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It's Official!! We're hosting the 1st NATIONAL Trauma-Sensitive Schools Conference! Join us! There will be workshops for teachers, social workers, therapists and parents...

Radio Atlantic recently examined a question that underpins many, if not most, debates about education in the U.S.: What are public schools for? Increasingly, it seems, American parents expect schools to first and foremost serve as pipelines into the workforce—places where kids develop the skills they need to get into a good college, land a good job, and ultimately have a leg up in society. For those parents, consistently low test scores are evidence that the country’s education system is...

"Social-emotional learning programs teach the skills that children need to succeed and thrive in life," said Eva Oberle, an assistant professor at UBC's Human Early Learning Partnership in the school of population and public health. "We know these programs have an immediate positive effect so this study wanted to assess whether the skills stuck with students over time, making social-emotional learning programs a worthwhile investment of time and financial resources in schools."...

Lately, there's been a surfeit of scary news: Charlottesville, Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, and now Las Vegas. At NPR Ed we've covered many of the ways that teachers can be helpers, whether the disaster of the day is affecting your students directly or not: trauma-informed education, mindfulness, and yoga to name a few. While the young brain is impressionable to trauma, it can also be resilient , says Pamela Cantor, the founder of a nonprofit called Turnaround for Children. Trauma-informed...

Research shows that mindfulness can alleviate stress felt by students and teachers. This guide by Caren Osten Gerszberg can help you better understand ways to bring mindfulness to the classroom.

After any disaster, parents and other adults struggle with what they should say and share with children and what not to say or share with them. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) encourages parents, teachers, child care providers, and others who work closely with children to filter information about the crisis and present it in a way that their child can accommodate, adjust to, and cope with. No matter what age or developmental stage the child is, parents can start by asking a child...

With the deadly shooting in Las Vegas on October 1, we know you may be struggling with what to say to your students. These resources can help you support them—and yourself. [For more on this story, go to https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/summer-2013/when-bad-things-happen ]

A new Guide by mindful.org: What can you d to bring mindfulness into your child’s school? What are the best strategies, practices, and resources to implement a mindfulness program? Implementing a school-wide mindfulness program can take several years, so create a well-thought-out plan that includes presenting programming to parents and faculty. Be patient— making changes in schools can be a lengthy process. [To check out this guide, go to...

The Escondido Union School District (EUSD) values its staff, students and families. The district welcomed their 1,800 employees to the 2017-2018 school year through events coordinated to connect staff to each other, develop a trauma informed school system and encourage staff wellness and self-care during events held on the first staff work days of the school year. On Thursday August 10 th , all EUSD employees attended an inspirational presentation by Dr. Dawn Griffin, Associate Professor and...

Public School 48, where I’m on staff as a social worker, sits on a block between a juvenile detention center and a strip club. The school serves around 900 mostly Hispanic and African American children in prekindergarten through fifth grade, with a large percentage of those kids living in shelter apartments. Of course, PS 48 has an educational mission, not a clinical one, but I’m part of a service staff that includes speech, occupational, and physical therapists. I’ve been a school social...

Childhood trauma comes in many forms. Whether it’s the shock of a friend’s sudden death or violence in school, we’ve heard far too many stories about students having to recover from traumatic events. But trauma can also rear its head in more subtle ways. It’s easy to write off a misbehaving student as “troubled.” But often, this behavior is a direct result of continued trauma at home. Abuse, neglect, struggles with poverty are all part of a particular type of trauma called Adverse Childhood...

When talking about trauma sensitive school trainings, school administrators will sometimes say, “I don’t want my teachers to be therapists, I need them to be teachers.” As trauma sensitive school (TSS) trainers, we couldn’t agree more. That’s why TSS training doesn’t teach treatment skills; it gives you as educators the tools to recognize trauma in a student, understand it, and help the student adapt accordingly.