassionate staff are relationship coaches.

Six Principles  Principal Six: Provide guided opportunities for helpful participation. –When a student learns to make meaningful contributions to the welfare of others, they improve their own feelings of self worth. –Helping others strengthens resiliency and develops a sense of belonging.

Three Domains  Domain One: Safety, connection and assurance of well-being. –Students need:  Opportunities to feel safe and assured.  Identify triggers that set off Freeze – Fight - Flight – Fright responses that distract them from learning  To remove triggers or respond to those triggers differently  To improve their abilities to attune themselves to the cues of others

Three Domains  Domain Two: Improving emotional and behavioral self-regulation –Students need:  Affect modulation in order to express emotions appropriately.

Three Domains  Domain Three: Competencies of personal agency, social skills, and academic skills –Students need:   To believe they have the ability to influence others and accomplish goals by developing assertiveness skills.   To know how to work collaboratively with others, get the attention of an adult in an appropriate manner, or argue constructively with a peer.   To develop the cognitive skills needed for school success.   Behave in goal directed ways and have the ability to set goals, anticipate consequences, make decisions, evaluate outcomes and generate alternatives.

How We Teach Compassionate Teaching and Discipline Principles What We Teach Compassionate Curriculum Strategies 1 Always empower. Never disempower. 2 Provide unconditional positive regard. 3 Maintain high expectations. 4 Check assumptions. Observe. Question. 5 Be a relationship coach. 6 Provide guided opportunities for helpful participation. DomainOne Safety, Connection, and Assurance of Well-Being DomainTwo Emotional and Behavioral Self- Regulation DomainThree Competencies of Personal Agency, Social Skills and Academics

Cost of Caring  Empathy –The intellectual identification with or the vicarious experience of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of others.  Compassion Satisfaction –The positive feeling one gets when we realize the compassion we offer others results in relief, growth or healing.  Compassion Fatigue –When trauma repeatedly overwhelms our ability to function normally, we may develop a negative self concept, negative job attitudes, and loss of concern and feeling for our students, their parents, and our colleagues.

Boundaries  Utilize appropriate resources in your building. –Counselor, therapist, principal, etc.  Be empathetic and compassionate, but understand the limits of your role.  Respect confidentiality and “need to know”

Activity Think about the student that you suspected was experiencing trauma that you discussed at the beginning of this session. Based on your new learning, will you interact with this student differently this year? Discuss with your elbow partner.

Questions