POUGHKEEPSIE – Hundreds of Poughkeepsie City School District teachers, administrators and support staff participated in a virtual training session in Trauma-Informed care to address the recent rise in violent incident throughout the city involving school-aged youths.
Staff from the county’s Department of Behavior and Community Health, in collaboration with the Mid-Hudson Regional Partnership Center, conducted a daylong training in two sessions, allowing district staff to learn how students are affected by stress and trauma, how to create lasting connections with them and de-escalate tensions in school and the community.
Among the topics discussed today, County staff taught PCSD staff:
- how to learn and understand the impact of trauma, abuse and neglect on a child and how these impact adult relationships;
- how traumatic-sensitive perspectives emphasize an approach that does not place blame on the individual suffering from the effects of trauma but focuses on what has happened to the individual and how the individual is utilizing the skills in their repertoire to cope with their thoughts, feelings and emotions;
- troubling behavior is a manifestation of traumatic experiences and the individual’s best attempt to navigate situations that are perceived to be threatening;
- stress can hurt and affect learning, but some types of stress can boost learning;
- brain development is related to environmental experiences and sets the stage for how trauma can affect brain development; and
- the brains of traumatized children and youth develop differently from normal.
