question archive After learning the history of Indigenous cultural, I believe that we need to make their voices heard and take actions at the same time
After learning the history of Indigenous cultural, I believe that we need to make their voices heard and take actions at the same time
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After learning the history of Indigenous cultural, I believe that we need to make their voices heard and take actions at the same time. I decided to explore more on trauma-informed practice because trauma will impact individuals lifelong. Research showed that one in three Canadians have experienced different type of traumas, and the traumatic event could derail children’s development, correlate to children’s health problems, and effect the ability to form or maintain relationship throughout their life.
Trauma-informed practice is more than just healing individual from the trauma that they experienced. Trauma-informed practice is creating a safe, flexible, and supportive learning environment by educators, caregivers, and the community to support children in their recovery from trauma. The guiding principle of trauma informed practice is to raise trauma awareness, create trustworthy environment, engage in family collaboration, and practice skill building.
As a community, some of us have been reluctant on trauma because we have lack knowledge of trauma. According to Ginwright, we need “an approach that allows practitioners to approach trauma with a fresh lens that promotes a holistic view of healing from traumatic experiences and environments”. Before I entered the field, I didn’t have much knowledge about the traumatic events that children experience in their early years will affect their mental development and continue affect their adult life. We need to raise awareness of trauma-informed practice among educators, children, and parents, so we could support children who experienced trauma as a community.
When I was studying at Camosun, I had my first practicum at Lambrick park preschool. There was always a girl who was the first one in the classroom in the cold winter. Later on, I found out that she lost her mother at the time and her dad was in deep grief. Cammy, the principal of Hillcrest, also as a part of the community, was supporting A.’s family the best she could by taking care of her and her brother L. who goes to Hillcrest. A. was exposed to deep trauma because she lost her mother. The family needed someone to take care of A. and L. while the dad is pulling himself together, and it was hard for A. and her family too. Luckily, A. was in a caring environment where she felt safe and supported by educators and the community. My mentor B. set up a safe space under one of the tables in the corner for children who need some space. At the same time, she had conversations with staffs and parents who were helping in the childcare center about showing care to A. Although, A. has some emotional moments, B. was able to develop a healthy relationship to help A. to identify her feelings and coping skill. According to (P18), “Caregivers who understand that trauma responses affect feelings and behaviors are more sensitive to potential trauma triggers for children in their care and are better able to respond to the underlying cause of “bad” behaviors in a helpful way”. When educators are learning about the effects of attachment trauma on children’s behaviors, educators could support children more effectively in different aspects.
While trauma-informed practice focuse on safety, trust, and the importance of empowering and individual’s choice and sense of control, it also has limitations. Children who were exposed to trauma from different aspects such as emotional, sexual, physical abuse, violence, poverty which could result a variety range of reactions. For example, Khodarahmi and Ford explained that challenging behaviors could include “aggression, being controlling or manipulative, hyper-vigilance, food or object hoarding, memory difficulties, and lack of interest in play”, and these behaviors must be recognized by educators and discussed with ECE teams, and family to support the children. It is not always easy to identify characteristics of trauma, and educators need to be expose to more resources to learn about impact of trauma on children, knowledge to intervene directly in a trauma, and care plan to support children.
Another concern in TIP is word choice. In Ginwright’s story of the young African man was offended by the term he used, Ginwright realized that the term we used could be harmful to others. We should shift the questions we ask from “What is wrong with you?” to “What happen to you?” Ginwright believed “healing centered approach view those exposed to trauma as agents in the creation of their own well-being rather than victims of traumatic events”. We are learning about people’s experiences rather than trying to “fix” them.
As educators, we are making all these efforts to support children who were exposed to trauma so that they are healing from trauma effects. Children who were exposed to trauma could have a range of negative effects both physically and emotionally which reflect in body health and negative emotions.
