Trauma-Informed & Restorative Practices
Photo by Matthias Zomer from Pexels
By: kristi Donaldson & Aaron Park
Whenever a parent navigates a district’s or school’s policy details, they may encounter the phrase “Trauma-Informed.” The Missouri Model for Trauma-Informed Schools defines “Trauma- Informed” as “using the ‘lens of trauma’ to understand behavior and how to support students by meeting their underlying needs, rather than punishing its symptoms.” This term has evolved in recent decades and is being applied in many different sectors. Today, many schools incorporate “restorative practices,” a social science that studies how to build social capital and achieve social discipline through participatory learning and decision making, as tools for trauma-informed education. When implemented successfully, restorative practices change how teachers teach and how students learn by moving from enforcing a “compliance-driven disciplinary style” to “cultivating caring, empathy, and community in schools.” It is the intention to transform schools into safe learning environments where all stakeholders feel physically and socio-emotionally safe.
Trauma-Informed Schools in Missouri
In 2017, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) established the “Trauma-Informed Schools Initiative,” requiring DESE to provide information to schools about what it means to be trauma-informed. Upon the request of the Missouri Trauma Roundtable and DESE, Missouri-based non-profit Alive and Well Communities began engaging educators in creating a guidance document in early 2018. Since then, the State has allocated 33 Trauma-Informed School Liaisons to:
Answer questions about mental health
Provide trainings on trauma related topics
Bring trauma-informed system changes
Provide crisis response & recovery, mental health consultation, and mental health treatment
What Does It Take to be a Trauma-Informed School?
According to the guidance document, there are 12 indicators of trauma-informed schools. While schools do not necessarily have to follow the indicators in a particular order, the Missouri Model recommends they work toward addressing them all.
What are Restorative Practices?
Among different tools, programs, and resources to address those 12 indicators, restorative practices can be a powerful tool for indicator 6. Restorative practices are tools that help build healthy relationships and a sense of community in hopes to improve school climate and culture. When all stakeholders in a school share this common mindset, it is the goal that stakeholders will be able to come together, repair the harm that has been done, and move forward.
There is a growing body of research around restorative practices and their use in educational settings. A study of an urban Virginia high school that implemented a practice called Restorative Circle found that this led to :
Better student attendance
Less absenteeism, disruptions, and psychological trauma and mental health
More positive relationships
Lessened destructive forms of conflict
More meaningful dialogues
Better academic and social achievements
Also, a recent study found that exclusionary discipline harms both suspended and non-suspended students. Furthermore, according to a policy brief published by the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services, toxic stress, trauma, and the health consequences of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) exist for rural, tribal, and other at-risk populations as well. Restorative practices may help students of different socioeconomic and racial backgrounds succeed by building relationships and fostering a positive learning environment and culture.
The following are a few examples of the types of restorative practices:
Circle Process: Circles help to develop relationships and build community or respond to wrongdoing, conflict, and problems. Circles also provide people an opportunity to speak and listen to one another in a safe space.
Community Conferencing: Individuals restore harm they caused to the community by providing a meaningful service that contributes to their improvement.
Preventative and Post-Conflict Resolution Programs: Such programs provide students with problem-solving and self-control skills. They also work to resolve the root causes of conflict, helping prevent future incidents from occurring.
Restorative Justice: Relationships are valued and stakeholders focus on repairing the relationships that have been harmed.
Informal Restorative Practices: Use of affective statements, which communicate people’s feelings, affective questions, which cause people to reflect on how their behavior has affected others, proactive engagement with students and families, mentor relationships, community service, and lunchtime table talks are small ways educators and other school personnel can influence a positive environment.
The Schott Foundation for Public Education has a full description of the nine types of restorative practices. All of these components are beneficial; however, schools do not necessarily have to use all of them. The researchers who conducted the previously mentioned study in Virginia observed positive outcomes from only implementing the Circle Process.
However, it is important to note that restorative practices, in some cases, are being implemented at an individual school level rather than at an entire district.
Costs and Barriers
Restorative practices offer an innovative way to resolve conflict, restore relationships, and solve problems. Therefore, their implementation requires thorough and ongoing training across districts that opt to use these practices. In some cases, districts hire coordinators, who are responsible for all restorative justice efforts, for managing facilitators, and for training teachers and students. To cover the costs, districts budget for implementation every year or rely on grants from state or federal governments. But the cost of implementation extends further. The effort to train and to implement often takes more than just a couple of years and must be ongoing, and it is important to implement with manageable timetable because it will affect students and teachers at the ground level. The author, who shares her experiences with restorative practices, claims that investing the money and resources necessary may bring positive outcomes in helping youths as shown in Clayton County, Georgia.
Conclusion
Using restorative practices as a tool to be trauma-informed helps create a safe and positive learning environment for all stakeholders. However, as mentioned in the Missouri Model for Trauma-Informed Schools, this is a “process, not a destination.” As this process takes multiple years, it is important to hold districts and schools accountable for their progress. It is inadequate to simply call a district or a school trauma-informed without having the necessary components to be one. To ensure that all students in Missouri thrive in a safe learning environment, each district or school should have human resources who can provide on-going support so that students, educators, and administrators can fully be trauma-informed and implement restorative practices.
Examples of Missouri Schools that Implemented Restorative Practices