By Grant Steward addressing the source of violence. They encourage us to adapt to systems, thereby protecting the status quo.” A significant aspect of the system is that of teachers. As noted above, trauma compromises safety and without safety, quality education does not happen. And this includes teachers, especially female and LGBTQ teachers, as the opening story is indicative of. Teacher stress is well known and has been a cause of concern for a long time (although perhaps media and social media do not always make this obvious). Lack of This is why a trauma-informed approach to the school context is a must. A trauma-informed approach to school engages with what Waters, Cross, and Shaw (2010) refer to as the ecology of the school – the physical, structural, relational, and functional aspects of school life. It is a call to move beyond (but not lose!) therapy, counselling, and other psychosocial support services. It recognises that the issue of trauma and toxic stress is insurmountable within traditional responses. Writing in The Guardian on general mental health, psychologist Sanah Ahsan “[worries] that a purely medicalised, individualised understanding of mental health puts plasters over big gaping wounds, without safety and the impact of myriad other toxic stressors (such as the economy and more recently the covid pandemic) has the massive potential of leading to burnout. Teachers, and other school staff, need the opportunity and resources to develop self-care as well as a space to process their thoughts, and emotions, reduce their anxiety, and promote support among one another. In addition, the approach advocates for change in some of the broader systemic issues such as economic strain, massive educational inequity, and curriculum demands which are too often divorced from psycho-social realities. Then we can empower and capacitate teachers to create classroom spaces that are responsive to the impact of trauma on learners.
[1] Perry, B and Winfrey, O. What happened to you? Conversations on trauma, resilience and healing. New York, Flatiron books, 2021. [1]Waters, S, Cross, D and Shaw, T. Does the nature of schools matter? An exploration of selected school ecology factors on adolescent perceptions of school connectedness. British Journal of Educational Psychology (2010), 80, 381–402. [1] Ahsan, S. I’m a psychologist – and I believe we’ve been told devastating lies about mental health, The Guardian, 6 September 2022.
PATHWA https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/06/psychologist- devastating-lies-mental-health-problems-politics?CMP=share_btn_link 76 Dec 2022 | Collective Action Magazine
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator