Bullying Prevention as a Trauma-Informed Approach

Article #4 of the IBPA Trauma Series

First posted July 12, 2019

In using the lens of trauma, the effects of bullying are better understood for their widespread impact on all involved in a bullying situation. This lens then allows for a systems-level approach to bullying prevention through trauma-informed practices.

The foundation of trauma-informed practices is a safe and supportive school community where students have a strong sense of belonging. Dr. Caelan Soma and Derrick Allen of Starr Commonwealth have developed 10 steps for creating trauma-informed schools. 

1. Provide school-wide childhood trauma awareness and understanding of how trauma impacts children’s learning and behavior. Any person can help students thrive when they understand the impact of stress and trauma on learning.
2. View trauma as an experience rather than an incident or a diagnostic category. When bullying or any traumatic event occurs, it marks the beginning of an experience that may last for months or even years.
3. Believe the link between private logic and behavior. Private logic is described as the way individuals view themselves, others, and the world around them. Based on this logic, they act according to that perception.
4. Establish the experience of physical and emotional safety. We must ensure that students experience hope, empowerment, choice, security, structure, and consistency to build resilience.
5. Foster connections. Students who feel connected to their school are more likely to stay in school, have strong attendance, and achieve at higher levels.
6. Prioritize social and emotional skills. Among the most important of these skills is self-regulation: it provides the foundation for self-development, relationships, and learning.
7. Promote play. Research confirms that unstructured play improves concentration, problem-solving capabilities, and more.
8. Collaborate with families and community. Bullying, like all traumatic experiences, tends to isolate the individuals who need connection more than most. Family and community partnerships are essential components of safe, supportive, and effective schools.
9. Support staff. Whether it is a bullying situation or another type of trauma, school professionals hearing details about or witnessing a traumatic event are susceptible to vicarious trauma. Self-care is an essential practice for trauma-informed practitioners.
10. Collect and share outcome data. By collecting baseline and outcome data on culture, behavior, attendance, and more, schools are able to show the impact of trauma-informed practices.

A traumatic experience such as bullying is experienced at the most instinctual and sensory part of the brain. Trauma interventions, then, happen at both the systems level and with the individual. While trauma interventions must be conducted by trained professionals, there are activities and strategies that any adult can do with children and young adults to help heal trauma effects while also building resilience. Sensory-based, mind-body activities have proven their effectiveness, like those found here: https://www.weareteachers.com/mind-body-skills/.

The Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reminds us that all trauma-informed practices must adhere to the following principles, rather than to a prescribed program:

• Safety
• Trustworthiness and transparency
• Peer support
• Collaboration and mutuality
• Empowerment, voice, and choice
• Cultural, historical, and gender issues

Julie E. McDaniel-Muldoon, PhD

Social Media Director, International Bullying Prevention Association (IBPA)

Student Safety and Well-Being Consultant, Oakland Schools (Waterford, Michigan)

Advanced Trauma Practitioner and Trainer, Starr Commonweath

Email: julie.mcdaniel@oakland.k12.mi.us

Twitter: @jemmuldoon

Blog: https://jemmuldoon.blogspot.com/

For more information:

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)

https://www.nctsn.org/resources/what-trauma-informed-child-and-family-service-system

The Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative’s (TLPI) 

https://traumasensitiveschools.org/about-tlpi/

Starr Commonwealth

www.starr.org

Viewing Bullying through the Lens of Trauma

Article 1 of the IBPA Trauma Series

Originally posted June 27, 2019

In August 2017, the US Department of Health and Human Services released Bullying as an Adverse Childhood Experience on its StopBullying.gov site. This fact sheet calls for all involved in bullying prevention efforts to have a strong understanding of trauma, to see the relationship between trauma and bullying, and to develop a shared vision of how bullying prevention might become a part of trauma-informed practices. 

What is trauma?

Trauma is an experience that leaves a person feeling hopeless or helpless, perceiving a tremendous loss of safety and fear for survival. The details of a traumatic event itself are not important; instead, the focus must be on the way people experience the event.  When the brain perceives threat to safety, whether that threat is real or imagined, the most instinctual part of the brain (often called the reptilian brain) goes into survival mode. This powerful automatic response is often categorized as “fight”, “flight”, or “freeze”. Survival mode reduces cognitive and emotional capacity. 

In this survival mode, the body is in a state of hyper-arousal: where heart-rate is accelerated and emotions are unregulated. Additionally, stress hormones (such as cortisol and adrenalin) are released. What makes this most concerning in children is that the surge in these hormones over an extended period of time may cause damage to a still-developing brain.

The effects of childhood trauma on adulthood is a relatively new area for research; however, studies confirm that the trauma experienced by children/young people has long-lasting social, emotional, cognitive, and physical effects into adulthood. This impact is no less than the Post-Traumatic Stress diagnosed in veterans of war or first responders in devastating natural disasters.

What is the relationship between trauma and bullying?

A traumatic experience brings feelings of hopelessness and helplessness; the same feelings as those targeted by bullying behavior. The important distinction between bullying and other acts of aggression, the perceived or real imbalance of power, is at the heart of what constitutes bullying as a traumatic experience. 

Exposure to a childhood traumatic event can cause some children to exhibit harmful behavior that can last into adulthood. For example, the original ACE's Study documented 10% of females and 15% of males with high incidents of childhood trauma that became perpetrators of domestic violence in adulthood. The trajectory for those engaged in bullying behavior into adulthood is equally concerning. Bullying researchers Dan Olweus and colleagues found that males who engaged in aggressive behavior and are identified by age 8 are more likely to be convicted of a crime and have a serious criminal record in adulthood. We know that hurt people hurt people, therefore, childhood trauma intervention may be the key to ending this cycle of violence.

No matter if directly or indirectly involved, the impact of a traumatic event can be found in anyone. A bullying situation similarly affects everyone involved: the perpetrators, the victims, and the witnesses. Looking through the lens of trauma, bullying is viewed as the complex experience that it is.

Julie E. McDaniel-Muldoon, PhD

Social Media Director, International Bullying Prevention Association (IBPA)

Student Safety and Well-Being Consultant, Oakland Schools (Waterford, Michigan)

Advanced Practitioner and Trainer, Starr Global Learning Network

Email: julie.mcdaniel@oakland.k12.mi.us

For more information:

SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach

https://store.samhsa.gov/product/SAMHSA-s-Concept-of-Trauma-and-Guidance-for-a-Trauma-Informed-Approach/SMA14-4884.html

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

https://www.nctsn.org

Starr Global Learning Network and the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children (TLC):

https://starr.org/training/tlc