Introduction to Trauma-Informed Practices for Mental Health and Wellness in Urban Schools and Communities

Excerpt

Data has revealed that consistent exposure to trauma, whether that trauma is simple (one occurrence or acute) or complex (repeated consistent exposure), has deleterious impacts on school-aged children’s sense of safety, their sense of school belonging, self-confidence, academic performance and social relationships (Bath 2008; Brunzell et al. 2016). Because these domains are foundational to students’ holistic wellness and academic performance, the need to intervene and eradicate trauma exposure, and its varied ecological sources, is indisputable. Traditionally, trauma informed care has focused on providing students with the necessary skills to manage the psychosocial and emotional turmoil brought about by trauma (e.g., familial neglect, physical violence, sexual assault and sexual abuse). Pragmatically, then, trauma informed care has, dissiminating entailed strategies for lessening the impact of trauma. As important as these strategies are, this approach often minimizes or neglects, altogether, a serious consideration for the sociological antecedents of trauma and its attendant psychosocial consequences (Malott and Schaefle 2015; Williams 2013). …