The Way Forward With Wellness

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It seems like we are all experiencing an emotional winter: when the situations in our lives are so overwhelming or prolonged that we feel like our emotional resources have been drained. Use the remainder of this pandemic induced emotional winter to build your stress management toolbox. Try to learn one new stress management tool for yourself and one that you can teach to your students.   Read more>>>

Ongoing Police Violence is Devastating to the Mental Health of Black Children and Youth: Here's How You Can Support Them in Your Professional Role as an Educator

Racially motivated police brutality is an incredibly traumatizing form of violence because the effects extend far beyond the individual or group of police officers who commit these acts. Such violence affects children’s fundamental beliefs that the world is a safe place and diminishes their willingness to trust authority figures. Read more>>>

Supporting Students Coping with Chronic Trauma

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De-escalation strategies can help prevent students’ emotional outbursts, and aid them and their peers in finding calm after one. ... Students often display several signs of agitation in the early stages of the Acting Out Cycle before a major emotional outburst occurs,   Read more>>>

Focusing on the Here and Now

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We’re paying attention to the needs of vulnerable students whose parents and caregivers are unable to replicate a school-like learning environment at home. ... We’re also paying attention to students who are in unsafe contexts and are dependent on you to recognize and respond to signs of distress in the remote learning environment.   Read more>>>

Bringing Evidence-Based Decision-Making to School Safety

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Although there is substantial evidence that police officers in schools, also known as school resource officers (SROs), do not advance safety in schools, their presence in schools has increased dramatically over the past 30 years. ... Research consistently places practices to improve mental health as well as social and emotional skills at the center of evidence-based school safety interventions. Read more>>>

Building Trust Between Students and Teachers Helps Kids Overcome Trauma — and Makes Schools Safer

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While a growing body of research can make the subject of helping students overcome trauma complex, the core of it all is intuitive: When students trust that the adults in the room will keep them physically, psychologically, and emotionally safe, they do better.  Read more>>>

Building Racial Equity Through Trauma Responsive Discipline

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This current moment of civil unrest in the fight against systemic racism and police brutality underscores the need for schools to be responsive to students coping with trauma.   Read more>>>

Preparing Educators for the Challenge Ahead

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Educators made it through one tumultuous academic year, but the educational challenge is just beginning. Research from previous disasters, like Hurricane Katrina, indicates that we should be hopeful that most children will exhibit resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Read more>>>