Chapter 8: Cultivating Asset-Based Mindsets And Healthy School-University Partnerships Through The Use Of A Trauma-Informed Protocol

Schools are made up of a variety of students who have various cultural backgrounds and lived experiences which impact how they interact with their classmates, teachers, administrators and school staff. Many students have experienced trauma at some point in their lives, both inside and outside of the school building. Educators are hearing more and more about the impact of trauma on students’ cognitive, physical, and emotional health (Larson et al., 2017; McLaughlin, 2016; Steiner et al., 2012), but many teachers still struggle with how to effectively and equitably attend to and better understand this population of students (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009; Waajid et al., 2013). Due to the increased number of students who have experienced trauma in school, researchers, educators, and school personnel have sought to better understand and improve how teachers and school personnel respond to students who have experienced trauma.