Trauma-Informed

Literacy

Bonnie Stright
How can literacy
act as a tool to
empower
students’ mental
health through
trauma-informed
practice?
 Prevalence
Effects
Trauma-Informed Education
Empowerment through Literacy
Critiques & Concerns
Resources
References
1. Realizing the widespread impact of trauma & paths for
recovery
2. Recognizing the signs & symptoms of trauma
3. Responding by integrating knowledge on trauma into
policies, practices, procedures
4. Seeking to actively resist re-traumatization
(NCTIC, 2015)
Realizing

Prevalence
 Realizing

Clap react if you have ever had a student

or simply knew someone going through
something and you did not know how to
respond
 Realizing

• Different research = different definitions of trauma

• Not everyone will be significantly or negatively impacted
• Power and agency of defining trauma is within the person experiencing it
• Not our job to diagnose, but to build relationships & embrace students
Recognizing

Effects
 Recognizing

B • Agitation NB • Prolonged or atypical stress to brain

E • Mood swings EI pathways = Permanent
H • Anxiety UO fight/flight/freeze
A • Inability to focus RL • Poor comprehension
V OO
I • Headaches • Behavioral problems
Stomachaches
G Decreased immune functioning
O •
I •
R • Sleep and appetite changes C • Vulnerability to mental and physical
A • Frequent illnesses A illnesses
L (Maroney, 2020) L (Harris, 2019)

A • Perpetuated harm
C • Referrals to special education
A • Emotional/behavioral or conduct
D disorder diagnoses
E • Punishment by zero-tolerance policies
M • Push out into the school to prison
I pipeline
C (Morris, 2018)
 Responding

Trauma-Informed Education
 Responding

- Teachers model and engage in risk &

Reciprocity vulnerability of sharing difficult experiences
- Destigmatize grief & sharing hardships

- Shared deep connections by human experience

Action & - Recognizing power differentials in life stories
- Seek resources & conversations on structural
Advocacy inequities
- Critical analyses of deficit discourses

Woven into - Purposeful use of familiar instructional

practices
School - Moments of reciprocity, vulnerability, and
Literacies support through individual interactions

(Dutro, 2019)
 Responding

Student narratives not as trauma, but compelling stories of

strength, resistance, culture, and identity
Culturally
Student Strengths
Responsive &
Centered Based
Sustaining
Pedagogies Work Approaches

(Campano, 2007)
 Responding

“writing, especially deep recorded

recollections of specific events and the
feelings these memories engender, is a means
of fighting back – a way to take control and
preserve one’s dignity in the face of adversity”
(Lamb, 2004, p. 349)
Resisting

Proactive Change
 Resisting

Intentional Restorative Eliminate

Practices
Avoid using loud alarms, prepare
students for abrupt changes,
ask students what they need
Justice Silencing
Individually who is unintentionally
Advocate for students, challenge
shut down or without belonging?
zero-tolerance & other harmful
Systemically whose voices are
disciplinary policies
silenced from curriculum?

Physical Utilizing MHPs

Partnerships When Necessary
Environment
With students, families, &
communities Know the scope of your job and
Safety, collaboration,
abilities, reach out licensed mental
transparency Identify strengths & listen to needs
health professionals when needed
Critiques & Resources
 Schools as
Not a replacement
traumatizing
for legitimate mental
institutions
health services

Willingness and Already overworked

appropriateness teachers
 At the heart
Student Relationships
& Radical Empathy
Empowering students through trauma-informed literacy
Uplift Center for Grieving Children https://upliftphilly.org
Philly Hope Line 1-833-PHL-HOPE (1-833-745-4673)
Anti-Violence Partnership https://avpphila.org
WOAR Center Against Sexual Violence https://www.woar.org
Children’s Crisis Treatment Center https://www.cctckids.org
Homeless Health Initiative https://www.chop.edu/centers-
programs/homeless-health-initiative
Dutro, E., Campano, G., & Ollett, M. (2019). The vulnerable heart of literacy: Centering
trauma as powerful pedagogy. Teachers College Press.
Harris, N. B. (2019). The deepest well: Healing the long-term effects of childhood
adversity. The Permanente Journal. https://doi.org/10.7812/tpp/18-075
Lamb, W., Whiteley, N., Rowley, T., Birkla, N., Cullen, R., Bartholomew, D., Griffith, D., &
Medina, B. (2004). Couldn't keep it to myself: Testimonies from our imprisoned sisters. Harper
Perennial.
Maroney, D.I. (2020). The Imagine Project: Using expressive writing to help children
overcome stress and trauma. Pediatric Nursing, 46(6), 300-302, 311.
Morris, M. W. (2018). Pushout: The criminalization of black girls in schools. New Press.
National Center for Trauma Informed Care (NCTIC). (2015). Trauma-informed approach and
trauma-specific interventions. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental health Services
Administration. Internet site: http://www.samhsa.gov/nctic/trauma-interventions.
Thanks!