5 Tips to Work Toward Being a Trauma-Informed Educator

While being “trauma-informed” may feel like an educational buzzword, trauma-informed work ideally should be a foundation for any educator, including faculty, instructors, teaching assistants, and mentors and student affairs professionals in higher education. Trauma-informed practice elevates our work, necessitating more intentionality and a broader worldview in order to promote equity and wellness.

But what is trauma really? The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2019) describes trauma as “a response to a terrible event or series of events that is experienced as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.” Trauma isn’t the thing that happens, but rather how someone’s mind and body experience and react to it. What prompts a traumatic response in one person, may not in another.

Events that commonly prompt trauma responses in people, such as abuse, neglect, discrimination, traumatic grief or loss, witnessing violence, experiencing physical or sexual assault, or manmade and natural disasters, are unfortunately common experiences among Americans. Between 50% and 60% of Americans will experience a potentially traumatic event and 7% will cope with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of what they have experienced (U.S. Department of Veteran Services, 2019). As illustrated in the landmark CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experience Study (1998), Americans are often experiencing potentially traumatic events in childhood meaning that students are coming into higher education with unique needs, challenges, and triggers.

Our educational environments should be crafted carefully to anticipate and meet the needs of individuals that hold experiences like these. This might sound like a lot of work or something that should be managed by administrators, and while some trauma-informed practice does require more energy and it is important to have high-level administration buy-in, there is still plenty that can be easily done in the classroom to help students feel supported, informed, and engaged.

1. Update your syllabus.

A syllabus can and should communicate much more than just the barebones expectations of the course. A syllabus can communicate an educator’s values and reporting obligations in addition to available campus resources, potentially triggering course content, assignment topics, class time routine, and more.

While our syllabi are oftentimes partially dictated by university standards for what is to be included, there is nothing stopping us from building upon this foundation and using our syllabus as a comprehensive tool that students can use to make informed decisions about what resources they access, what they disclose to who, and whether a course will present difficulties for them.

Prior to the start of your next academic term, sit down with your syllabus and ask yourself the following questions:

• If a student experienced housing insecurity/mental health concerns/sexual assault/discrimination would they know where to go for support by looking at my syllabus?
• From looking at my syllabus, would a student know how and where to access what they will need to accomplish their assignments?
• Would a student know that police brutality/transphobia/cancer/relationship violence or other potentially triggering topics would be addressed in the course by looking at my syllabus?
• If a student experienced conduct prohibited by university policy and disclosed to me, would they know I need to report what is shared with me from looking at my syllabus?
• Would a student understand what is expected of them in terms of behavior and participation by looking at my syllabus?

If the answer is anything but “yes,” the syllabus could use some updating. It’s easier on everyone when information on resources is readily available and course topics are understood ahead of the add/drop deadline. By providing clarity and transparency, we are allowing students the choice to make the best decision for themselves, independent of us. Our syllabus is our tool to communicate clearly with our students and help set them up for success.

2. Offer alternatives.

Since we’re talking about choice, offering alternative ways to engage with potentially triggering course content is another simple way to integrate trauma-informed practice into the classroom. If the class was going to watch a short film on stalking and then engage in discussion, a student with a direct experience of stalking may have a difficult time fully engaging, potentially causing them to perform poorly or lose credit, where their peers wouldn’t, due to something outside of their control. What could help this student engage in their education while still supporting their wellness and safety?

The instructor might consider allowing students to watch the film on their own time and complete a writing assignment. They may break the class up into discussion groups addressing different areas of the broader topic and allow students to choose which group they want to join or request to switch to another group without question.

Instructors know what they want students to gain from any given lesson or assignment and know how to craft different paths that lead to this same destination. Providing these different options takes into account the differential impact these topics may have on our students while allowing them to more fully and safely engage in their learning.

3. Maintain high (and consistent) expectations.

A common misconception with trauma-informed practices in the classroom is that they necessitate low expectations or a lack of rigor. Neither of these are true. Trauma-informed practice does not mean that a student will never be exposed to potentially traumatic content or that they will never be stressed or distressed. Trauma-informed practice means that, as educators, we are using our understanding of trauma to create an environment that is respectful toward trauma survivors and promotes equity among all learners. This can, and should, involve having high and consistent expectations.

This isn’t to say flexibility isn’t important, it obviously is, but flexibility should generally be an extended deadline or alternative assignment, not skipping the assignment altogether. High and consistent expectations in conjunction with empathy and support teach students perseverance, provide structure, and communicate that a student is worthy of compassion and acceptance regardless of how they perform or what they have experienced.

4. Cultivate connection.

Going through a traumatic experience can be isolating and foster disconnection from others. It may feel like no one else has experienced or felt what you have, and while that may be true, thoughts like this can cause us to behave in ways that further isolate us from our support systems and communities.

Social connection and quality social relationships are a protective factor and promote resilience in those who have experienced trauma (Galatzer-Levy et al., 2012). As an educator, fostering social connection and community in our classrooms and other learning spaces can help students who have experienced trauma build capacity for social engagement and form new supportive and trusting relationships.

Try beginning class by checking in with one another and providing the opportunity for students to share how they are feeling using a discussion question, word cloud, or anonymous poll. Or foster connection among students by intentionally incorporating opportunities for study groups, note sharing, group discussion, and other engagement both in and out of class.

Lastly, be explicit about the importance of building connection and community with others. Talk to your students about how working with peers, learning from different perspectives and lived experiences, and engaging in respectful dialogue are all important parts of their personal and professional journeys.

5. Care for yourself and colleagues.

While students are often at the forefront of our efforts with trauma-informed practice, and education in general, both student and instructor wellness should be a priority. Promoting our and our colleagues’ well-being allows us to be present, supportive, and intentional when working with students.

Supporting others is hard work. Being an educator is hard work. Both of these are even harder when we hold our own traumatic and challenging lived experiences. But this is hard work we don’t have to do alone and it shouldn’t be without support. Lean on your colleagues and work collaboratively on integrating trauma-informed practice, give each other permission to rest, eat and stay hydrated, and make sure you’re having your own needs met. No matter our intentions, if we aren’t at our best, it will be hard to give our students what they need. Caring for ourselves and our communities are key pieces to successfully fostering trauma-informed environments.

Ultimately, our trauma-informed practice as educators will be rooted in values that promote physical and psychological safety, trust and transparency, consistency, peer support, and empowerment. There is much to learn, but still very tangible small steps we can each take toward supporting learners who have experienced trauma.

For more resources and information on trauma-informed education practices, please visit the UCI Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation’s webpage as well as UCI CARE’s staff and faculty resources webpage. If you’re interested in brainstorming and discussing the items touched upon here with colleagues, please join UCI CARE’s upcoming Faculty/Staff Lunch & Learn on November 17th, 2021 from 12:00PM to 12:30PM via Zoom. Participants will be provided a virtual space to further discuss trauma-informed educational practices with colleagues from across the campus. Register for the program here.