Hello.

My name is Jeff Shih, and I am an associate dean from the College of Education at UNLV.

Welcome to this four-part video series about "Building Trauma-Informed Schools."

This program is the result of a partnership between UNLV and the Clark County School District and is funded by UNLV President Keith Whitfield through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act.

These videos offer information to help educators support students with a history of traumatic experiences.

Since trauma can impact a student's emotions, behavior and ability to learn, it is an important topic to address.

We hope that this series is helpful to educators who are working so diligently to support student mental health and learning.

-Hello.

My name is Bob Weires, and I'm the director of psychological services, Clark County School District.

We all recognize the need to address the all-around development of our students, not just their academic achievement but also their social, emotional and behavioral functioning as well as their basic mental health.

The first video focuses on introducing signs and symptoms of potential trauma in students and how a multi-tiered system of supports framework can help address student needs.

Subsequent videos will provide strategies and other guidance for working with all students, or tier 1, targeted groups of at-risk students, or tier 2, and intensive interventions and supports for specific students, or tier 3.

Each video in the series will include a variety of panelists from UNLV and CCSD.

They will begin by providing information about trauma exposure and the varied reactions children may experience.

They will address multi-tiered systems of support, mental health, social-emotional learning and supports available within CCSD.

As working with traumatized students can be challenging, the series will conclude with a focus on educator wellness.

We trust you will find these professional learning sessions both informative and helpful, so please enjoy them.

Thank you.

-Hello.

I'm Joe Roberts, director for the Clark County School District Crisis Response Team.

Thank you for joining us for Building Trauma-Informed Schools to Support Student Mental Health and Learning, a partnership between the University of Nevada Las Vegas and the Clark County School District.

Joining me are Anne Marie Abruscato.

She's a visiting lecturer with the University of Nevada School of Social Work.

As a licensed clinical social worker, she has provided trauma-based therapy for children and adults in the Las Vegas Valley for over 21 years.

Dr. Patrice Leverett, an assistant professor of school psychology at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

She has served in the field of education for over 15 years as an elementary educator, school psychologist and training supervisor.

Her work examines the impact of implicit bias on learning outcomes for students.

Claudia Rockmaker has been a bilingual licensed clinical social worker since 1992 and has worked as a school social worker in the Clark County School District for the past 17 years.

Here she functions as an advocate and liaison for students and families within the school, home and community settings.

Ms. Rockmaker provides therapeutic services to individuals, groups and families dealing with issues of abuse, depression, anxiety and trauma.

Ashley Leon Ramirez has been a counselor in the Clark County School District for six years.

She currently serves as an elementary school counselor and a member of the Elementary School Mentorship Cadre and the Nevada School Counselor Association conference chair.

And myself, Joe Roberts, with over 20-plus years in public education having served as a teacher, a school administrator, school psychologist and the director of the Clark County School District Crisis Response Team.

I'm looking forward to a thoughtful discussion on trauma-informed instruction, especially in these difficult times where a variety of traumas have become apparent.

Today we will be covering trauma foundations, trauma-informed schools.

We will discuss common trauma scenarios in schools and supports available within the Clark County School District.

We have learned throughout this pandemic that trauma comes in many forms, and in the last session we focused on the foundations of trauma.

In this session we will focus on what makes schools trauma-informed.

Anne Marie, can you provide us with a reminder of what is trauma.

(Anne Marie Abruscato) Trauma is an experience that threatens someone's life or threatens their physical or emotional well-being.

It's often a shocking situation that's out of someone's control that usually evokes fear and helplessness, and it overwhelms the person's ability to cope.

-Thank you.

Patrice, let's discuss what implementing trauma-informed care within schools and classrooms, what would this look like?

(Patrice Leverett) So trauma-informed schools recognize the presence of trauma symptoms, and they acknowledge the role that trauma may play in an individual's life.

They change the organizational culture, engage in systems change to emphasize respecting and appropriately responding to the effects of trauma at all levels.

MTSS, for example, is a model of multiple levels of support.

The paradigm shift from asking what is wrong with this person to what has happened to this person.

Schools should actively avoid retraumatization.

Work to avoid situations or environments that may resemble the individual's trauma either literally or symbolically, as those could trigger difficult feelings and reactions associated with the original trauma.

The most important part is seeing the student as a whole, recognizing they may see themselves, others and the world based on their own experiences.

-Thank you.

Claudia, how does this fit into multi-tiered systems of support?

(Claudia Rockmaker) Well, as Patrice shared in the first session, the multi-tiered system of supports, known as MTSS, takes a proactive approach in identifying students with academic challenges, social-emotional needs or behavioral needs.

Tier 1 provides universal supports to all students.

Tier 2 offers support to targeted groups, and tier 3 provides intensive individualized supports with a higher level of service delivery.

The multi-tiered trauma-informed school approach may look different from school to school, as it depends on the individual school's needs, so let me share some examples of what we may see in the schools.

Tier 1 supports an environment that fosters student safety and well-being.

To encourage safe environments, the school may invest in boosting student's mental health, social-emotional skills as well as build in their coping skills and resilience.

Programs like PBIS provide prevention strategies that can help build school climates by establishing clear behaviors and expectations for all students.

There's also components focused on building schoolwide awareness and understanding of the impact of trauma through professional learning training; for example, Lifeline Professional Learning Sessions on ELMS.

They teach teachers and staff how to identify when a student is in crisis and how to approach these crises.

However, it's also vital that information on trauma-informed care be shared with parents and community stakeholders.

The Panorama Survey is another tool that addresses broad-based screening for trauma and associated social-emotional and behavioral issues at the tier 1 level.

At the tier 2 level, support services are delivered in a small-group format to students who are identified as needing more intensive supports than what they received at tier 1.

For instance, depending on the needs of the particular students, we have groups for grief and loss, maybe groups for children of divorce or truancy prevention groups.

At tier 3, support interventions are delivered on a one-on-one format where the student is seen more frequently.

So for example, again, according to the needs of the particular student and the situation, we can have one-on-one deescalation, daily or weekly check-ins or sometimes we have onsite behavioral health services with licensed clinicians at the school level.

If appropriate, a referral for community-based behavioral health services is made at this time.

But one of the most important things is we need to continue working collaboratively with staff, parents and caregivers and community-based providers in order to best meet the needs of the student.

-Thank you.

Anne Marie, what is trauma-informed care?

-Trauma-informed care principles include safety, which is both physical and emotional; choice, about giving the students choice; collaboration, making decisions together; trustworthiness, by being clear and consistent, and empowerment in terms of promoting skill building.

Teachers play a crucial role in creating trauma-informed schools.

Dr. Leverett, can you say more about that?

-As a classroom teacher, you are the expert in the classroom.

Model healthy emotional reactions.

You're going to model healthy problem-solving and you're going to know when to refer your students to mental health supports.

Finally, we want to create a space that's conducive to the learning environment, accounting for the diversity of students and experiences in the classroom as a means to support learners.

-Anne Marie, will you introduce principle one, safety.

-Safety is about creating a setting that is not only physically safe for students but also psychologically safe.

Since traumatized students are so often dysregulated, being anxious or distressed, there's an opportunity to help regulate them through psychological safety by creating a comfortable environment in which interactions feel non-threatening.

Claudia, I know you have examples to share about this.

-I do, actually.

So creating a safe place for students to express their feelings and thoughts is really important so I agree with you on that, to have a place where they won't feel ridiculed or shamed, but rather feel valued and validated.

This can be encouraged at all three tiers.

So in tier 1, as Patrice was saying before, teachers can create a safe classroom environment where all individuals are encouraged to actively participate within their level of ability without fear of being ridiculed by others.

At tier 2, targeted small groups start with clear intentions of the purpose of the group, expectations for the participation, confidentiality from all its members, acceptance and open-mindedness from all the group members.

At tier 3, once you meet with a student individually and you're building rapport and you're building a relationship with them, the licensed staff member clearly states that they are still mandated reporters.

We need to report certain information.

If we hear anything about abuse, anything about neglect, intent to harm themselves or someone else, those must be reported.

Then you go on and you let the student know that everything else that's being discussed is a confidential matter, that you would need permission from them to contact whether it's a parent or whether it's a counselor or a teacher.

Creating and stating clear parameters of the relationship helps the student feel safe.

It helps them feel confident that they can share their stories with you.

It's at this point that the clinician, if there is a clinician on the school site that's working with the student one-on-one, that the clinician decides whether they can continue working one-on-one with the student or if they would better benefit from someone from the community, from a community-based mental health service.

-Thank you for those examples, Claudia.

So for principle 2, which is choice, we really want to focus on giving students choice and control in who they confide in, what to share, how much to share and what coping techniques to practice and implement.

Ask yourself, where are the places students can go when they need to de-escalate and relax?

Not punitively, but to take a calming moment.

Then consider what coping skills the student may want to choose from when they're upset.

This is a conversation you can have with them in advance.

Maybe they prefer using stress balls or deep breathing, yoga or prayer.

Ashley, I think you had some good examples of this principle.

Can you share some of those?

(Ashley Leon Ramirez) Well, Patrice, this can look really different depending on the level you're working with.

For example at the elementary level, we may see something like a cooldown space in every classroom.

Cooldown spaces are an easy way to allow students to take a few moments to themselves to recompose themselves without disrupting the class.

So teachers should make sure to teach these procedures to their classrooms and set some rules for its use.

These expectations should be retaught regularly to ensure that all students are using it appropriately.

So while this serves as a tier 3 intervention for each student who uses it, the practice of having this outlet is actually a tier 1 intervention because it's available to all students.

So at the secondary level, teachers may offer a hall pass or, as we call it, a pressure pass for students to check in with a mentor or another safe person.

You may also see safety plans put into place so students can have a support plan for times of crisis.

At both levels you can see the counselors offering classroom guidance lessons using the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, or we call it CASEL, competencies, and they also use the American School Counselor Association Mindsets and Behaviors to plan.

So when planning from this SEL scope, counselors are able to teach students skills needed to be healthy, successful people, and hence, productive adults.

So schools can provide reference posters with various tools and coping skill options to remind students of the tools they can use to reach a calm state.

Additionally, counselors and teachers can provide regular mindfulness activities to teach coping skills.

So I actually do this myself at the end of each of my weekly guidance lessons, and I call it the "mindfulness minute."

So my kids really love it.

I can see the students as young as kindergarten really using the tools that I'm teaching them.

So schools using a PBIS system might provide a reward menu with what students can earn for appropriate behavior.

So yes, when providing students with choice, we can get really creative.

-Thank you.

Anne Marie, please tell us about principle 3, collaboration.

-This principle draws on the knowledge that healing from trauma happens in relationships.

Collaboration is demonstrated by working together with students, families and other school staff, recognizing that everyone has a role to play in the trauma-informed approach.

Claudia, would you give us some examples.

-Of course.

I agree with you in that healing from trauma occurs through supportive relationships; in fact, utilizing natural supports already in place builds resilience and a sense of empowerment.

It's really important to consider the whole child when addressing issues and include all facets and relationships in their lives.

For instance, their family, their friends group, team members if they belong to a sport, peers if they belong to a club or a religious community, and not just students in the school setting.

At the elementary level, parents play a more active role in the children's education.

Here we can engage parents and caregivers and build a partnership that will better support their students.

But at the secondary level, students may feel closer to their friends group, a coach or a trusted individual.

So when working with students, we can engage and work collaboratively with as many key people in their lives as possible.

This helps the student feel more supported in all areas and helps them move forward more effectively.

-Patrice, let's discuss principle 4, trustworthiness.

-So we want to establish trust between ourselves and our students, being inconsistent and clear so students will learn what to expect.

What are the boundaries and limitations is a way to do that.

If students have to guess what a teacher's response is going to be or what they're expected to do, then we can look forward to some disappointment.

We want to develop clear expectations and routines.

If there's going to be a change, let students know.

Reinforce your expectations as often as you can so everyone knows what to do.

Consistency, also make sure that no student is left in the dark or considered more favorable than others because that could facilitate distrust.

Ashley, your work with PBIS connects to this.

-It does, Patrice.

So positive behavior intervention supports, or as we call it PBIS, provides those set expectations, as Claudia said earlier, of what procedures are followed by the entire school, and it discourages inconsistency between classes.

So as we've learned, students living in a trauma state can find comfort in predictability, so these kinds of set expectations are just what our students need.

Teachers can really help gain trust by keeping it predictable.

Some easy steps are things like reviewing the weekly calendar with your class and keeping the daily schedule posted for students.

Teachers can also keep track of which students they're recognizing and make attempts to ensure that all students are receiving positive feedback.

So if the schedule allows, schools can incorporate a morning circle or an SEL block to build relationships among teachers and students.

At the secondary level, schools can offer a mentoring program to pair students with influential stakeholders.

If the past year has shown us anything, trust and relationships are the first step to ensuring that our students are learning, so this principle is especially important.

-Anne Marie, tell us about principle 5, empowerment.

-Empowerment entails building upon students' experiences and strengths, helping to foster resilience.

Also, it means finding opportunities for students to have choices and make decisions empowering them to succeed.

Claudia, could you give some examples of this.

-Yes.

There's no better way to help students feel empowered than to get them back in the driver's seat.

Help them feel that they have a voice and are in control of their emotions, their lives and their outcomes.

Helping them find a way to normalize their situation and know they're not alone and that others are going through the same issue is helpful.

Last year during distance learning, we provided our teachers and students with links to mindfulness YouTube videos that talked about feeling scared, feeling lonely, sad and nervous.

The videos helped students understand that everyone experiences these emotions at varying degrees.

It gave them suggestions on how to best manage these emotions and who could provide support and where to go for help.

These videos also provided teachers with follow-up lessons to reinforce the coping skills that were presented in each of these videos.

To help students feel that they're in control of their lives, we need to help them find their strengths, their interests, what they're passionate about.

So it could be anything from fashion or makeup, art, music, dance, sports, cooking, writing, maybe even singing, and not only helping them find this but also facilitating a way of how they could hone in on those skills, improve them, and really make it part of who they are.

So we might be able to help them find a scholarship, a community program or some mentor in the community, as Ashley was saying about the community stakeholders, where they could really participate and make it their own.

-Now let's discuss tier 1 interventions.

As a reminder, tier 1 interventions provide universal supports to all students which support an environment that fosters student safety and well being.

Ashley, what are some tools for classroom management or classroom management one-on-one?

-Well, Joe, I think positive praise is one of our best tools that we have in the classroom.

All students want to know what they're doing well, and in recognizing them, staff can ensure these positive behaviors continue over time.

So the recommended ratio of positive to negative interactions is five to one.

So that means for every negative praise statement made, one should make five positive statements.

I've heard teachers using many creative ways to keep track of these statements like doing things like keeping paper clips in one pocket and switching them to the other when you use a positive statement, or using an app like Class Dojo to track points and see individual student progress.

When creating class rules, we must ensure they're collaboratively developed, that we're providing consequences and rewards and, most importantly, the rules are being consistently implemented.

Cultural considerations should always be made when creating any procedure for the classroom, and teachers should prepare to be responsive to any cultural needs as well.

The CCSD Equity and Diversity Department does a wonderful job of aiding staff in finding tools to build cultural competence and educational support tools for teachers.

Team-building activities can help with building a sense of community and collaboration in the classroom, and if you need ideas with these, you can always consult with the school counselor, your Safe School professional or your school social worker as well.

Additionally, strengths-based language or a focus on the innate strengths of individuals is a great way to use a student's personal strengths to aid in recovery and empowerment.

I think we could talk about this topic all day, but those are just a few tips for managing trauma-informed classrooms.

-That's so true, Ashley.

Classroom management is a skill in and of its own.

Anne Marie, why is it important for educators to monitor classroom expectations when working with traumatized youth?

-It's so important to manage our expectations because students with a trauma history may have a difficult time focusing and absorbing information.

This doesn't mean they don't want to learn, it just means they may have more barriers to learning than other students.

So they will benefit from patient repetition, gentle reminders.

When a teacher's coaching comes across as non-judgmental and therefore non-threatening, the student's stress response system is going to calm down, which will help them not just hear the teacher but actually listen to what the teacher is communicating to them.

-Claudia, what about adults?

Are they the first line of care?

-Absolutely.

Teachers and support staff are consistently the first and last person the student sees every day.

You are the prime person the student builds a relationship with within the school environment, so you may be that one person who they rely on and trust to share their personal issues.

But sometimes it's difficult for teachers to hear what their students are going through in their home lives, and teachers may experience trauma-related stress or secondary traumatization where they directly experience the student's traumatic stress reaction.

We may find ourselves having intrusive thoughts or constantly thinking about what the student shared with us.

We could experience sleep disturbances like falling asleep and staying asleep, constant worrying about the student, wondering what they're doing, or getting emotionally overly involved with our students.

When this happens, it's time to talk to your trusted adult.

It's important the teacher or support staff that the student confides in recognizes when they themselves need to debrief and speak to someone to clear their heads while still maintaining student confidentiality.

As first-line service providers, we need to learn to take care of ourselves.

We can learn to effectively self-regulate our own emotions and responses, learn to balance our work life and home life, learn how to use mindfulness practices, as Patrice was mentioning before.

Exercise regularly and practice healthy sleep hygiene and nutritional habits.

Nonetheless, if all these don't work effectively, we also have the Employee Assistance Program that's open to all Clark County School District employees.

There they can contact someone and speak to them directly about any issues that are still lurking in the shadows.

-Thank you.

Dr. Leverett, why should a teacher consider their school or class data?

-So classroom and schoolwide data helps us figure out what is and what isn't working.

We can use that data to determine who is benefiting from the systems and supports that we're putting in place and who maybe need some additional pieces.

We can also take a look at that data and disaggregate it by things like race, ethnicity, gender, location and time of day to see if certain groups are being impacted differently than others.

We could begin to track and identify students who need more support.

You'll be able to use this information for tier 2 in which you're deciding who maybe needs to be in smaller groups, and we can also use this information to identify and select students who need individual supports once we're moving into tier 3 interventions.

-Thank you.

There are many critical events that can impact students.

Examples of some of these that we have dealt with in the Clark County School District include school shootings, contagion, lockdowns and the loss of a student or a staff member.

Here's how we've dealt with those tragic events at tier 1.

The Clark County School District has excellent professional learning on trauma, suicide prevention, and self-care all located within the Enterprise Learning Management Systems, or ELMS for short.

Additional professional learning can be found within the Student Support Services Exchange Crisis Response Team drive, professional learning presentations.

Topics covered here include psychological first-aid and postvention response for school teams that can utilize to enhance their ability to respond to the needs of their students.

Also, the Clark County School District School Counseling website has additional resources for all CCSD employees that include resources for trauma, grief and loss, anxiety and other mental health supports.

Visit their website at scd.ccsd.net for access.

Additional resources for tier 1 supports can be found at the National Child Traumatic Stress Network website and other national groups such as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, and the National Suicide Prevention Resource Center as well as professional organizations such as the National Association of School Psychologists.

Staff should prepare ahead of time so they are equipped for large critical events that unfortunately may come about in the world today.

As for what to expect should a tragedy occur at the local, state or even the national level, well, that's not an easy answer.

These types of events can affect each individual differently and can vary in intensity.

Proactive steps that school teams can take to mitigate these events are developing a multi-tiered system of supports, conduct safety drills such as fire evacuation, lockdown drills, et cetera, and in the event of a tragedy, provide comfort by making connections with the students and, if needed, utilize their school-based intervention team members for outside referrals.

In other words, Care Solace, Mobile Crisis Response Team and agencies like that.

Most students are resilient enough to overcome the global traumas that they face; however, there are others that need more intensive support.

These students will receive support from targeted groups at tier 2 and individual supports at tier 3.

Anne Marie, with all of these significant events going on, how can teachers keep an eye out for trauma symptoms in the classroom and create a therapeutic classroom setting?

-Teachers can be mindful of the symptoms that we reviewed in session 1, those emotional, cognitive, physical and behavioral signs of potential difficulty.

It's also important to remember that some students will not display any obvious symptoms even though they are traumatized and they're really struggling internally.

As far as therapeutic classroom setting, students need to be emotionally regulated in order to have appropriate behavior and to be able to learn, so teachers can help increase student's regulation by projecting patience, attending to positive behaviors and having classroom rules and routines that are predictable and consistent.

-Ashley, how should teachers handle classroom disruptions?

-Well, adding to what Anne Marie said, classroom disruptions can certainly be challenging, but the most important thing to remember is student safety, so the goal is always to de-escalate the situation.

Avoid giving the student too much attention if they're disrupting the class, and whatever you do, do not play into the negativity.

I say this because sometimes we don't realize when our tone or body language can trigger a student.

Remember that we are the adults and we should behave as such.

Ignore the negative behaviors as much as possible if the student is not at risk, but instead focus on giving positive praise when the student displays appropriate behaviors.

Keep in mind that most times the student's crisis is not a personal attack on you as a teacher.

Perhaps a student is unsure of how to deal with his or her emotions.

If you feel this may be the case, reach out to your school counselor and ask about interventions that can help the student with learning these skills.

Professional learning in the area of classroom management and positive behavior support is beneficial to all staff.

It's also good practice to create schoolwide procedures that allow outlets and safe spaces for students during times of crisis.

If you're interested in learning more about behavior support for your students, look into Crisis Prevention Institute, or CPI, training offered by the CCSD Links team.

So now let's discuss some tools.

Rylie Cook, a second grade teacher in CCSD, is going to tell us about some strategies we can use in the classroom to prevent behaviors and class disruptions.

(Rylie Cook) As a trauma-informed teacher, there are many tools that one can use to minimize a classroom disruption.

One of the things that's most important and that's crucial to this process is a good rapport for that teacher-student relationship.

Know what your students are interested in.

Each morning ask them how their day was, what they're into, what sort of things they like.

You can also ask students what they're interested in working for or earning for.

As soon as a student starts entering your classroom that morning, start thinking of ways you can reinforce that positive behavior and support that positive relationship.

If you have a student who acts out often, give them this positive attention when they need it and as much as they need it.

This could be as often as every one to two minutes.

So for example, I like your new haircut.

Thank you for sitting down in your seat.

I like how you remembered your pencil.

You're giving out positive reinforcement that's specific but also positive.

Remember that five-to-one ratio of positive versus negative.

Be sure to sit students away from distractions and provide brain breaks as often as needed.

Sometimes students need a couple minutes to stand up, get out of their seat, readjust and then get back into their seat for the flow of learning.

Students with trauma also benefit greatly from predictability, so this means routine and structure.

One of the things that's very important is giving warnings before transitions.

Okay, we have five minutes until we do this, or we have one minute until we go here.

This keeps their defense response down and allows them to mentally prepare for what's going to happen next in the day.

If there's a situation that calls for cooldown time, then send students to the cooldown area.

This gives them a few minutes to practice some deep breathing, think about the situation that has just happened and prepares them to come back into the learning environment.

There are choices of activities of what to do with a cooldown corner like coloring, deep breathing exercises.

Sometimes there are sensory tools for them to use, and this also helps with their self-regulation of their emotions as well.

Another technique to use with students is to also give them choices.

Give them choices for what they're going to do.

Give them choices for what they want to work for.

For an elementary student maybe you ask, do you want to read a book right now, or do you want to draw a picture?

With other students maybe middle school or high school, do you want to write an essay, or do you want to create a PowerPoint presentation?

So choices relate to that student.

They're able to make a choice, play a part in their learning experience.

With students, token economies can have a very positive impact in increasing the positive behaviors you want to see.

This could be like a token board or a token chart.

It directly correlates to their positive behavior, and that's what you're reinforcing with those.

If you feel this is something that a student might benefit from, then consult a special education facilitator or another behavior specialist at your school to ask them about more.

Use the peers in your classroom to your advantage; students like to feel connected to other students-- it's the social aspect of school.

Maybe pairing a difficult student with another typical model peer demonstrates the behavior for other students and allows them to learn from each other.

Always try to use calm language and a calm tone that can really set the tone for your class environment.

If you regulate your own emotions, then you encourage the same out of your students.

Just be aware of your own actions at all times and how that can affect your students as well.

So your behavior, your tone and what you say to your students because you're setting the tone and modeling what you want out of them as well.

-Anne Marie, what if a student keeps bringing up traumatic events in class?

-This is concerning because it probably means that they're having intrusive thoughts which is a symptom of post-traumatic stress in which unwanted thoughts just pop into their head, and these thoughts may cause them to want to talk about the trauma.

So when they're talking about the trauma, it's best to listen to what they have to say and thank them for sharing.

A teacher doesn't have to have any answers or say anything profound.

They can be so helpful just by listening and making a validating statement like that sounds like a really hard situation.

Thank you for telling me about it.

They can then ask if the student would like to talk to another staff member for some additional support.

Now, if a child is voicing details that may be upsetting other students, a teacher can say something like I really want to hear what you have to say, so let's talk a little bit later today when I can give you my full attention, of course at a time when there will be a little bit more privacy.

As hard as it is to hear a child talking about trauma, one thing to keep in mind is the disclosure may be reflective of the really great work the teacher has done to create that psychological safety, create that comfortable environment and establishing themselves as a safe person and their classroom as a safe environment.

The student trusts the teacher with this information, and they don't think the teacher is going to respond negatively.

-Ashley, what should a teacher do if there is a new show on TV that highlights something pertaining to traumatic events?

-Well, popular trends definitely should not be ignored, so if you find that your students are engaging in harmful behaviors that they picked up from social media or other avenues, address the issue right away.

In addition to contacting the CCSD Crisis Team to consult on schoolwide interventions, school should make parents aware of the trends so they can address it with their students and reinforce the school's intervention at home.

We all have our different ways of dealing with things.

School counselors can also respond by providing classroom guidance and individual sessions to support students in crisis.

If a teacher sees this happening in the classroom, notify your administrators right away to get the ball rolling.

-Ashley, how important is praise for a student?

-Well, praise can make or break a relationship with a student.

As I mentioned earlier, research supports the five-to-one ratio of positive to negative praise statements.

So when we support positive behavior, it's more likely to continue.

So if we want our students engaging in healthy behaviors, we need to tell them what they're doing right and when they're doing things appropriately.

Even reteaching of expectations can be turned into an opportunity for positive praise if we acknowledge the appropriate behavior.

-Anne Marie, what if a student keeps staring off into space?

-For a traumatized student, this might be something called dissociation, and during a traumatic event, this is a survival mechanism that helps the person cope.

It allows them to detach from reality and disconnect the mind from the inescapable event that's happening; however, dissociation can continue long after the traumatic event is over.

Even when they're in a safe environment, the child may be triggered by a memory of the trauma that popped into their head, those intrusive thoughts that we've talked about, or something they saw or heard that reminded them of the trauma.

When that happens a child can quickly dissociate, and it might appear like they're zoning out or it might appear that they're daydreaming or their eyes could even look glazed over.

So it may look like they're not paying attention, but they're actually coping with the scary or overwhelming feelings they're having, and the best thing to do is to try and just gently bring them back to the present reality by calmly saying their name and repeating your statement or question.

If dissociation seems to happen frequently, of course the teacher would refer the child for additional support.

-Anne Marie, what if a teacher shows a lot of kindness and patience with a student who they know has a history of trauma, but the student still seems to be on edge?

For example, they're jumpy when the teacher approaches them.

-Yes, and that's hard, especially if the teacher has worked really hard to establish a positive relationship with them.

But if the student has post-traumatic stress, they can't just turn that off just because they're with a safe individual.

If something happens that reminds them of the trauma, like a loud noise for a student that's witnessed a shooting or a touch on the shoulder for a student that's been physically or sexually abused, they may just have this involuntary physical or emotional reaction, and just because they have this response, it doesn't mean they don't trust the teacher.

It just means their stress response system is on overdrive, and their brain has them ready for fight or flight.

So by remembering this, teachers can help maintain patience and understanding with these types of reactions, knowing the student is not just being dramatic.

A teacher's calm and reassuring presence can help restore the student's sense of safety at that moment.

And one more suggestion along those lines, if a teacher is about to do something unusual, they're about to turn the lights off or they're about to do something in the classroom that's going to make a loud noise, it's a good idea to make an announcement ahead of time because that predictability enhances a child's sense of psychological safety which helps calm their stress response.

-Thank you.

Ashley, how can we support our staff?

-Well, adults like children look for clues from their environment, so they can benefit from positive reinforcement when we're utilizing the strategies that were decided upon for response to learners.

They also need constructive feedback when things get hard to manage or need support.

We might have that one staff member-- not any of you, of course-- who are thinking trauma-informed care is not a good use of time.

But as you see success in your classroom, share that with the staff and the community to reinforce the importance of supporting all learners.

-Claudia, how can we keep families informed on tier 1 interventions?

-Since we're all working to address the needs of the whole child in the environment, their home, their school, their community, it's important to keep families informed of our tier 1 interventions so that way parents and caregivers can reinforce the social-emotional learning lessons and skills that are being learned at the school community.

This way the students can generalize and practice these new skills across all areas.

Some ways we can keep families informed about our tier 1 interventions is through weekly or monthly newsletters, through emails through Infinite Campus, phone calls home, postings on our school websites and through social media.

The flip side of informing families of tier 1 interventions is in the event that a student should have an adverse reaction to a schoolwide activity or exercise, parents are better able and prepared to manage the student's reactions at home as well as reach out to the school for assistance.

As we mentioned before, consistency is key to helping students feel more comfortable in the school setting.

The same is true in other settings as well.

By sharing the strategies you're working on in school with families, you're doing two important things: One, you're providing additional strategies that parents can use that are consistent with school expectations, and two, you provide families an opportunity to share practices you may not have considered.

This reciprocal sharing with families opens the door for more consistent care for students and better long-term communication.

-Patrice, how important is connecting with families in regards to their cultural context?

-Part of being trauma-informed is making connections with children.

That includes connecting with families and communities and learning from them.

If we did not attend to culture, it may interfere with our ability to do this work.

Perhaps you've learned about cultural competence, which has to do with learning more about other cultures, being open to ask questions and immersing yourself in different experiences to learn about others.

Ways you can do this is by joining activities outside of your cultural norms to learn about others.

Examples are visiting mosques, synagogues, community centers, cultural centers, cultural festivals and engaging in reading written by community members.

In addition to learning about others, we also need to learn to be self-reflective.

What are some of the things we value that may be coloring the way we see the world?

Cultural humility refers to the process of self-reflection, to acknowledge our biases and assumptions so we can be more empathetic and open to the perspectives of others.

This self-work is critical to our ability to connect meaningfully and build trusting relationships with families who may have differences in perspectives and experiences.

Ultimately, cultural competence and cultural humility will increase our effectiveness as trauma-informed educators.

Everyone has personal biases and life experiences that we bring to the table; nonetheless, our students also bring their own biases, attitudes and assumptions to the classroom.

So we as teachers and support staff need to acknowledge and be mindful of our personal views about a situation, maintain healthy boundaries, and engage the student and their families to help them choose their own outcomes.

Overall, it's our place to make space for the families to join us.

-Ashley, how does a teacher manage when their plates are already full?

-One thing to remember is you're already doing a lot of this work, so we're simply providing some additional strategies to consider.

So providing a trauma-informed educational experience can actually bring more calm to the classroom.

Traumatized students will be able to pay attention better, interact more effectively and ultimately learn better.

Teachers may wish to reflect on all they do that currently creates trauma-informed environments, and we can consider strategies from today's session that we're already using and perhaps additional strategies that can be implemented in the future.

It's understandable that making the transition to trauma-informed practices feels like another item on your very full plate.

In session number 4, we'll review wellness practices that keep a sense of balance and calmness.

-Claudia, what should a teacher do when a student is in crisis?

-When a student is experiencing a crisis such as a panic attack or if the crisis manifests as a self-injurious behavior or they express suicidal/homicidal ideations, the first thing you want to do is make sure the student is safe.

Let them know you're there to help them and to get them the help they need.

Contact your school counselor or your school social worker for immediate assistance, and you never want to leave the child unattended or alone.

Of course if it's a medical emergency, you call 911 and notify your administrator as soon as possible.

-And what about suicidal ideation?

-Well, CCSD has a set procedure in place to address students having suicidal ideation.

If your student reveals that he or she is having suicidal thoughts, contact a member of your school-based intervention team right away and never leave the student unattended.

School social workers, school counselors, psychologists, school nurses and administrators are all trained in CCSD suicide protocol, process and procedures and can assist in screening students for risk.

Try to hear the student out until help arrives.

Stopping the student from talking about what's going on may make them shut down.

Take pride in knowing that the student trusts you in his time of crisis.

-And can you remind us who our school-based intervention team members are?

-I can.

Our school-based intervention teams are composed of the school counselors, the school psychologist, school nurse, school social worker, Safe School professionals, and it may look different from school to school depending on who's onsite.

-For all CCSD employees, there are additional professional learning courses that can be accessed through the Enterprise Learning Management System, ELMS for short, by searching the keyword "trauma."

Your school counselor and/or school social worker at your school site is also a helpful resource for information as well.

On the screen now you will see some additional resources with the QR codes.

So in conclusion thank you, panelists, for those insightful points and strategies that help us as educators assist our students living with trauma.

Today we discussed the importance of trauma foundations, the five principles of trauma-informed schools and tier 1 strategies and supports that are available within the Clark County School District.

On behalf of the University of Nevada Las Vegas, the Clark County School District and Vegas PBS, I'd like to thank our panelists for joining us.

Dr. Patrice Leverett, Anne Marie Abruscato, Claudia Rockmaker, Ashley Leone Ramirez, and our CCSD teacher, Rylie Cook.

We appreciate your insight into this extremely critical issue, and I hope we were able to provide you with a clearer understanding of the foundations of trauma and the challenges facing our educational system and provide tangible steps for solutions and support.

Thank you to the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 for funding this project, exemplifying their commitment to the welfare of Nevada's children.