Reducing Trauma in the Classroom:Principles, Strategies, Methods, & Skills

Howard Robinson, D.S.W. Ineke Way, Ph.D. Fordham University Western Michigan University

CSWE APM WASHINGTON D.C. 2012

Dr. Virginia Strand, DSW

Dr. Robert Abramovitz M.D.

Background

CSWE (2012) Advanced Social Work Practice in Trauma

“The imperative for graduate social work education to prepare students for competent trauma-informed practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities stems from social workers’ prominence as members of the largest mental health profession treating trauma survivors.”

Competency in trauma-informed practice is an imperative for social work education

Need to Recognize Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS)

CSWE’s guidelines for Advanced Social Work Practice in Trauma specify the need for social workers to recognize and address STS:

CSWE Competency 2.1.1. Identify as a professional social worker and conduct oneself accordinglyAdvanced practitioners:

•Recognize the importance of practitioner and organizational self-care and resilience in trauma-informed social work practice.•Identify and differentiate the signs and symptoms of secondary traumatic stress/vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout.•Use self-reflection and self-care practice to prevent and address secondary traumatic stress/vicarious trauma in self and organization•Know how to identify and model what constitutes safety for the client, the organization, and self”

Purpose

As educators who train social workers in trauma-informed practice, we have a responsibility to create class environments that safeguard students from developing secondary traumatic stress.

Our purpose is to teach principles, methods, strategies and skills when teaching trauma content so that educators can reduce the possibility of secondary traumatic stress among students and increase student awareness in the process.

REDUCE SECONDARY TRAUMATIC STRESS IN THE CLASSROOM

Workshop Goals

1. Engage in an experiential process to facilitate your understanding and management of secondary traumatic stress (STS) in the classroom

2. Teach key principles to follow when presenting class material that contains explicit trauma content

3. Provide strategies, methods, and skills to reduce secondary traumatic stress with students in the class room

Trauma Concepts

TRAUMA: AN ADVERSE LIFE-EVENT

“Trauma results from adverse life experiences that overwhelm and individual’s capacity to cope and to adapt

positively to whatever threat he or she faces.”Bessel Van der Kolk, 1996

TRAUMATIC STRESS: THE EFFECT OF THE EVENT

“An event becomes traumatic when its adverse effect produces feelings of helplessness and lack of control, and thoughts that one’s survival may possibly be in danger.”

Trauma ConceptsSECONDARY TRAUMATIC STRESS: EXPOSURE TO TRAUMATIC

EXPERIENCE OF OTHERS

Secondary traumatic stress relates to the “natural and consequential behaviors and emotions resulting from knowing about a traumatizing event experienced by a significant other [or client] and the stress resulting from helping or wanting to help a traumatized or suffering person [or client]” (Figley, 1995, p. 7).

STS results from engaging in an empathic relationship with an individual suffering from a traumatic experience and bearing witness to the intense or horrific experiences of that particular person’s trauma (Figley, 1995). The symptoms of secondary traumatic stress mirror the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) experienced by the primary victim of trauma. The experience of secondary traumatic stress may include a full range of PTSD symptoms, such as intrusive thoughts, traumatic memories or nightmares associated with client trauma, insomnia, chronic irritability or angry outbursts, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, avoidanceof clients and client situations, and hyper-vigilant or startle reactions toward stimuli or reminders of client trauma (APA, 1994; Bride, 2007; Rothschild, 2000;Figley, 1995). Newell and MacNeil, 2010, p. 60

CONDITIONS OF SAFETY

• The goal is to establish a safe “container” in which one can risk and share

• We need to establish our role, our purpose, and attend to boundaries

• We do not engage in “therapy”

Principle #1: A safe setting is required in order to present material that challenges personal safety

Self-AwarenessNOTICE: Become mindful of reactionsNAME: Identify what the reactions are FRAME: View reactions as traumatic stressTAME: Bring reactions under one’s understanding

and control

PRINCIPLE #2: Self-Awareness is Key: In order to “Tame” stress, we need to “Notice,” “Name,” and

“Frame” responses to trauma content.

“Mindfulness is a mental state whereby one attends to and purposefully manages one’s awareness of what is happening in the moment.” Pamela Hyde, SAMHSA

Relaxation

Breathe “3” In … Breathe “5” Out

Breathe to a count of “7”

…HOLD…

Breath out

Self-AssessmentSample items from the ProQOL (Stamm, 2009):

•I think I might have been affected by the traumatic stress of those I help (#9)•Because of my helping, I have felt “on edge” about various things (#11)•I feel depressed because of the traumatic experiences of the people I help (#13)•I feel as though I am experiencing the trauma of someone I have helped (#14)•I avoid certain activities or situations because they remind me of frightening experiences of the people I help (#23)

Method: Use small group sharing to explore how students experience stress, and strategies that students use to cope with stress

Principle #3: Working with trauma material requires self-care preparation

and on-going self-care

IBRAHIMIBRAHIM

IBRAHIM’S NARRATIVEA BRIDGE COLLAPSE

SENSORY OVERLOAD

Responses to Ibrahim’s Narrative

REFLECTION

“What sensations, feelings, and thoughts did you have while experiencing Ibrahim’s trauma narrative?”

Please share within your group

4. BEHAVIORALWanting to leave the room, fleeFidgeting

Categories of Reactions 1. SOMATIC

Racing pulseMuscle tension in face, neck, or shouldersTightening of stomachPressure on the chestChange in breathing

2. AFFECTIVE

Feelings of dread, panic, fear, sadnessFeelings “out of the blue”Absence of feeling, emotional “numbness”

3. COGNITIVERacing, irrational thoughtsConfusion, flooding

REFLECTION

“In what ways might your responses be similar to what you as a social worker would experience while working with clients who have experienced trauma?”

Principle #4: Experiential learning provides direct application to practice situations.

STUDENT

TRAUMANARRATIVEP

ARALLEL

PROCESS

CLIENT

TRAUMAEXPERIENCE

CLASSROOM FIELD

Four Major Principles to Promote In Class

•Safety: Create a safe setting•Awareness: Notice, Name, Frame, and Tame•Self-Care: Consciously plan for stress relief•Application: Use experience to promote parallel process thinking

Reducing Trauma in the Classroom:Principles, Strategies, Methods, & Skills

Howard Robinson, D.S.W. Ineke Way, Ph.D. Fordham University Western Michigan University

CSWE APM WASHINGTON D.C. 2012