Trauma-Informed Pedagogy

By: Erin Howe
December 12, 2020

Overview

Trauma-informed pedagogy is becoming increasingly more common as a result of multiple factors, including the national focus on racial inequality, gun violence, mental health, and the COVID-19 pandemic. With the COVID-19 pandemic specifically, a dramatic shift occurred for instructors when it was imperative that they adapt their curriculum and standards to account for students’ (and their own) traumatic experiences of a global pandemic. Despite the current shift toward understanding trauma and its effects on students, trauma-affected students are not a new phenomenon. Students are, and will always be bringing their trauma into the classroom, and it is the responsibility of educators to understand and adapt their pedagogy to meet students where they are. 

The content located in this guide is intended to educate instructors on trauma-informed pedagogy and the practices they can incorporate into their classrooms. This resource is divided into (4) sections:

• What is trauma?
• How does trauma affect students?
• What is trauma-informed pedagogy?
• What strategies can instructors rely on to practice trauma-informed teaching and learning?

Implementation

This resource focuses on providing instructors with an understanding of trauma, extensive overview of the history of trauma-informed pedagogy, and strategies for educators to implement trauma-informed teaching into their everyday practice. The strategies offered in this resource are best implemented during the planning phases of the course and individual lessons. Creating trauma-informed classrooms is accomplished through intentional and consistent effort on the part of the instructor.

Challenges

1. While we nor our students can avoid traumatic experiences, the goal is to work toward a more informed educational practice. For many educators, this is a life-long process that starts with learning about trauma, how it affects students, and creating a space for students that fosters community and support. This is a radical approach to education that is not common practice, so its application may be difficult. 
2. To create a truly trauma-informed institution, institutional changes must be broader than individual practice. Still, individual educators can take an important trauma-informed approach to their classrooms and teaching.

What is Trauma?

When most people think about “trauma” and what it means to be “traumatized” they think of experiences like war, natural disasters, or assault, but thinking of trauma in this framework can be limiting. While the definition of trauma has been debated for decades, several experts within the trauma studies community have created several fitting definitions for trauma that will be covered here. Simply put, “Trauma is something that happens to you that makes you so upset, it overwhelms you.” (“What is trauma?”, 2:58). This definition, by psychiatrist and neuroscientist Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score, aims to address how the experience of trauma is relative. Much of Dr. van der Kolk’s early work involved working with Vietnam veterans, and in it, he and his colleagues applied a narrow definition to the concept of trauma which stated “the essential feature is the development of characteristic symptoms following a psychologically traumatic event that is generally outside of the range of usual human experience.” Dr. van der Kolk adjusted this definition over the years as a result of his experience working with a wide variety of patients in his clinical practice. In the clinical setting, van der Kolk realized “this wasn’t an unusual experience at all.”(“What is trauma?”, 2:02)

For a broader definition, we turn to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: “Individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.” (SAMSHA, 2014). The importance of this definition is the framing of trauma. It is not the “physically or emotionally harmful” event in and of itself, but the effect that event has on an individual. This is especially important to note because, as Dr. Janice Carello, Assistant Professor and MSW Program Director for the Social Work department at Edinboro University and author of the Trauma-Informed Teaching and Learning blog states in her presentation Trauma-Informed Teaching & Learning in Times of Crisis, “what may be traumatizing to me may not be traumatizing to you and vice versa.” (“Trauma-Informed Teaching and Learning in Times of Crisis”, 20:01). While many of us face situations that we would not perceive as being traumatic, trauma affected individuals hold onto their memories of the traumatic event long after the event happens. As a result, instances that may seem innocuous to one may result in a trauma response in another.  For more on the three types of trauma see Carello’s Trauma-informed teaching and learning in times of crisis slide 9.

Rates of Trauma exposure

Exposure to traumatic events are more common than we may think. An estimated 66%-94% of university aged students experience at least one traumatic event in their lifetime by the time they reach university; most of these events are the unexpected death of a loved one, or a life-threatening illness (Bernat et al., 1998; Frazier et al., 2009; Read et al., 2011; Smyth et al., 2008).

Additionally, an estimated 70% of adults in the US have experienced at least one traumatic experience in their life (Sidran Institute, 2016). Unfortunately, trauma is a common experience amongst college aged students and adults but raising one’s awareness of the reality of trauma exposure can contribute to a better understanding of the pervasiveness of trauma experiences in our classrooms.

The Effects of Trauma on the Brain and Body

Research on trauma has consistently found a link to the physical and mental toll that trauma takes on the body. Bessel van der Kolk talks extensively about this phenomena in his book The Body Keeps the Score. “After trauma, the world is experienced with a different nervous system. The survivor’s energy now becomes focused on suppressing inner chaos, at the expense of spontaneous involvement in their life.” (van der Kolk, 53). 

Traumatic stress activates the sympathetic nervous system, triggering “survival mode” a.k.a the fight/flight/freeze response. The regions in the brain affected are known as the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis; when activated this axis is responsible for releasing neurotransmitters that affect mood, memory, motor control, and even hunger (Sherin and Nemeroff, 2011). Studies have shown that memory, specifically verbal declarative memory, is negatively affected in individuals with a history of trauma.  (Golier and Yehuda, 1998, Brewin, 2001, Elzinga and Bremner, 2002). These effects lead traumatized individuals to experience the world with a heightened state of mind, being physically and mentally primed for traumatic stress to occur. 

The challenge then as educators is to understand how our classroom environments may inadvertently activate this stress response and avoid triggering that response in our students by creating a safe environment. The following sections outline what it means to be trauma-informed and strategies we can incorporate to create a trauma-informed classroom.

What is Trauma-Informed Pedagogy

In her thesis “Toward a Trauma-Informed Pedagogy”, Lorelei Blackburn suggests viewing trauma and trauma-informed pedagogy through the lens of disability studies. This framing is grounded in the work of disability researcher Jay Dolmage, who writes that disability studies is “grounded in disability rights and foreground[s] the experiences and perspectives of people with disabilities” (Dolmage, 5); taking this concept further he asserts that disability studies makes disability a “political and cultural identity, not simply a medical condition” (Dolmage, 5). As such, this distinguishes both a medical model and social model of disability with disability studies utilizing the social model. To better understand these models, we can use Blackburn’s analogy of a wheelchair user: “When a wheelchair user is confronted with stairs, the medical model locates disability in the user’s body and inability to climb, whereas the social model locates disability in the stairs and the built environment lacking a ramp” (Blackburn, 31). 

As mentioned earlier, trauma is experienced by individuals of all backgrounds, at any point in life, and can lead to devastating effects mentally and physically for the trauma-affected individual. With the social model of disability in mind, trauma becomes an issue of accessibility and inclusion. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools across the world needed to urgently adjust their modes of education delivery and keep the classroom accessible, they began implementing elements of trauma-informed pedagogy. “Emergency-response, in many cases, involved restructuring expectations and instructional modalities to mitigate the emotional, psychological, social, and financial burdens imposed and/or underscored by the pandemic and created opportunities for students experiencing crisis to endure without necessarily delaying or suspending their academic progress. In theory, access and flexibility would not essentially force students to choose between surviving the pandemic and their academic progress and futures.” (Turner,  2021, pg. 15) 

In practice, this looked like converting grading systems from a letter grade to pass/no pass, extending assignment deadlines, and offering multiple modes of instruction in the form of asynchronous or synchronous lectures. 

The changes made to the classroom environment due to COVID-19 showed that even with adaptations and a deviation from the standard classroom structure and pedagogical practices, students and teachers could still thrive. However, the question remains: How do we continue to put trauma-informed pedagogy in the forefront of our classroom experience? Even without the COVID-19 pandemic we need to incorporate a trauma-informed pedagogical approach to the classroom because in doing so, we create a more equitable and inclusive learning experience. Trauma and crisis are always a possibility for students and teachers.

Practical Ways to Implement a Trauma-Informed Pedagogical Approach

Research in the field of trauma studies shows that one of the most effective strategies to create a trauma-informed pedagogy is practicing empathy and understanding. Van der Kolk explains that when a person experiences a traumatic event, their sense of safety is disrupted. Providing a sense of safety in the classroom is vital for trauma affected students to thrive, in spite of the threat of further trauma. In actuality, trauma-informed pedagogies aim to mitigate the chance of retraumatizing students. Retraumatization, as defined by Duckworth and Follette in Retraumatization: Assessment, treatment, and prevention is “traumatic stress reactions or symptoms that develop after multiple exposures to events that are perceived as traumatic” (Duckworth and Follette, 2012). Additionally, anyone can be retraumatized when they experience an event that “mirrors” or is in some way similar to a prior traumatizing experience (SAMSHA, 2014).

In the classroom, students can experience retraumatization as a result of experiencing events that mimic trauma previously experienced in the classroom (for example, being discriminated against by another student or their teacher, punitive treatments by a professor, unfair policies put in place by the professor, etc.). Students can also experience retraumatization by interacting with content that is related to or ignites memories of a traumatic event such as sexual assault, violence, or racial discrimination. To reiterate, while we can not completely remove the experience of trauma or retraumatization in the classroom, there are certainly strategies teachers can implement to make the classroom a more welcoming environment. Dr. Janice Carello has outlined twenty strategies (the full list can be found on Carello’s trauma informed teaching slides) that educators across disciplines are already doing to create trauma-informed teaching and learning practices. While she stresses these strategies are for online learning environments, they can apply to both in person and online classrooms. Some of the strategies that are important for creating the safe and accessible classroom environment necessary to mitigate retraumatization are:

“1. If you are not already posting weekly announcements and/or module overviews or summaries, now may be a good time to start. This can help cut down on the number of emails sent, create a routine, provide clarification, and foster a sense of connection.

2. Reassure students you are there, and you care, by responding within 48 hours or less to all emails and to all questions they post in “Ask the professor” types of discussion forums.

11. Consider reducing or eliminating late penalties so you can encourage students to meet deadlines but avoid unfairly punishing those who are unable to do so because of circumstances beyond their control.

12. Consider reducing the workload for students and for yourself, if you are able to do so without compromising the course objectives. The quality of learning may increase if the quantity of assignments decreases.

14. Provide students with a phone number at which they can leave you a message and call-back number in the event they lose access to the internet.

15. Reach out to students who start to fall behind. Call to check on students who go missing.

16. Continue to hold high expectations and convey confidence that students will meet their learning goals.

17. Remind yourself and students to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” (Carello, 2020)

Incorporating trigger warnings, also known as content warnings, into course content can be a helpful practice. In her 2018 paper on sources of trauma for college aged students, Dr. Carello found that nearly 12% of students surveyed cited “Videos/Lectures/Readings” as being traumatizing or retraumatizing. Interestingly, Dr. Carello noted that students didn’t find the content itself traumatizing. Rather, it was the method by which educators introduced and spoke about the content that they found traumatizing or retraumatizing. For more information on trigger warnings and how to implement them, use the resource An Introduction to Content Warnings and Trigger Warning.

Creating open lines of communication with students, building up your students’ confidence through helpful feedback and encouragement, and modeling healthy behaviors and skills to students are also core tenets of the Sanctuary Model developed by psychologist Dr. Sandra Bloom. This model aims to create “trauma-informed cultures” within different organizations by training those organizations in its “four pillar” model. The goal of this model is to institute larger scale changes than this resource covers, however, more information about the model can be found at the Sanctuary website and at Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Resource Center.  

While there are significantly more resources available to educators about trauma-informed pedagogy and how to implement one, the most important factor in creating a trauma-based teaching practice is to practice empathy and communication. It is important to be sensitive to the fact that students are coming into the classroom with trauma histories we simply cannot fully know. Implementing a trauma-informed pedagogy is a necessary practice to allow students to move past these histories and fully engage with their education.

How Does Trauma Affect Educators?

Educators are not immune to the effects of trauma or traumatic experiences. In fact, interacting with students on a daily basis who bring their own traumatic experiences to the classroom can lead to educator burnout. The phenomenon known as “empathy fatigue” explains what many educators face when acting as a trauma stewards. Faculty members are often exposed to the traumatic experiences of students and this exposure can both trigger their own past experiences of trauma – a phenomenon called “secondary trauma”- or lead to empathy fatigue.