How adults can help youth engage in helpful and appropriate social media use

How adults can help youth engage in helpful and appropriate social media use

Social media is not inherently helpful to young people. The impact of social media and what youth see and do online depends on several variables. An adolescent’s personality, psychological characteristics, social circumstances, context in which they have grown up, strengths, and vulnerabilities are all characteristics that determine social media’s effect on youth. Adolescent development is…

Cultivating Belonging: Alternatives to Suspensions for Nurturing School Communities

Cultivating Belonging: Alternatives to Suspensions for Nurturing School Communities

One of the most common misconceptions about schools becoming trauma-informed and resilience-focused is that the approach allows space for excused behaviors and creates opportunities for students to escape the consequences of their choices. However, this could not be further from the reality of the philosophy and fundamental pillars of creating a trauma-responsive disciplinary system. Conventional…

The Vaping Epidemic

The Vaping Epidemic

Vaping is a public health concern of epidemic size identified by several health agencies, including the United States Department of Health and Human Services, The Public Health Administration of Canada, the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 2.1 million youth currently use…

Building Resilient School Communities: Making PBIS Trauma-Informed and Resilience-Focused

Building Resilient School Communities: Making PBIS Trauma-Informed and Resilience-Focused

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) has been widely adopted in schools as a framework for promoting positive behavior and preventing disciplinary issues. However, as our understanding of trauma and its impacts on learning and behavior evolves, it becomes increasingly clear that as we implement PBIS in our schools, we must also adapt some the…

Supporting Staff Towards a Resilience Focused Mindset Shift

Supporting Staff Towards a Resilience Focused Mindset Shift

Mindset is the most critical step for making lasting changes within a school or organization aspiring to be trauma-informed and resilience-focused. We know that when trauma-informed, resilience-focused adults work within trauma-informed and resilience-focused systems, the well-being of all children increases. However, like with any change, people will experience various reactions to a shift in mindset….

|

How to Create a Trauma-Informed Resilient School | Foster Connections

Foster Connections Students who feel connected to their school are also more likely to have better academic achievement, better school attendance, and stay in school longer.   How can you connect to your students? One of the best ways to connect with your students is having classroom meetings. These meetings not only allows you to…

Self-Care & Creativity in the Trauma-Informed Workplace

Self-Care & Creativity in the Trauma-Informed Workplace

Self-care in relationship to trauma work is an essential practice for professionals in this helping field. Without attention and connection to our own self-care, the demanding toll of aiding and supporting others in pain and distress can often leave us vulnerable to compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma and burnout. In relationship to this necessity for provider…

| |

Why Schools Need to Be Trauma Informed

Do educators and schools have an informed role to play in the lives of students struggling with unprocessed traumatic memories other than providing cognitive learning experiences? Although schools are not mental health facilities and teachers are not therapists, teaching today’s students requires alternative strategies and skills compared to what worked a generation ago. Download article…