Whole Child Supports
Trauma & Resiliency
Trauma Informed and Resilient Schools
The Why?
Unaddressed stress and trauma impact the brain’s ability to learn and retain knowledge.
Schools and families need access to trauma-informed and resiliency-minded resources, skills, and support based on neuroscience and resiliency research to heal and calm our brains and bodies.
Starr Commonwealth's Easy-to-Use Emotion Regulation and Resilience Building Activity Manuals:
TREC History and Impact:
TREC+ (Trauma and Resiliency Education Collaboration) was comprised of a group of experts in the field of education, trauma, resiliency, health, and counseling. This team, under the direction of Kay Port, former SCESC iCARE Director, spent three years researching evidenced-based trauma and resiliency models and developed an integrated approach which was approved by the school superintendents for implementation. During the 2017-18 school year, the TREC team implemented their model that includes four key components in schools with the goal of each building becoming trauma-informed and resiliency-minded. These components included: Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), CARE Team, Trauma-Informed & Resilient Schools. For more information, click here or on the report to the left. This report was developed by Dr. Liza Grossman, former Director of Research and Evaluation at Stark Education Partnership.
Here's What Our Educators Are Saying
Impact of Starr Commonwealth Courses on Stark County Educators
"Best PD I have ever engaged in.”
+ “I now have strategies to apply in my classroom and a new paradigm to approach my vulnerable students.”
+ “I now have an understanding of how to advocate to move my schools to a more resilient approach.”
+ “The courses include a background on trauma, and an explanation of resilience as an antidote to trauma.”
+ “I was able to relay what I learned about the brain to a mom whose family experienced significant trauma. She now has the awareness of WHY she could not help her son when they BOTH were triggered by their past trauma. She asked if she could also take the Starr course to learn more about trauma and the brain since talking with me about it was such a breakthrough for herself and her son.”
+ “The courses are the first in my 22 years of teaching to address the root causes of behaviors. Understanding that trauma is at the root of the emotional and behavioral issues my students may be experiencing allows me to better implement strategies to help students learn.”
Interested in Learning More on This Topic?
ODE Guidance on Trauma Informed Schools
FREE Trauma-Informed Educator Training Series: An Interactive Digital Curriculum for K-12 Educators developed by Mayerson Center for Safe and Healthy Children at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and McKinsey Health Institute. It is a free digital curriculum to support K-12 educators on how to be trauma-informed when interacting with students and families and caregivers. The training consists of four 60-minute sessions, covering topics including: reframing your mindset when faced with challenges; addressing traumatic events in the community; being a trauma-informed mandated reporter; and addressing trauma with students, families and caregivers. Click HERE to learn more about the training series and to register. It can also be accessed at: strongresilientyouth.org/for-educators
TREC Recommended Reading Material:
Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators | The National Child Traumatic Stress Network
Helping Traumatized Children Learn
Trauma-Informed Classrooms | NCJFCJ
The Heart of Learning: Compassion, Resiliency, and Academic Success
Trauma ScreenTIME Schools Course is a free online training course on how to screen children for trauma in school settings. This training was developed by the Child Health and Development Institute in collaboration with families and national experts based on current research and best practices. The course is appropriate for child-serving staff and administrators in various roles within a school, with a particular focus on those who are not clinically trained.
Topics covered in the course include:
The importance of screening for trauma and traumatic stress
Common questions about trauma screening
Developing a screening process for your school
Selecting a screening measure
Best practices when conducting screening with a child and family
Using the results of screening to help children and families
Continuing education credits are available for completing the whole course.
To take the course visit: https://www.traumascreentime.org/
If you have any questions about the course you can contact Brittany Lange at lange@uchc.edu