Trauma Informed Schools
I posted earlier in the course about an elementary school in Nashville, TN called Fall-Hamilton Elementary School that uses trauma informed practices in its school. The treatment and Services Adaptation Center defines a trauma informed school as one that “adults in the community are prepared to recognize and respond to those who have been impacted by traumatic stress.” The goal of these schools is to provide tools and techniques to cope with stress and to also create a culture of respect and support. By providing individuals with ways to deal with stressful situations and by instilling an environment where mental health is not perceived as a weakness, these schools are removing the stigma of mental health and instead normalizing it. Trauma informed schools are teaching kids from a young age that everyone experiences stress and that it is good for you to seek help which, on a large scale, is laying the ground work for a positive shift in how our society views mental health.
Trauma informed practices are gaining popularity as Fall-Hamilton Elementary School and others show how these practices improve the students, faculty, and overall school. A study by Vanessa Sacks and David Murphey on adverse childhood experiences found that 45% of children in the United States have experienced at least one ACE and that 10% have experienced three or more ACEs. The rate in Nashville is higher than the national average coming in at 60% of children experiencing at least one adverse childhood experience.
Fall-Hamilton has implemented trauma informed practices that not only benefit the students but also benefit the faculty and staff. One of the first steps the school took was that they hired a full-time trauma-informed practitioner who works with the students and faculty to bring awareness to adverse childhood experiences and what steps to take to help deal with these stressful events. The school has also implemented leadership classes where they teach leadership to children starting in kindergarten and allow students to become leaders in the school by teaching others in various activities and clubs.
Fall-Hamilton has also taken sensory information into account in their trauma informed practices. Many of the classrooms have dimmer lights with calming colors and utilize essential oil diffusers to create a more calming, relaxing, and safer environment. Classrooms also have what they call “peace corners” which is a place where students can go when they feel emotionally overwhelmed. In these peace corners students are able to utilize self care by gathering their thoughts and composing themselves so they are able to return back to class in a better state of mind that allows them to learn with minimal distractions.
The school also encourages self care for their faculty and staff. They utilize a strategy that they call tap in / tap out where at any time a teacher or staff member can reach out to any other faculty member and get someone to cover their class for them or to simply give them a couple of minutes to step out and recharge. This strategy to me has the most impact on the children because if they faculty and staff are not taken care of then how are they expected to take care of these children.
Fall-Hamilton elementary school has seen many positive outcomes of the trauma informed practices by reducing referrals by 76% and outperforming peer school on English language arts testing. The students have responded well to the new practices as 98% of students report that they feel an adult at school cares about them.
The approaches of Fall-Hamilton are proving that trauma informed practices that are implemented correctly have a dramatic positive impact on children. This school understands that all of these children’s issues and problems are not left behind once they walk in the front door. Often children this young know they are experiencing trauma but do not have the ability to properly deal with their trauma, and overtime their untreated trauma can compound and cause a significant amount of long-term damage. Trauma informed schools are not only helping children deal with their current adverse experiences but are also teaching students various techniques that will help them cope with adverse experiences that they may deal with in the future.
I have added the full video of Fall-Hamilton Elementary School below.
References:
https://traumaawareschools.org/traumaInSchools
The prevalence of adverse childhood experiences, nationally, by state, and by race or ethnicity