Action Planning for Becoming a Trauma-Informed School

Audience

Principal and Trauma-Informed Practices Team

Overview

Research over the past several years clearly shows how trauma and adverse events can have a profound impact on an individual’s development, affecting areas of the brain that regulate impulse control, executive and cognitive functioning, and emotional and fear responses. By integrating trauma-informed practices into the school and classroom environment, schools can be proactive in helping students recover and lessen the impact of trauma on school performance.

During this session, a Kickboard coach will guide the team to collaboratively create a vision for what it means to be a trauma-informed school. The team will then develop explicit goals and an aligned strategic action plan to guide their work within a multi-tiered system of support. This full day of planning considers where each school is on the journey and helps guide them forward.

Challenges Addressed

• School leaders and staff know that many of their students have experienced trauma, but they don’t know what to do to help these students.
• The approach to handling students with behavioral problems is more often punitive in nature.
• Students who are experiencing school performance issues are not screened for trauma exposure.
• Teachers are having difficulty building trusting relationships with students.
• Students do not feel that school is a safe place for them.
• Teachers and staff are not aware of how their biases are impacting their relationships with students.

Program Outcomes

• Shared vision for becoming a trauma-informed school.
• A strategic action plan which:
  • Serves as the school’s road map to becoming trauma informed
  • Has agreed upon SMART goals and outlines activities which will lead to achievement of these goals
  • Has a plan for monitoring progress towards goals
  • Provides clarity to school staff on what will be expected of them
  • Identifies existing and new resources needed to achieve goals

Format

Two 1-Hour Planning Meetings (Virtual) +
Full-Day (6 hrs) in-person collaborative session