Trauma Awareness

The Alberta Teachers' Association and Canadian Mental Health Association created this booklet to help teachers understand mental health, mental illness, and how they can help their students, colleagues and themselves. Learn how to develop more compassionate classrooms, schools and communities by changing how we look at mental health and mental illness and school culture.

An edutopia contributor provides these 8 strategies to support students with trauma. The strategies address communication, transitions and choice.

This article looks at students' childhood trauma with a view to how this can affect teachers who are directly exposed to young people with trauma.

This resource from Islamic Social Services and the National Council of Canadian Muslims provides background about what some Muslim refugees may be experiencing as well as guidance for teachers and others working in education.

The Training and Learning Policy Initiative website is filled with resources for teachers and administrators. Find research and background information about trauma and learning as well as resources for creating trauma sensitive environments.

This August 2018 edutopia article shares the results of a Twitter chat on the topic of trauma and social and emotional learning (SEL). Read about key themes that emerged during the chat.

An interesting article that emphasizes the importance of inclusion of diverse experiences and viewpoints in the classroom.

The Language of Trauma and Loss provides teachers with information about the effect of trauma and loss on children, and the teacher’s role in identifying and referring appropriate students. There are videos for elementary, middle school and secondary use as well as teaching guides.

This tip sheet is for parents, educators, health practitioners and others who work with kids to lessen anxieties arising from the coverage of catastrophic events.

The NCTSN has a collection of resources for educators and schools: Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators, Psychological First Aid for Schools, School Resources.

This resource provides guidance on responding to disaster, violence, or terrorism events using the Psychological First Aid intervention. This version gives educators practical assistance to meet immediate needs and concerns, reduce distress, and foster adaptive coping in the wake of a disaster.

Find resources that describe the special considerations for the mental health and care of refugees with trauma. The guide for schools includes considerations for: school, classroom, individual and family.

This article provides strategies to help upper elementary and middle school kids who have experienced trauma understand and control their emotions. Learn how you can use a garden of well-being with students.

This resource has infographics and descriptions of the effects of childhood trauma at various ages as well as how to help a student who requires assistance.

This is a cross-curricular educational resource for grades K to 8, created by UNICEF.