Trauma-responsive Strategies for Parents and Educators

Children are returning to school and they will most certainly be bringing their full selves into the classroom. This holds true for adults as well. It is not uncommon to downplay the impact the pandemic has had on our wellbeing. If we do not address our own trauma and develop strategies for managing the effects trauma has on ourselves, then we risk re-traumatizing our children and students. Being trauma-responsive is about the adults first and the child second.

Becoming Trauma-responsive Series is a 4-Part interactive series designed to broaden the social and emotional intelligence of parents and educators so that we are more skillful and responsive in our approach. We must be willing to do the “inside-outside” work to recognize the areas in ourselves that need healing so that we show up more whole to our families and work.

Session 3: Trauma-responsive Strategies for Parents and Educators – When we have developed our own social and emotional intelligence through an exploration of our own traumas, we are more skillful in our approach and response to trauma induced behavior in our children and students. Once you have an understanding of trauma and how trauma affects the minds and bodies of young people, you may experience a paradigm shift from asking, “What happened with this student?” to one of asking, “What happened to this student and what does this student need to be successful?” (Shawn Nealy-Oparah and Tovi Scruggs-Hussein)

Session 3 Objectives:

• Learn to navigate relationships with emotional competency
• Recognize the protective nature of mindfulness
• Gain an understanding of how to be trauma-responsive
• Learn trauma-responsive strategies to develop resilience in your child or student

Upcoming sessions in this series are on the following Mondays from 7:00pm to 8:30pm. May 17th – Session 4: Understanding the Importance of Self-care/Link to register is here.

Want to learn more about Becoming Trauma-responsive Series? Email Lisa Hart, Community Coordinator/Series Instructor at Lisa@empoweryouthnetwork.org