Trauma and Unified Science

Posted on July 2nd, 2024

Research into the impact of trauma suggests that progressive approaches to behaviour support for example SWPBIS, Safe and Civil Schools, Cognitive Behavioural Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) and restorative justice don’t go far enough. This research has been called the unified science or “theory of everything” of human development. It combines the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study ( see http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/ ) with the neurobiology of toxic stress, the long term biomedical and epigenetic consequences of toxic stress, and resilience research (Nakawaza, 2015).

In a nutshell, this research shows that the toxic stress of trauma can damage children’s brains making it impossible for them to learn; punitive school discipline policies just further traumatise them. This research also lays waste to the long held belief that if a child who is failing just works harder, she or he will achieve success. (Jane Ellen Stevens, ACE’s connection network).

This research is essential knowledge if educators want to create a school system where all children can feel safe enough to learn and succeed academically.

As Susan Craig writes in her book ‘Trauma – Sensitive Schools’:

“Trauma is not just a mental health problem. It is an educational problem that, if left unaddressed, derails the academic achievement of thousands of children”

In trauma sensitive schools however, resilience building practices can soothe those students and turn them back into the happy learning engines that they are in their healthy and natural states. A natural consequence is that in trauma sensitive schools teachers are also beneficiaries, they are happier, less stressed, and better at their jobs.

Furthermore teachers and administrators in these schools recognise that the basic reaction to trauma is not just it is also flight or most typically ‘freeze’ (out of fright). So it’s imperative that we make sure that kids who tune out, who fall asleep in class, or who isolate themselves in the classroom, the dining hall or in the playground are also helped. These are the children who aren’t at risk of being kicked out of school for being aggressive or violent. These are the kids who are vulnerable to dropping out of school altogether.

Specifically, trauma sensitive schools create environments which

• Stop traumatising already traumatised children;
• Help not only traumatised children who express distress through acting out, but also those who withdraw;
• Create socially and emotionally safe environments where children can learn, teachers can teach, and administrators can manage successful schools.

Safe Schools Thailand is here to help you on that journey.

Reference Trauma – Sensitive Schools, Susan E. Craig