Centering positive education within trauma-informed practice provides schools with effective strategies to (1) increase teacher capacity towards student wellbeing and engagement, (2) assist teachers to understand the direct impacts of adverse childhood experiences on learning, and (3) bolster teacher wellbeing in the face of secondary and vicarious stressors (Brunzell, 2019; Brunzell, Waters, & Stokes, 2015; Brunzell, Stokes, & Waters, 2016). Particularly as schools contend with the ongoing systemic concerns of inter-generational inequity and the disruption of school as usual, our trauma-informed positive education strategies show promising outcomes for both students and their teachers (Stokes, Kern, Turnbull...et al., 2019).
Our trauma-informed positive education approach at Berry Street, Australia, was first designed to help trauma-affected young people in out-of-home-care and has grown to service schools across Australia and beyond (Brunzell & Abbott, 2015; Brunzell, Norrish, Ralston...et al., 2015). Research has shown that when teachers implement our strategies as a whole-school approach, student academic and wellbeing outcomes increase (Stokes & Brunzell, 2019). Alongside quantitative evidence, qualitative research exploring students’ own voices are telling us that they are effectively applying trauma-informed positive education strategies within and outside the classroom (Stokes & Brunzell, 2020); and students with their own histories of educational disruption are increasing engagement with learning (Stokes,Turnbull, Forster, & Farrelly, 2019). Learn how to apply our strategies through your school to ensure that every student has the opportunity to grow and learn through trauma-informed positive education teacher practices.