You gotta love them first: educators' experiences with a trauma-informed approach in urban secondary schools

The purposes of this qualitative interview study are to explore the meanings that educators in urban secondary schools serving historically underserved, high-poverty communities of color ascribe to a trauma-informed approach and to describe the experiences of educators enacting trauma-informed policies and practices in these settings. Few studies have examined teachers’ experiences of trauma-informed practices within a broader school and societal context, from a critical, structural perspective, and secondary schools are understudied in the existing literature on trauma-informed schools. The data for this dissertation comprise in-depth interviews with 40 secondary school educators who self-identify as using a trauma-informed approach in urban schools that serve predominantly students of color in communities with high rates of poverty. Throughout my research, I employed trauma-informed research practices, an endeavor not yet documented in educational research. The findings, which integrate sociological theories regarding care and emotional labor across racial and cultural groups, indicate that participants agree on many aspects of definitions of trauma and a trauma-informed approach in schools, including a construct called educational trauma. They emphasize the need for a trauma-informed approach as a response to community violence and the impacts of the shared trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic. The educators also advocate for stronger guidance regarding academic expectations in a trauma-informed approach, increased clinical mental health support in schools, and a more responsive, trauma-informed approach from school leaders towards staff. This study offers implications for professional development around trauma-informed approaches and for organizational factors that can better support educators doing this work.