Episode Details

Teri Barila, Children's Resilience Initiative Director in Walla Walla, Washington, explains trauma-informed practices for schools. Trauma is the perception of lost safety and connection, so it reaches well beyond the ten ACEs. Her advice to principals: look at what a child has experienced, and start by building your own skills.

Barila answers the pushback you hear from staff. When a man at a law enforcement presentation said he had five ACEs and turned out fine, she asked who stepped in for him. His basketball coach did. She also describes a calm room run without punishment, and why teachers say students do not abuse it.

What you'll learn

• Ask the teacher who says they turned out fine whether a caring adult stepped in for them, then use that answer to explain why attachment matters.
• Send an upset student to a calm space as support, not as punishment, and have an adult sit with them and name the feeling.
• Check back in with the student after a break so the calm room does not become a way to skip class.
• Widen your idea of safety to include moral and social safety, not only physical safety.
• Practice your own emotional hygiene so you stay regulated in a stressful moment, because students copy what they see.

Chapters

• 0:00 What trauma is and how to support students
• 2:40 Answering 'I turned out fine' from staff
• 4:32 Why a caring adult builds resilience
• 8:26 Look past the behavior to the cause
• 10:23 Trauma goes beyond the ten ACEs
• 15:31 Calm rooms and 'this takes too much time'
• 20:04 Will students take advantage of a calm room?
• 23:51 Adults regulate first with emotional hygiene

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Questions this episode answers

What is trauma in a school setting?
Barila says trauma is the perception of a loss of safety and connection, not just the ten ACEs from the original study. A first pet's death, being teased over a learning disability, or being labeled can all count, so what is traumatic differs for each child.

Will students abuse a calm room to avoid work?
Barila says the teachers using calm rooms report that students do not abuse them when it is built in from day one and framed as returning to safety. Jethro adds that students push the limit when teachers are inconsistent and do not check back in afterward.

What should a principal do first to support students affected by trauma?
Barila says it starts with adult skills. Learn how the brain's hardwired response system works, remember that kids are not out to get you, and keep yourself regulated, because students mimic your body language. She recommends Self-Reg by Stuart Shanker.

About Teri Barila

Teri Barila is the Children's Resilience Initiative Director in Walla Walla, Washington.

Links and resources

• Bruce Perry on childhood trauma
• Sandra Bloom's Sanctuary work
• Self-Reg by Stuart Shanker
• Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
• Create your ideal week
• Join the group coaching program
• Podcast on Apple Podcasts
• Podcast on Stitcher
• Jethro Jones on Twitter
• Podcast on Twitter

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