Forest View Elementary Strives to Become a Trauma-Informed School
The motto for Forest View Elementary School – Where the World Learns Together – is more than an aspiration. It is an accurate description of the school’s demographics. Nearly a third of the students are Hispanic, and there are more than 30 countries represented, making it the most diverse elementary school in Durham Public Schools.
It is also a school increasingly familiar with signs of trauma among its students. In 2016, they saw a dramatic increase in students from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and other places torn by war and conflict. But trauma is not limited to refugees, and many of Forest View’s kids live in poverty in neighborhoods where conditions are not safe.
“More of our kids are coming in with really serious needs,” says principal Neil Clay, “and we’ve got tend to their emotional and social needs before they can be ready to learn.”
To meet those needs, teachers and staff have been learning and applying new practices to ensure that children experience Forest View as a safe, supportive environment. They are moving toward more relationship and community building, logical consequences, and skill-building models. They have undertaken a restorative justice project. And in August 2016, Principal Clay and five teachers and staff enrolled in Trauma-Informed Leadership Training (TILT) at CCFH.
TILT is a pilot project for equipping teams in the Durham school district to design and implement trauma-informed practices that match the culture and needs of their individual schools. Forest View and five other schools spent nine months working with CCFH faculty Kelly Sullivan and Felicia Gibson to master the fundamentals of childhood trauma, learn evidence-based interventions for child traumatic stress, and create an implementation strategy.
“I’ve seen a lot of kids struggling,” says school counselor Ashley Altman, “and we just didn’t know the best way to help them.” Following each training session, though, she took new perspectives and tools back to Forest View to coach teachers through specific challenges with individual students, re-interpreting them through a trauma lens. “Our aim now,” she says, “is to disseminate those practices school-wide.”
They are also emphasizing the importance of self-care for teachers. “A school can be a very traumatic place to work,” says Catriona Moore, who teaches English as a Second Language. “If teachers aren’t taking care of themselves, it won’t matter how much they learn about trauma. First, they have to be able to be present for students.”
With the many demands that public education places on teachers, staff, and administrators, the Forest View team knows that creating a trauma-informed school will take time. So, they are starting small and building capacity little by little. Still, they know exactly where they want to arrive: a safe place where the world can learn together.