confrontation has a harsh-tone, which trig-
gers the amygdala to question or anticipate
if a harsher “threat to safety” is coming. A
proximal confrontation could mean stand-
ing too close to a student when correcting,
getting in their face/space, and even moving
your hands/arms too much while correcting
the student. It is always best to think “de-
escalation” in terms of words, tone and body
language when working with students who
may be impacted by trauma.
If you can have
less reactivity,
then the better
you are at being
more balanced
and present – a
calming presence
The eight Rs
TI leadership gives you a lens to create a
trauma-sensitive environment (TSE). There
are eight Rs in creating a TSE. The first four
Rs are about how adults need to be respon-
sive: realize, recognize, respond and resist
re-traumatizing.
As adults, we need to realize that, “Oh,
some of my students have been exposed to
trauma.” Once you realize that, then you
recognize it by your more responsive actions,
then you will not have the amygdala hijack
reaction and be so easily triggered, leading
to a negative interaction with a student. You
will be able to self-regulate in the moment
and respond appropriately. Most impor-
tantly, resist re-traumatizing the student by
utilizing the shared strategies and de-esca-
lating a situation. Remember that students
are not in the same space of awareness and
adult maturity.
The second set of four Rs are the adult be-
haviors needed for a TSE:
• Routines – links to predictability and
classroom management. Plus, if home is not
a safe place, then the student can have a safe
adult relationship at school. Adults need to
teach routines because often students who
have experienced trauma in the home do not
have routines – or the routines are not healthy.
• Rituals – some type of ritual that helps
students feel special, calm and connected;
maybe it’s meditation, maybe it is circle time.
• Relationships – A healthy connection to
a caring adult is essential to healing and re-
silience. Plus, a healthy connection models a
healthy relationship for a child and helps to
rewire the brain for positive connection.
• Regulation – Often, traumatized stu-
dents do not have the tools to self-regulate.
Adults need to model that: “You know what
in your classroom,
in your school, in
your life.
I do when I’m upset? I start to breathe and
just let myself calm down or I go to a quiet
place for a few minutes.”
Lastly, the research shows that there are
five key elements to creating and sustaining
trauma-informed leadership and a trauma-
sensitive environment:
1) Adults must adaptively change behav-
iors, assumptions and beliefs.
2) Adults must focus on student engage-
ment with positive school-wide plans linked
with positive classroom management.
3) All school staff need to be involved in
the professional development and reflection
process around TSE.
4) High quality, relevant instruction to
engage students is essential to learning.
5) School leaders must create an environ-
ment where it is safe for adults to share and
reflect on beliefs and practices.
All school staff need to be involved with
professional development and ref lection
processes around social-emotional learning
(SEL), around creating TSE. School leaders
have to create environments where it’s safe
for adults to share, be vulnerable, speak their
truth, heal and have difficult conversations.
We must create our work environment to be
a safe place to reflect on the beliefs and the
practices we engage in for those we serve.
We are creating our school culture. We
have to get out of our comfort zone in that
area. We so often make students who can’t
relate to us adapt to us and our ways, when
we can’t relate and connect to them and
their ways.
While research has provided those five
key elements, we are advocating for a sixth:
We have to partake in the healing work that
results in greater adult capacity building
of social-emotional intelligence. Again, it
starts from within, from the inside-out.
Also, we are asserting that teacher and
administrator preparation programs need to
engage in SEL, and that this work be part of
professional development, because we have
to engage in our own unhealed traumas and
social-emotional learning as adults. Again,
we cannot teach what we do not embody.
Trauma-informed leadership is not about
changing the students, it’s about changing
adult behaviors. It’s not a curriculum, it’s a
mindset and a way-of-being. There’s a lot of
self-work that has to go into that before we
implement with efficacy.
Resources
• Adolescent Health Working Group
(2013). “Trauma and Resilience: An Ado-
lescence Provider Toolkit.” Retrieved from
https://rodriguezgsarah.files.wordpress.
com/2013/05/traumaresbooklet-web.pdf.
• Australian Childhood Foundation: Pro-
tecting Children. (2010). “Making Space
for Learning: Trauma Informed Practice in
Schools.” Retrieved from www.theactgroup.
com.au/documents/makingspaceforlearn-
ing-traumainschools.pdf.
• Burke-Harris, N. (speaker). (2014, Feb-
ruary). TED. “How childhood trauma af-
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