San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE) staff who work with foster youth, students in the court and community schools, and students receiving special education services, are in the process of adopting trauma-informed care, an approach to creating a collaborative, emotionally and physically safe learning environment for students.

 

Research has shown that youth who experience trauma may sustain long-term or even permanent effects on brain development.  Youth who live in chronically dysfunctional environments may be easily distracted from learning, quick to anger, and prone to engage in negative or antisocial behaviors.

 

But thanks to trauma-informed care, there are clearly defined strategies educators can

A scene from the film, "Paper Tigers" highlights the importance of relationships with caring adults for students who have suffered from trauma.

employ to better engage these students.

"We need to look at how we do our business and how we communicate with these students," notes Jeneė Littrell, SMCOE Director of Safe and Supportive Schools, who is leading the charge on trauma-informed care. "Students often don't mean to be disruptive. We as teachers need to understand their behavior, be culturally responsive, not take it personally and educate ourselves about what we are seeing so we can help our students feel safe."

 

The adoption of this approach began with a SMCOE Student Services leadership retreat in March, where school leaders examined their values and began to build their capacity with this approach.  "We have to start with ourselves and build understanding among our staff before we can impact students," notes Nancy Magee, Associate Superintendent, Student Services Division at SMCOE. "Trauma is the huge elephant in the room. When a youth is incarcerated or something bad happens, everyone's emotional strength is compromised."

 

On April 13, 2016, SMCOE educators and community members gathered at the Sobrato Center in Redwood City to watch "Paper Tigers," a documentary film about a school system in Walla Walla, Wash., that found itself struggling  with contradictory and ineffective discipline and a high rate of suspensions and expulsions.  By adopting a trauma-informed approach, the school transformed into a system that provided alternatives to punitive consequences and as a result succeeded in more fully engaging students.

 

On the morning after the screening, Student Services administrators and site principals gathered again to debrief and discuss next steps in an effort to bring greater awareness of the impact of trauma on learning. "What became clear from viewing this film was the importance for youth of having a relationship with a caring adult, setting high expectations and allowing for meaningful participation," notes Magee.   She added that the film was engaging and provoked discussion, but did not lay out specific steps for transforming a school through implementing trauma-informed care. That will be up to SMCOE staff to work on together in the months to come.