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Value 4 Self Care Teaching is a highly stressful occupation right alongside law enforcement and nursing In addition to the dynamic nature of classrooms and students educators also face the secondary trauma associated with having close relationships with their students and often bearing witness to their experiences The Covid 19 crisis has added a significant layer of stress and uncertainty to every educator First student and student family stressors have increased significantly raising the overall stress level in the school Combined with the loss of our usual community connections this increase is even more dramatic Additionally concerns for our own family members our own health and risk factors the novel move to high levels of on line instruction and the uncertainties of the next school year are real stressors that have been layered on top of an already stressful occupation Schoolwide awareness and discussion of these occupational hazards is important to both validate staff feelings and allow for the open discussion of the impacts of secondary trauma and Covid related stressors on our work and our personal lives Additionally providing professional development and support for educator self awareness and self care is central to empowering educators to develop sustainable school classroom communities where they can be adaptable and responsive to the needs of our students Trauma sensitive schools Recognize the reality of secondary trauma and acknowledge its effects Provide staff with professional development on self care Devote resources to activities that promote staff well being LESLEY INSTITUTE FOR TRAUMA SENSITIVITY A Trauma Sensitive Approach to School Reopening CENTER FOR INCLUSIVE EDUCATION INSTITUTE FOR TRAUMA SENSITIVITY 29 EVERETT STREET CAMBRIDGE MA 02138 Patricia Crain de Galarce Merlyn Mayhew Joe Ristuccia Sal Terrasi Phone 617 349 8386 Changing Times Unchanging Values Recent history confirms what educators have long believed for children to learn and thrive schools must first and foremost be places of physical safety and emotional support This guide provides four key values around which schools can develop a supportive environment for learning and well being Email spedcenter lesley edu Go to www abc xyz for more resources on each value

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Value 2 Reframe Perspective Value 1 Relationships As we begin to plan for reopening school and how best to engage our students it would be helpful to recall the words of Bruce Perry noted child psychiatrist and trauma expert Never underestimate the therapeutic impact of a caring teacher Research consistently demonstrates the importance of quality relationships with teachers staff and peers to student success and learning Thinking in terms of the whole child competence relationships selfregulation and health well being helps us conceptualize the interconnections among student relationships and academic achievement and behavioral selfregulation Supporting all students to have true connections to the classroom and school communities benefits the learning and well being of every student A positive relationship between student and teacher becomes a powerful motivator for academic achievement and prosocial behavior Students and their families might have experienced a variety of stressors resulting from the pandemic and their time out of school Social isolation lack of structure financial or food insecurity sickness and many other factors may well exacerbate feelings of stress anxiety or depression as students return to school and that can manifest in school as problems learning and or behaving as well as gaps in academic skills Therefore nurturing a climate and culture of trust and caring will pay big dividends in students ability to learn and self regulate Don t expect or even attempt to do everything at once Begin with basic steps such as Be sure that every student is known and connected to a caring adult Establish routines and rituals that improve connectedness Give students voice and listen to what they are saying not merely the words but also the feelings under the words Help students to feel heard and connected As educators we work hard to understand our students learning and behavior through several lenses including child development cognitive skill multiple intelligences and cultural background to name a few A shared understanding of the impacts of traumatic experience on student learning provides an important added dimension to our knowledge of how students learn and behave In the current Covid 19 crisis understanding trauma and its impacts on our students staff and families is critical to planning for reopening schools Research shows Adverse Childhood Experiences ACE s to be highly prevalent among our children with well over 65 of our students having experienced at least one ACE s category Additionally these adverse experiences can have a broad range of potential impacts on learning and behavior including language and memory issues as well as behavioral manifestations that include dysregulation as well as overly regulated behavior Understanding the impacts of traumatic experience provides educators a fuller view of their students learning and behavior and helps shift educator mindset from one of demanding blaming punitive interactions to understanding inquiry and skill development This reframing of how we view our students learning and behavior has a significant impact on how we plan for our reopening A trauma sensitive reopening Prioritizes student connection with the school community Addresses the social emotional needs of students and families before academics Develops needed protocols not only for physical emotional safety within the schools but responds to various Covid related issues and Ensures that we take care of our own needs during these difficult times Value 3 Reflect Action Plan Schools expend a good deal of energy implementing one size fits all programs and responding to the mandates and demands of outside groups in an effort to support student success Trauma Sensitive Schools TSS help support student success by engaging in a recursive reflection action planning process that is based on their identified school based needs determined by reviewing and reflecting on school specific information and data This process is driven by school based urgencies those issues that are important to their community and develops workable action plans to address them Such action plans are within the individual school s capacity to execute and are guided by trauma sensitive norms and values whole child student connection to the school community students feeling safe valued working together as a staff community to anticipate issues and being innovative This process is being used by trauma sensitive schools to support their reopening efforts by first gathering information from staff students and families via on line surveys to understand the urgencies felt by the core stakeholders in the school community Reflecting on these data schools are developing re entry plans that include action steps to address the identified urgencies from their community members Combined with local state and national recommendations trauma sensitive schools can develop a comprehensive reopening plan that incorporates local concerns and needs A trauma sensitive action plan Empowers school district leadership teams to attend to the social emotional health of the school community Designs initiatives that are tailored to specific school based needs Implements plans that are focused and feasible

Value 2 Reframe Perspective Value 1 Relationships As we begin to plan for reopening school and how best to engage our students it would be helpful to recall the words of Bruce Perry noted child psychiatrist and trauma expert Never underestimate the therapeutic impact of a caring teacher Research consistently demonstrates the importance of quality relationships with teachers staff and peers to student success and learning Thinking in terms of the whole child competence relationships selfregulation and health well being helps us conceptualize the interconnections among student relationships and academic achievement and behavioral selfregulation Supporting all students to have true connections to the classroom and school communities benefits the learning and well being of every student A positive relationship between student and teacher becomes a powerful motivator for academic achievement and prosocial behavior Students and their families might have experienced a variety of stressors resulting from the pandemic and their time out of school Social isolation lack of structure financial or food insecurity sickness and many other factors may well exacerbate feelings of stress anxiety or depression as students return to school and that can manifest in school as problems learning and or behaving as well as gaps in academic skills Therefore nurturing a climate and culture of trust and caring will pay big dividends in students ability to learn and self regulate Don t expect or even attempt to do everything at once Begin with basic steps such as Be sure that every student is known and connected to a caring adult Establish routines and rituals that improve connectedness Give students voice and listen to what they are saying not merely the words but also the feelings under the words Help students to feel heard and connected As educators we work hard to understand our students learning and behavior through several lenses including child development cognitive skill multiple intelligences and cultural background to name a few A shared understanding of the impacts of traumatic experience on student learning provides an important added dimension to our knowledge of how students learn and behave In the current Covid 19 crisis understanding trauma and its impacts on our students staff and families is critical to planning for reopening schools Research shows Adverse Childhood Experiences ACE s to be highly prevalent among our children with well over 65 of our students having experienced at least one ACE s category Additionally these adverse experiences can have a broad range of potential impacts on learning and behavior including language and memory issues as well as behavioral manifestations that include dysregulation as well as overly regulated behavior Understanding the impacts of traumatic experience provides educators a fuller view of their students learning and behavior and helps shift educator mindset from one of demanding blaming punitive interactions to understanding inquiry and skill development This reframing of how we view our students learning and behavior has a significant impact on how we plan for our reopening A trauma sensitive reopening Prioritizes student connection with the school community Addresses the social emotional needs of students and families before academics Develops needed protocols not only for physical emotional safety within the schools but responds to various Covid related issues and Ensures that we take care of our own needs during these difficult times Value 3 Reflect Action Plan Schools expend a good deal of energy implementing one size fits all programs and responding to the mandates and demands of outside groups in an effort to support student success Trauma Sensitive Schools TSS help support student success by engaging in a recursive reflection action planning process that is based on their identified school based needs determined by reviewing and reflecting on school specific information and data This process is driven by school based urgencies those issues that are important to their community and develops workable action plans to address them Such action plans are within the individual school s capacity to execute and are guided by trauma sensitive norms and values whole child student connection to the school community students feeling safe valued working together as a staff community to anticipate issues and being innovative This process is being used by trauma sensitive schools to support their reopening efforts by first gathering information from staff students and families via on line surveys to understand the urgencies felt by the core stakeholders in the school community Reflecting on these data schools are developing re entry plans that include action steps to address the identified urgencies from their community members Combined with local state and national recommendations trauma sensitive schools can develop a comprehensive reopening plan that incorporates local concerns and needs A trauma sensitive action plan Empowers school district leadership teams to attend to the social emotional health of the school community Designs initiatives that are tailored to specific school based needs Implements plans that are focused and feasible

Value 2 Reframe Perspective Value 1 Relationships As we begin to plan for reopening school and how best to engage our students it would be helpful to recall the words of Bruce Perry noted child psychiatrist and trauma expert Never underestimate the therapeutic impact of a caring teacher Research consistently demonstrates the importance of quality relationships with teachers staff and peers to student success and learning Thinking in terms of the whole child competence relationships selfregulation and health well being helps us conceptualize the interconnections among student relationships and academic achievement and behavioral selfregulation Supporting all students to have true connections to the classroom and school communities benefits the learning and well being of every student A positive relationship between student and teacher becomes a powerful motivator for academic achievement and prosocial behavior Students and their families might have experienced a variety of stressors resulting from the pandemic and their time out of school Social isolation lack of structure financial or food insecurity sickness and many other factors may well exacerbate feelings of stress anxiety or depression as students return to school and that can manifest in school as problems learning and or behaving as well as gaps in academic skills Therefore nurturing a climate and culture of trust and caring will pay big dividends in students ability to learn and self regulate Don t expect or even attempt to do everything at once Begin with basic steps such as Be sure that every student is known and connected to a caring adult Establish routines and rituals that improve connectedness Give students voice and listen to what they are saying not merely the words but also the feelings under the words Help students to feel heard and connected As educators we work hard to understand our students learning and behavior through several lenses including child development cognitive skill multiple intelligences and cultural background to name a few A shared understanding of the impacts of traumatic experience on student learning provides an important added dimension to our knowledge of how students learn and behave In the current Covid 19 crisis understanding trauma and its impacts on our students staff and families is critical to planning for reopening schools Research shows Adverse Childhood Experiences ACE s to be highly prevalent among our children with well over 65 of our students having experienced at least one ACE s category Additionally these adverse experiences can have a broad range of potential impacts on learning and behavior including language and memory issues as well as behavioral manifestations that include dysregulation as well as overly regulated behavior Understanding the impacts of traumatic experience provides educators a fuller view of their students learning and behavior and helps shift educator mindset from one of demanding blaming punitive interactions to understanding inquiry and skill development This reframing of how we view our students learning and behavior has a significant impact on how we plan for our reopening A trauma sensitive reopening Prioritizes student connection with the school community Addresses the social emotional needs of students and families before academics Develops needed protocols not only for physical emotional safety within the schools but responds to various Covid related issues and Ensures that we take care of our own needs during these difficult times Value 3 Reflect Action Plan Schools expend a good deal of energy implementing one size fits all programs and responding to the mandates and demands of outside groups in an effort to support student success Trauma Sensitive Schools TSS help support student success by engaging in a recursive reflection action planning process that is based on their identified school based needs determined by reviewing and reflecting on school specific information and data This process is driven by school based urgencies those issues that are important to their community and develops workable action plans to address them Such action plans are within the individual school s capacity to execute and are guided by trauma sensitive norms and values whole child student connection to the school community students feeling safe valued working together as a staff community to anticipate issues and being innovative This process is being used by trauma sensitive schools to support their reopening efforts by first gathering information from staff students and families via on line surveys to understand the urgencies felt by the core stakeholders in the school community Reflecting on these data schools are developing re entry plans that include action steps to address the identified urgencies from their community members Combined with local state and national recommendations trauma sensitive schools can develop a comprehensive reopening plan that incorporates local concerns and needs A trauma sensitive action plan Empowers school district leadership teams to attend to the social emotional health of the school community Designs initiatives that are tailored to specific school based needs Implements plans that are focused and feasible

Value 4 Self Care Teaching is a highly stressful occupation right alongside law enforcement and nursing In addition to the dynamic nature of classrooms and students educators also face the secondary trauma associated with having close relationships with their students and often bearing witness to their experiences The Covid 19 crisis has added a significant layer of stress and uncertainty to every educator First student and student family stressors have increased significantly raising the overall stress level in the school Combined with the loss of our usual community connections this increase is even more dramatic Additionally concerns for our own family members our own health and risk factors the novel move to high levels of on line instruction and the uncertainties of the next school year are real stressors that have been layered on top of an already stressful occupation Schoolwide awareness and discussion of these occupational hazards is important to both validate staff feelings and allow for the open discussion of the impacts of secondary trauma and Covid related stressors on our work and our personal lives Additionally providing professional development and support for educator self awareness and self care is central to empowering educators to develop sustainable school classroom communities where they can be adaptable and responsive to the needs of our students Trauma sensitive schools Recognize the reality of secondary trauma and acknowledge its effects Provide staff with professional development on self care Devote resources to activities that promote staff well being LESLEY INSTITUTE FOR TRAUMA SENSITIVITY A Trauma Sensitive Approach to School Reopening CENTER FOR INCLUSIVE EDUCATION INSTITUTE FOR TRAUMA SENSITIVITY 29 EVERETT STREET CAMBRIDGE MA 02138 Patricia Crain de Galarce Merlyn Mayhew Joe Ristuccia Sal Terrasi Phone 617 349 8386 Changing Times Unchanging Values Recent history confirms what educators have long believed for children to learn and thrive schools must first and foremost be places of physical safety and emotional support This guide provides four key values around which schools can develop a supportive environment for learning and well being Email spedcenter lesley edu Go to www abc xyz for more resources on each value

Value 4 Self Care Teaching is a highly stressful occupation right alongside law enforcement and nursing In addition to the dynamic nature of classrooms and students educators also face the secondary trauma associated with having close relationships with their students and often bearing witness to their experiences The Covid 19 crisis has added a significant layer of stress and uncertainty to every educator First student and student family stressors have increased significantly raising the overall stress level in the school Combined with the loss of our usual community connections this increase is even more dramatic Additionally concerns for our own family members our own health and risk factors the novel move to high levels of on line instruction and the uncertainties of the next school year are real stressors that have been layered on top of an already stressful occupation Schoolwide awareness and discussion of these occupational hazards is important to both validate staff feelings and allow for the open discussion of the impacts of secondary trauma and Covid related stressors on our work and our personal lives Additionally providing professional development and support for educator self awareness and self care is central to empowering educators to develop sustainable school classroom communities where they can be adaptable and responsive to the needs of our students Trauma sensitive schools Recognize the reality of secondary trauma and acknowledge its effects Provide staff with professional development on self care Devote resources to activities that promote staff well being LESLEY INSTITUTE FOR TRAUMA SENSITIVITY A Trauma Sensitive Approach to School Reopening CENTER FOR INCLUSIVE EDUCATION INSTITUTE FOR TRAUMA SENSITIVITY 29 EVERETT STREET CAMBRIDGE MA 02138 Patricia Crain de Galarce Merlyn Mayhew Joe Ristuccia Sal Terrasi Phone 617 349 8386 Changing Times Unchanging Values Recent history confirms what educators have long believed for children to learn and thrive schools must first and foremost be places of physical safety and emotional support This guide provides four key values around which schools can develop a supportive environment for learning and well being Email spedcenter lesley edu Go to www abc xyz for more resources on each value