How Teachers are an Integral Part of the Healing Process
The last year or so has presented us with challenges one after another on a global scale. No one has been excluded. Due to this, I became inspired to reflect on my professional experiences as we faced repeated uncertainty. I would like to share some key thoughts around our potential to be more capable in a crisis than we think, simply by doing what we do best, which is being ourselves!
The main request for support in my line of work has centred on “trauma related” concerns for children. Covid lockdowns have magnified issues for many families where there were already existing problems at home. Teachers felt and continue to feel ill- equipped to help. There is an assumption that psychologists have the magic formula for dealing with these issues. I would respectfully
suggest that this is not the case. We may have lost sight of the basic needs for anyone immediately following any emotional upset or traumatic incident. Some children may require specialist medical support, however there is also much that can be done by a lay person, such as a teacher, that can play an essential role in sustainable care, alongside support from expert interventions.
My area of expertise is behaviour analysis. I challenged myself to come up with an operational definition of possible “trauma” behaviours in order to provide basic support for teachers. We use emotional words a lot in education and as a scientist and teacher I remind clients that this may be a barrier to finding a solution.
For example, saying someone is traumatised by an accident is less helpful than saying someone is finding it very hard to focus on their daily life due to being in an accident. Linguistics do matter and if we become highly charged using emotional language we cut off from being systematic and responsive to a person’s needs. Defining behaviours helps us find solutions and teach replacement behaviours. It also means we know what behaviour we are addressing and what to look for when evaluating an intervention’s effectiveness.
A caveat here – we are NOT replacing the emergency or medical staff
or counsellors. Their work may well be going on concurrently. The importance in collaborating with professionals and sharing information can’t be stressed enough.
Start with a definition of trauma – a deeply distressing or disturbing experience… (Subjective) www.dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/trauma
(a) severe emotional shock and pain caused by an extremely upsetting experience:
Scenario – A child has experienced upsetting situations at home during Covid Lock Down and staff have said the student is off task, ignoring peers and being defiant and oppositional (labelled behaviours). See the chart below for the labelled behaviours defined as observable and measurable behaviours.
Example Checklist
Example Actions List:
Communication with the family may be as simple as a check-in call. Follow school policy on contacting the appropriate agency if you have health and safety concerns.
All of these are short term actions that can be implemented regardless of the degree of trauma – while ensuring related professionals and services (duty of care) are kept informed.
Consider the following:
What other behaviours suggest someone is suffering trauma?
What can we do?
What can’t we do?
Relationships, stability and some form of routine are the fundamentals in dealing with trauma. As teachers, we often under sell our skill set, and possibly over estimate that of other professionals. Remind yourself what you have to offer, and recognise the value of simply caring enough to listen and spend time with a child who is suffering.