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DKG Practice/Program
While brainstorming, we gravitated toward finding funding to help better equip the teachers with
training and supplies and to make the classrooms more trauma-informed. We wanted our teachers to
have the tools and the training to meet the needs of students from hard places. We wanted to make a
difference.We knew the hearts of our teachers, and we believed that if we could provide some funding
for training and support that we could better equip our teachers to meet their students where they were.
We understood that toxic stress impacts the developing brain and, without a sense of safety in our
classrooms, we would not move our students towards a growth mindset.
DKG Grant Project and What We Learned
Our DKG chapter donated $250 to bring in a trainer to meet with administrators and teachers who
were interested in learning about trauma. This initial 2-hour training was completely optional, and we
were pleased to see nearly 50 staff present and ready to learn. Teachers stayed after the training and
bombarded the speaker with questions. They wanted to know more about the challenges their students
faced in their brains. They wanted to understand how they could meet the needs of their students and
make them feel safe to learn.
Our DKG chapter then applied for a DKG International Educators Foundation Project Grant. We
wanted to provide TBRI training to prepare staff to understand better the impact of trauma on our
students. We wanted to provide our teachers with resources and specialized consultation hours to equip
them with what they needed to apply the training in their classrooms. We submitted the grant application
and waited with hope and excitement.
Not in our plan was a global pandemic Just as we learned that our
that hit our country hard and fast. In “
March 2020, we sent our students to students needed to feel safe in
spring break, and we didn’t see them
in person again for over a year. Several our classrooms, our teachers had
months after the pandemic began, we that need, too.
learned we had been awarded the grant
and asked if we would be able to modify ”
our project in the COVID-19 era. We felt up for the challenge, knowing that it was even more important
that we have trauma-informed staff.
We spent some of the grant funding on licensed materials and conference costs for our educators. We
shifted our budget and directed funds to benefit teachers directly. We paid an hourly rate for our TBRI
specialist to provide therapeutic support to our teachers. Through Zoom times set up for them to meet
individually with this therapist, our teachers were provided the confidential access to the support they
needed.
Sixty percent of our middle school staff participated. At a time of social distancing, our therapist was
able to connect with the teachers and support their mental health. As the Zoom classroom era began, our
teachers had not only insight but also an open window into the homes of our students. They saw their
students in their living conditions; things once left to the imagination came front and center.
We thought we knew how much our students needed trauma-informed staff to help meet their needs.
We had no idea how much our teachers would need our licensed therapist as a resource for their mental-
health needs.
Although the content of the sessions in which our teachers participated remained confidential, we
learned a great deal from our project. We learned that secondary trauma occurs in educators in high-
needs districts. In other words, dealing with the trauma of others can be traumatizing.
We learned that one of the reasons teachers were fleeing our district was not because of the lower
wages and lack of classroom materials; it was their trauma response. Teachers were leaving as a self-
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