The topic I am very much interested in and passionate about is creating awareness for the need of Trauma-Informed Schools & Educators.

 

Rationale & Decision

 

Personal: Over the past 3 years I have been living and working in Pikangikum First Nations a remote and very isolated Anishinaabe reserve. There are only approximately 3,000 people living in Pikangikum and the majority (about 75% are under the age of 30). We have about over 1,000 students registered from K-12. I have been away from my immediate family and my close friends for 9-10 months out of the year and I have really become involved and part of the community (which in itself shows me how caring the people have been by accepting me). Having only lived in Pikangikum for 3 years I have already begun to witness the effects of toxic stress and trauma that the community members have or experience (and secondary for myself and my colleagues).

 

The types of toxic stress and trauma vary from grief, self-harm, suicide, substance abuse (sniffing gas and extremely alcohol abuse), physical/sexual/and/or emotional abuse of children, domestic abuse, neglect, poverty (no running water/food/indoor plumbing/power constantly going out) etc. Many of my students deal with 2 or more of the above stressors on a daily basis. I have come to see what it can do to a child, teenager and adult and I want things to change- plain and simple. 

 

In addition, the majority of students have mental health issues which clearly can be attributed to the above situations and many have FASD (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) or some varied developmental delay.  

If schools and educators were trauma-informed and used different approaches in their teaching and/or classroom management (as well as their own self-care) we would see happier, successful and healthier students and staff. To be honest, over the past 3 years I have witnessed and/or stopped many traumatic events and with the accumulation of compassion fatigue and secondary trauma..this is hard for me to say, is that I am exhibiting signs of PTSD. It's hard to hear it from your friends, your doctor and school psychiatrist. However, it's there and there is nothing to be ashamed of.  It is what it is. This topic is something that means a lot to me and I want to create awareness so that students can be helped as much as possible and so that staff know how to protect themselves too. 

 

 

Scholarly: Throughout the history of time, the education system in North America has been witness to various changes regarding innovation in teaching and learning. School environments and classrooms have evolved in various manners by implementing shifting pedagogies, incorporating technology as a critical medium for learning and adopting more constructivist teaching methods. 

 

However, a constant that remains unchanged throughout the course of the history of learning and teaching is the inevitable truth that there will always be students and teachers that have been affected by trauma. 

The points of the Capstone will be discussing: 

1. Students that have experienced trauma and or have consistent toxic stress in their lives and how it negatively affects their behaviour and academic performance;

2. Why trauma-informed schools benefit educators and what happens to educators when they are not trauma-informed (compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, and PTSD symptoms);

 3. Mitigating the effects of trauma by way of creating a call for trauma-informed school frameworks and support systems. 

​

Format: 

I intend to use a blended format to present my capstone (my online portfolio website using video, a research paper, and perhaps a booklet that may include traditional versus trauma-informed ways to deal with behavioural situations in school.  

• Academic Paper

• Personal Video

• Website/multi-media 

 

Audience: The intended audience is for anyone in the education field (particularly administrators and teachers). Administrators need to demonstrate the capacity of care and understanding for their students and staff. Teachers would benefit from this because they would be reaching more students, burn out less and help students feel safe to be themselves! 

​

Note: Pikangikum finally was put on the Ontario Power Grid at the end of December 2018. However, we still have scheduled power outages (even this week) but this in itself will be a major positive change to the life of the people in Pikangikum.