Many children grow up in living situations their are beyond our personal comprehension, yet somehow we know where the line is of neglect, abuse, and malnourished exist. When a child does not have proper nutrition , is sheltered and treated with love and kindness. Each of us knows that their basic needs are not being met, Trauma informed helps us to create a lense of how these traumas – abuse, affects the development of the brain from conception to adult years, potentially until death. Though there are marking signs of what trauma and abuse can look like for a child or adolescent, a study conducted by Kaiser Permanente from 1995 to 1997 with two waves of data collection called  (ACEs) goes on further to show how impactful even one measure of traumas can be on the lifespan of those who have experienced the trauma. 

The ACEs measures 10 factors of trauma. Ven just one of these markers can have serious impacts on children’s  development, 4 or more can have serious impacts on adult lifestyle choices, substance use, stress levels, and overall health.

What is most striking about this information is the study was conducted on educated white males from Kaiser. The results were quite surprising how many had experienced even 2 markers of ACEs, however if this same information was applied to individuals growing up marginalized populations it is easy to imagine the results would be astonishingly higher.

So what do we do? Knowing that trauma impacts everyone, is an invisible characteristic, change the way people behave and show up in work, school, and life.

We become trauma informed. We look for signs of trauma.

We treat everyone the same, as though they may have experienced a trauma that we are unaware of.

We build relationships: as studies have shown trauma impacts the development of the brain, and it takes only ONE buffering adult to create connection and love to help the individual develop potential skills of resilience.

Resilience is taught.

Looking at and understanding how brains develop differently from impacts of trauma helps ues become trauma-informed. Understanding that for children who have experienced trauma going “inside” for a meditation moment maybe agitating and uncomfortable, what others projects of activities may you have to address that?Getting acquainted with trauma and how it shows up is essential to giving every student a chance at succeeding in your classroom.

Circle work, or circle technology as our team likes to call the magic that happens within circles, dates back to ancient cultures throughout the world. Diverse cultures around the world use circles to bring community together, to address issues, to heal, and to make decisions for their collective future.  Indigenous peoples of the Americas hold community council in circle, the peoples of Rwanda and South Africa hold circles of reconciliation, and the Quakers hold circle for community & spiritual practice; these are but a few examples.

The knowledge of circles was brought to us here in Maui, in regards to Restorative Justice, by Joe Brummer, a mediator & trainer in 39 schools in Connecticut. Circle work is simple yet profound. There are some key elements of a circle: a mindfulness moment, a circle keeper, a talking piece, and everyone in the room sitting in circle. The purpose of the circle at first is to bring people together, on an even playing field, to see one another. There is something transformative that happens when people are able to sit viewing one another, rather than looking at the back of the heads of the people in front of them. We begin to see one another, as people with lives, with families, with challenges, and successes. And what is magical about this? When we are able to humanize one another, to see each other as community members rather than students, teachers, or professionals, our sense of caring is activated and we begin to treat one another with a level of concern not present before. This brings a sense of belonging and connection. Circles create a doorway to ohana anywhere we have the courage to bring them.

Below is an outline of what one of our community circles might look like; the circle would be academic in nature and the flow is outlined below, however    Circles can be used for community building or conflict resolution a restorative circle, or teaching and more:

– Opening Circle, Check In

– Connective Game

– Inspired Lecture

– Connective Game

– Closing of Circle, Check Out

Check out these resources for more information on circles:

Circle Forward Building a Restorative School Community By Carolyn Boyes-Watson and Kay Pranis

Little Book of Circle Processes: A New/Old Approach To Peacemaking (Little Books of Justice & Peacebuilding) Kindle Edition by Kay Pranis

Collaborative & Proactive Solutions is a model of working with children who may or may not have behavioral issues developed by Dr. Ross Greene. CPS creates another lens of which to see the challenges that children, parents, teachers, and administrators may experience when adverse, explosive or disruptive behaviors may occur. 

They typical view is child rearing and teaching is, kids do well if they can. Implying that if a kid is not motivated appropriately they will not “want to” comply with adult requests. Dr. Ross Greene work and ideology supports the idea “kids do well if they can” Implying that kids intrinsically want to do well, want to get along, want to succeed and reside to behaviors that are disruptive and challenging because they lack the skill needed to succeed. 

Dr. Ross Greene’s philosophy is that children with behavioral challenges lac the skill necessary to succeed. EX: Child screaming and crying when parent leave day care. Lagging skill” appropriate emotional regulation and impaired communication skills.

No matter if the child is comforted by an adult will the child learn how to resolve the issue of parent leaving without throwing a fit. The child must be taught, shown, and supported to learn the skill to resolve the problem. Dr, Ross Greene’s work with Collaborative and Proactive Solutions focuses on the unsolved problems that create behavioral challenges. Emphasizing that teaching children the skills to resolve their unsolved problems will lessen challenging behavior. Dr. Ross Greene has an assessment form which outlines  a number of lagging skills that children with behavioral issues may have. Take a look yourself at these lagging skills. You may be surprised and find some that you have yourself.

We find that the significance of focusing on the CPS is that it goes beyond labeling, diagnosing and focusing on the behavior and goes more directly to the source which will help resolve the problems of all involved, the child – getting what the need and learning a skill, the adult – getting what they need while helping teach and resolve problems of children.

Mindfulness is the practice of being present.  To be present in the moment is to be fully embodied, to synchronize the body and mind gives us the ability to engage more fully with life. To practice mindfulness or presence is to have a single pointed focus.  Bringing your attention to the physical sensations or somatic experience in the body is one way to practice mindfulness. More specifically the breath is a vehicle for presence, when attention is placed on the inhale and exhale you return to the present moment by feeling the body. 

There are many factors that draw us out of the now, emotions and thoughts are quite alluring as is physical pain. When tension is present in the body or mind we tend to tell ourselves stories about what it means. All of these patterns of thinking takes us away from the here and now.  The practice of mindfulness has often been compared to flying a plane. A pilot will tell you that 80% of the time the aircraft is off course, so the pilot is actually bringing it back into alignment over and over again. This is what we as humans are doing when we get lost in thought. By practicing mindfulness awareness we learn to come back to the present moment so when we are out there in the world, and especially when strong emotions or stress enter the picture we are more capable of relaxing into what is, going with the flow and less likely to feel paralyzed and stuck.  What mindfulness isn’t is a form of mind control, it’s a way to incorporate a healthy discipline that keeps the ship sailing with ease to the desired destination of peace and happiness.

After all it is an inside job so when you learn to direct your awareness inward you begin to find refuge in the present moment and that is where peace resides. It’s important to be gentle with yourself when you being to practice mindfulness and take it easy. There are two wings or tenets of mindfulness the first being awareness and the second being compassion. To be fully present is to let go of judgement and simple be with what is in the moment.