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Trauma-Informed
Care for Educators
WHAT’S INSIDE

Key Trauma-Related 6 Guiding Principles Tips to Prevent De-Escalation

Concepts to a Trauma-Informed Vicarious Trauma Preferences Form
Approach

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Resources Guide: Trauma-Informed Care for Educators

Experiencing a trauma can

change the way a person
perceives the world.

Trauma can come in many forms, and whether caused by a single

event or by a repeated exposure, that experience and perspective
shapes the way a person feels, thinks, and behaves. Trauma can
happen to anyone—as educators, you may encounter both students
and colleagues that have been impacted.
Understanding the definition of trauma This guide will give you:
and increasing your awareness of
• A deeper awareness of key
the specific trauma a person has
trauma-related concepts.
experienced will help you better
understand not only how they’ve • A greater understanding of trauma’s
been impacted, but how to respond effects on behavior.
appropriately to their behavior as well. • 6 Guiding Principles to a
Trauma-Informed Approach.
As you sharpen your understanding of
their experience, you are strengthening • Tips for understanding and
your relationship and making future preventing vicarious trauma.
interventions that much more • A De-Escalation Preferences Form to
successful. That level of trust is critical use with students and colleagues.
to trauma-informed care—in and out
• Resources to explore
of the classroom—and allows you to
trauma-informed care further.
communicate effectively while calming
escalating behaviors.
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Resources Guide: Trauma-Informed Care for Educators

Defining Terms
Trauma Triggers
An emotional response to a terrible event Signals that act as signs of possible danger,
like an accident, rape or natural disaster. based on historical traumatic experiences
Immediately after the event, shock and which lead to a set of emotional,
denial are typical. Longer term reactions physiological, and behavioral responses
include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, that arise in the service of survival and
strained relationships and even physical safety (e.g., sights, sounds, smells, touch).
symptoms like headaches or nausea.
Triggers are all about a person’s perceptions
Trauma-Informed Care experienced as reality. The mind/body
A framework of thinking and interventions connection sets in motion a fight, flight, or
that are directed by a thorough freeze response. A student or colleague
understanding of the profound neurological, who is triggered will experience fear, panic,
biological, psychological, and social effects upset, and agitation.
trauma has on an individual—recognizing
that person’s constant interdependent
needs for safety, connections, and ways to
manage emotions/impulses.

Trauma can serve as a

filter, or lens, through
which a person views
the world. Think of
sunglasses: You put them
on and everything is
shaded differently. Trauma
can have that type of
effect on how a person
perceives their world.

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Resources Guide: Trauma-Informed Care for Educators

Trauma Types
There are three main classifications of trauma.

Acute trauma results from exposure to a Complex trauma results from a single
single overwhelming event. traumatic event that is devastating enough
to have long-lasting effects.
• Examples: Rape, death of a loved one,
natural disaster. • Examples: Mass casualty school shooting,
car accident with fatalities involved,
• Characteristics: Detailed memories,
refugee dislocation.
omens, hyper-vigilance, exaggerated
startle response, misperceptions or • Characteristics: Perpetual mourning or
overreactions. depression, chronic pain, concentration
problems, sleep disturbances, irritability.
Chronic trauma results from extended
exposure to traumatizing situations.
• Examples: Prolonged exposure to violence
Traumatization occurs
or bullying, profound neglect, series of
when internal and
home removals.
external resources are
• Characteristics: Denial and psychological inadequate for coping.
numbing, dissociation, rage, social
withdrawal, sense of foreshortened future.

The Effects of Trauma on Behavior

Think about the distinct types of trauma Let’s look at the student or colleague’s
noted above, and the characteristics behavior through a trauma-informed lens.
commonly associated with each. As an
educator, you may encounter students who Questions to ask yourself include:
become easily startled, begin withdrawing,
• What type of trauma could be
or even show uncharacteristic outbursts.
at play here?
You may also notice a colleague exhibiting
similar behaviors. • What are some possible triggers?
They could be obvious or subtle.

Modeling a person-centered, • How could you respond in a

strength-based approach trauma-informed way?
creates a cultural shift in how
educators and students interact.

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Resources Guide: Trauma-Informed Care for Educators

Guiding Principles to a
Trauma-Informed Approach
The CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response
(OPHPR), in collaboration with SAMHSA’s National Center for
Trauma-Informed Care (NCTIC), has developed six principles that
help guide a trauma-informed approach.

CPI Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® 2nd Edition: Trauma Training provides a

deeper dive into each of these concepts as it relates to the trauma-impacted
students and colleagues in your school.

1 Safety 5 Empowerment and Choice

The physical setting provided is safe, A focus on recognizing, empowering,
and the interpersonal interactions and building upon the strengths and
further promote that sense of safety. experiences of trauma-impacted
individuals.
2 Trustworthiness and Transparency
The organization’s operations and 6 Cultural, Historical, and
decisions are made based on trust and Gender Issues
transparency. The trust of individuals The organization makes an effort to
served is built and consistently move past cultural stereotypes and
maintained. biases; utilizing policies, protocols, and
processes that respond to racial, ethnic,
3 Peer Support and cultural needs.
Peer support is a key vehicle for
establishing safety, building trust,
enhancing collaboration, and utilizing
lived experience to promote recovery “Adopting a trauma-informed
and healing. approach is not accomplished
through any single particular
4 Collaboration and Mutuality
technique or checklist. It requires
The effectiveness of mutual decision-
constant attention, caring awareness,
making and sharing of power is
sensitivity, and possibly a cultural
harnessed. This concept highlights the
change at an organizational level.”
role everyone in an organization plays
(Source: CDC)
in providing trauma-informed care.

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Resources Guide: Trauma-Informed Care for Educators

Educators Impacted by
Vicarious/Secondary Trauma
Also known as compassion fatigue, vicarious/secondary trauma
is a process through which one’s own experience becomes
transformed through engagement with an individual’s trauma.

If your role finds you regularly interacting with students or colleagues impacted by trauma,
such as that of a Guidance Counselor or School Safety Coordinator, you may be at a
higher risk of compassion fatigue—that is, experiencing an impact from the trauma those
in your care have experienced. It’s important to be self-aware of the signs of compassion
fatigue in your own behavior, but also in the behavior of your fellow educators.

Signs of Compassion Fatigue: Risk Factors for Compassion Fatigue:

• Reduced sense of efficacy at work. • Being new to the field.
• Concentration and focus problems. • Having a history of personal trauma
• Apathy and emotional numbness. or burnout.
• Isolation and withdrawal. • Working long hours and/or juggling
several learning environments.
• Exhaustion.
• Having inadequate support systems.
• Jaded, bitter pessimism.
• Secretive addictions and
self-medicating.

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Resources Guide: Trauma-Informed Care for Educators

De-Escalation Preferences Form

This form is a guide to help you gather information and
develop personalized de-escalation strategies. Person-centered,
trauma-informed de-escalation strategies are powerful prevention tools
to help you avert difficult behaviors, and avoid restraint and seclusion.
Use this form to develop strategies that are unique to your environment
and to the students and colleagues you’re surrounded by.

Name:

Date:

1. It’s helpful for us to be aware of the things that can help you feel better when you’re having a
hard time. Have any of the following ever worked for you? We may not be able to offer all these
alternatives, but I’d like us to work together to figure out how we can best help you.

q Listening to music. q Playing a computer game.

q Reading a newspaper/book. q Using ice on your body.
q Sitting by the nurses’ station/ q Breathing exercises.
principal’s office, etc.
q Putting your hands under
q Watching TV. running water.
q Talking with a peer. q Going for a walk with staff.
q Walking the halls. q Lying down with a cold facecloth.
q Talking with staff. q Wrapping up in a blanket.
q Calling a friend. q Using a weighted vest.
q Having your hand held. q Voluntary time out in a quiet room.
q Calling your therapist. q Voluntary time out (anywhere specific?):
q Getting a hug.
q Pounding some clay.
q Punching a pillow. q Other:
q Physical exercise.
q Writing in your diary/journal.

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Resources Guide: Trauma-Informed Care for Educators

2. Is there a person who’s been helpful to you when you’ve been upset?

q Yes q No

If you are not able to give us information, do we have your permission to call and speak to:

Name: _____________________________________________ Phone:______________________________________

q Yes q No

If you agree that we can call to get information, sign below:

Signature: _______________________________________________________________________________________

Date: ___________________________________________________________________________________________

Witness:________________________________________________________________________________________

Date: ___________________________________________________________________________________________

3. What are some of the things that make it more difficult for you when you’re already upset?
Are there particular “triggers” that you know will cause you to escalate?
q Being touched.

q Being isolated.

q Door open.

q People in uniform.

q Loud noise.

q Yelling.

q A particular time of day (when?): ________________________________________________________________

q A time of the year (when?):______________________________________________________________________

q Specific scents (please explain):_________________________________________________________________

q Not having control/input (please explain):_________________________________________________________

q Others (please list):

________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Resources Guide: Trauma-Informed Care for Educators

4. Have you ever been restrained?

q Yes q No

When:

Where:

Please describe what happened:

5. Do you have a preference regarding the gender of staff assigned to respond during a crisis?

q Female staff q Male staff q No preference

6. Is there anything that would assist you in feeling safe here? Please describe:

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Resources Guide: Trauma-Informed Care for Educators

Additional Trauma Resources

At Crisis Prevention Institute, the Care, Welfare, Safety, and SecuritySM
of your students and colleagues is our top priority. Beyond our training
programs for educational professionals, we want to ensure you’re armed
with the knowledge and confidence you need to handle any challenges that
come your way throughout the school year. The following resources will
help you learn more about trauma-informed practices.

BOOKS

Helping Traumatized Children Learn Volumes I and II Treating Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents:
Landmark publications from the Massachusetts Advocates for How to Foster Resilience Through Attachment,
Children’s Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative. Self-Regulation, and Competency
By Margaret E. Blaustein and Kristine M. Kinniburgh. Provides a
flexible framework for working with kids and their caregivers.

WEBSITES AND ARTICLES

12 Ways to Help a Developmentally Traumatized Child How to Help People Handle Trauma
When a kid with trauma explodes like the Tasmanian Devil, here’s Strategies for attuning your own emotions can help you care for
how to get them back on track. people who carry the weight of trauma.

CDC’s Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study

Incorporating Trauma-Sensitive Practices
Info on the landmark study that measures 10 types of childhood
traumas and their effects on health. Tools for schools from the Wisconsin Department of Public
Instruction.

ChildTrauma Academy
Resources for School Personnel
Features Dr. Bruce Perry’s books, resources, and training offerings.
Resources from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Take
special note of the Child Trauma Toolkit and the Psychological First
Compassion Fatigue: Could It Be Compromising Aid manual.
Your Professionalism?
For those who excel at taking care of others, but put themselves
last on the priority list.

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