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