Childhood Trauma and Toxic Stress

Children who suffer from child traumatic stress have been exposed to one or more traumas throughout their lives and develop reactions that persist and affect their daily lives.

Traumatic reactions to experience Children and young people who have experienced trauma have little space left for learning or academic difficulties because of intense and ongoing emotional upset, depressive symptoms or anxiety, behavioral changes, difficulties with self-regulation, problems relating to others or forming attachments, regression or loss of previously acquired skills, attention and, nightmares, difficulty sleeping and eating, and physical symptoms, such as aches and pains.

Support to children building resilience-enhancing skills can support the children’s growth and educators’ well-being. To do so, however, they need adults to understand and respond to their unique needs. They cannot quickly adapt and change to their environment.

Trauma-informed practice in the school environment supports children and young people in resetting their baseline internal stress and arousal levels to regain their cortex. Traumatized children respond to their environment with limited access to the resources in their cortex responsible for thinking, logic, analysis, and problem-solving

A systematic review of resilience-enhancing, universal, primary school-based mental health promotion programs by Amanda Fenwick-Smith, Emma E. Dahlberg & Sandra C. Thompson states that Well-being and resilience are essential in preventing and reducing the severity of mental health problems. Equipping children with coping skills and protective behavior can help them react positively to change and obstacles in life, allowing more tremendous mental, social, and academic success. This systematic review studies the implementation and evaluation of universal, resilience-focused mental health promotion programs based in primary schools.

Sydney Ey, Ph.D. an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University, developed a Resilience Building webinar Resilience Building Plan Worksheet. Viewers will come to recognize what builds and what depletes resilience.

We can relate it to managing resilience inside the classroom.

1. Recognize the Child’s Signs of Stress
2. Focus on Building Physical Hardiness.
3. Strengthen the Relaxation Response – Calm Body and Calm Mind – A relaxation or meditation before the start of the class.
4. Try some self-soothing activities that suit the learners’ needs
   • Tactile (Holding something comforting or soothing)
   • Smell (Smell of lavender, fresh air)
   • Visual (Puppy or kitten photos, looking out the window, etc.)
   • Auditory (Listen to music, listen to sounds of nature)
   • Taste (Drinking some tea, eating chocolate)
5. Identify and Use Students’ Strengths.
6. Increase Positive Emotions daily.
7. Engage in Meaningful Activities.
8. Counter Unhelpful Thinking.
9. Create a Caring Community.
   1. Connect with friends and family regularly.
   2. Identify children’s sources of support.
      1. At home.
      2. In the community.
   3. Practice good communication and conflict-resolution skills.