Providing school-based mental health providers with the necessary tools to help intervene on behalf of students struggling to overcome trauma, this volume features engaging case studies and an overview of evidence-based interventions.

What would a school look like if it was designed with mental health in mind? Too many public schools look and feel like prisons, designed out of fear of vandalism and truancy. But we know that nurturing environments are better for learning. Access to nature, big classroom windows, and open campuses consistently reduce stress, anxiety, disorderly conduct, and crime, and improve academic performance. Backed by decades of research, Schools That Heal showcases clear and compelling ways--from furniture to classroom improvements to whole campus renovations--to make supportive learning environments for our children and teenagers. With invaluable advice for school administrators, public health experts, teachers, and parents Schools That Heal is a call to action and a practical resource to create nurturing and inspiring schools for all children.

Educators must both respond to the impact of trauma, and prevent trauma at school. Trauma-informed initiatives tend to focus on the challenging behaviors of students and ascribe them to circumstances that students are facing outside of school. This approach ignores the reality that inequity itself causes trauma, and that schools often heighten inequities when implementing trauma-informed practices that are not based in educational equity. In this fresh look at trauma-informed practice, Alex Shevrin Venet urges educators to shift equity to the center as they consider policies and professional development. Using a framework of six principles for equity-centered trauma-informed education, Venet offers practical action steps that teachers and school leaders can take from any starting point, using the resources and influence at their disposal to make shifts in practice, pedagogy, and policy. Overthrowing inequitable systems is a process, not an overnight change. But transformation is possible when educators work together, and teachers can do more than they realize from within their own classrooms.

With accessible strategies grounded in trauma-informed education and positive psychology, this book equips teachers to support all students, particularly the most vulnerable. It will help them to build their resilience, increase their motivation and engagement, and fulfil their full learning potential within the classroom. Trauma-informed, strengths-based classrooms are built upon three core aims: to support children to build their self-regulatory capacities, to build a sense of relatedness and belonging at school, and to integrate wellbeing principles that nurture growth and identify strengths. Taking conventional approaches to trauma one step further, teachers may create a classroom environment which helps students to meet their own needs in a healthy way and progress academically. Based on the successful Berry Street education strategies pioneered by the authors, this book also includes comprehensive case studies, learning points and opportunities for self-reflection, fully supporting teachers to implement these strategies within the classroom.

Covering both theory and practice, this book will teach educators everything they need to know about developing restorative practices in their education settings, in a way that is also trauma-informed. The first part of the book addresses the theory and philosophy of restorative approaches, and of trauma-informed and trauma-sensitive schools. The second part outlines the five restorative skills (mindfulness, honest expression, empathy, the art of asking questions and the art of requests), what they look like in practice (including using circles, respect agreements and restorative dialogue), and how to implement them. Every strategy is clearly explained and adapted to be appropriate for children and adults who have experienced trauma. Everything the book discusses has been especially designed to be adapted for different school settings and their particular challenges.

“Lesley Koplow’s well-examined truths uncover an image of intimacy between teacher and child sorely needed in our schools. Her ‘emotionally responsive’ teacher is the pivot for a classroom community that visibly supports and honors it’s members in the great variety of their lives. ‘What stands in the way?’ is the question Ms. Koplow courageously answers.” —Vivian Gussin Paley, author of In Mrs. Tulley’s Room: A Childcare Portrait In a world where children are beset by violence and stress, Lesley Koplow provides educators with clear, level-headed advice on how to construct therapeutic learning environments for all children. This is a book about integrating preventive mental health practice into public schools (preschool through grade 5). Koplow, a psychotherapist, discusses the mandate for violence prevention and offers an intervention framework for teachers, administrators, and school-based clinicians who want to improve the emotional climate in their school. This important and timely volume: Helps educators read the signs of distress or problematic social/emotional development as they are likely to manifest themselves in the school setting.Introduces a practice model that calls for strengthened teacher-child connections.Addresses, in separate chapters, the roles of the teacher, principal, and school-based clinician, providing guidance and effective strategies for each.Demonstrates that interventions can be done effectively by existing school personnel.Describes a project to facilitate teacher gathering of psycho-social history that can be used to inform constructive curricular practice.Poses compelling questions for policymakers, including concerns about the effect that the current focus on standards and test scores is having on the emotional tone of schools.Includes a chapter addressing what we’ve learned from the recent tragic events of September 11th in New York City.