For a while we, at the LLEN, have been hearing the same message – that professional learning for Education Support staff in schools doesn’t happen as often as it could.
So, with the support of Gab Evans, School Focussed Youth Services Coordinator at Family Life, we decided to do something about it!
Trauma informed practice training is important for anyone working with young people who have experienced trauma and we thought this was a great place to start.
After contacting schools and letting them know that we were facilitating this training we were overwhelmed with the response, so much so, that we decided to run a second training session!
Gab put together a fantastic training program and provided a really extensive workbook for everyone who attended. They all found it to be very valuable especially with the resources and ideas Gab had included.
My colleague Sam and I attended both sessions and apart from finding it so interesting ourselves it was fantastic to see everyone absorbing the information and sharing ideas which continued over a cup of tea / coffee in the break.
Here are some of the comments which attendees made:
- Gabi delivered an interesting, informative session jampacked with practical information and strategies to support our students
- Great to attend, very beneficial on my journey as a new integration aid
- This area of focus is very relevant and important in today’s schools. Keep up the educational conversation
- Understanding and teaching self-regulation strategies that help traumatised students to feel safe will be valuable
- This will assist in understanding neurological and physiological responses to stress and trauma
- Really interesting to learn more about how the brain works and is organised
Apart from other outcomes one of the best is that we will now facilitate an Education Support staff network and from the two sessions have 5 people who are willing to take a lead in the network.
What I personally took away from the sessions was how fascinating brain development is and that by running sessions like this we are assisting the support staff to really help young people who have suffered trauma. If the support staff have a better understanding of how trauma experiences can lead to certain behaviours and also have strategies to help, then an environment can be created where young people feel safe, valued and understood.
So, thank you to everyone who attended – and especially to Gab who delivered such a well structured and informative training session.
Kathy