2017 Annual Conference

Kimberly Hodges, Ed.S., CTP

Elementary
Middle
Secondary
Counselor Educator, Supervisor

   School system employees are constantly charged with the task of implementing new academic platforms and approaches designed to increase test scores or decrease dropout rates.  While some of these initiativs may prove effective for some students, none will impact lasting school-wide gains until we address the elephant in the room-childhood trauma.  Join me to learn how this trauma manifests and how to implement simple interventions now to impact positive change for all students.

  The effects of childhood trauma have been negatively altering the lives of individuals long before the 1990's when the DSM-IV finally recognized that PTSD could be applied to children as well as adults.  Today, the effects of untreated and undiagnosed childhood trauma reach into our homes, schools and communitites to impair emotional, cognitive and social functioning.  The devastation has reached epic proportions in the United states.

  The Trauma-Informed Classroom addresses ways that professionals can begin to transform the school setting into a trauma-informed environment.  Participants will learn about the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study and what can be done to counteract high ACE scores in students.  Participants will also discuss the connection between trauma and toxic stress and how trauma impacts the brain in areas of social, emotional and cognitive functioning.  In addition, participants will identify the three types of trauma according to the National Institute of Trauma and Loss in Children, learn the symptom overlaps of trauma with medical and mental health diagnoses and why trauma is often misidentified.  This session will provide the opportunity for questions throughout and will provide participants with the knowledge they need to become trauma-informed practioners in the school setting.  Copies of the ACE questionnaire, resiliance questionnaire and a list of additional resources will be provided.