In this essay, authors Lawson, Caringi, Gottfried, Bride, and Hydon introduce the concept of trauma literacy, connecting it to students' trauma and educators' secondary traumatic stress (STS). Interactions with traumatized students is one cause of STS; others derive from other traumatic encounters in schools and communities. Undesirable effects of STS start with professional disengagement and declining performance, include spill-over effects into educators' personal lives, and, ultimately, may cause them to leave the profession. The authors contend that alongside trauma-informed pedagogies and mental health services for students, mechanisms are needed for STS prevention, early identification, and rapid response. To benefit from and advance this dual framework, educators need a trauma-informed literacy that enables self-care, facilitates and safeguards interactions with trauma-impacted students and colleagues, and paves the way for expanded school improvement models.
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Fall 2019
Research Article|
September 01 2019
Educators' Secondary Traumatic Stress, Children's Trauma, and the Need For Trauma Literacy
HAL A. LAWSON
;
HAL A. LAWSON
University at Albany, State University of New York
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RUTH GOTTFRIED
;
RUTH GOTTFRIED
David Yellen Academic College of Education
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STEPHEN P. HYDON
STEPHEN P. HYDON
University of Southern California
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Harvard Educational Review (2019) 89 (3): 421–447.
Citation
HAL A. LAWSON, JAMES C. CARINGI, RUTH GOTTFRIED, BRIAN E. BRIDE, STEPHEN P. HYDON; Educators' Secondary Traumatic Stress, Children's Trauma, and the Need For Trauma Literacy. Harvard Educational Review 1 September 2019; 89 (3): 421–447. doi: https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-89.3.421
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