Trauma-informed educational practice is a mindset—an acceptance of diversity that accounts for background, knowledge, skills and life experiences, and an understanding that those experiences can vary and may include trauma.
Trauma-informed approaches to care emerged as the result of the Adverse Childhood Experiences study (ACEs) published in 1998 which linked childhood trauma to debilitating health conditions later in life.
The study connected childhood abuse (emotional, physical or sexual), family dysfunction (for instance, due to alcoholism or mental illness) health risk factors for common causes of death in adults (heart disease, substance abuse), and the development of mental disorders, including anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
Sources
- Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Educational Practices (TIEP). Figure adapted by Rana Halabi Najjar and Francis Alicia Rojina (Oregon Health & Science University School of Nursing). From Missouri Model: A Developmental Framework for Trauma-Informed Approaches, Missouri Department of Mental Health (2014).
- Najjar, R. A Trauma-Informed Approach Provides Framework for Achieving Health Equity. Campaign for Action. 25 Jan 2023
