Trauma & Learning: A Community College's Approach to Serving Students Living with Trauma

1. Welcome toTrauma & Learning: A community college’s approach to serving students living with trauma.Presented by Maricela Becerra, M.A., Learning Disabilities Specialist&W. Franklin-Martinez, Ph.D., Dean of Student Services Please be respectful of your colleagues by silencing your phone. If you need to answer a call, please take the call outside of the room.

2. Conference Inclusion Statement We ask you to join us in creating a culture that reflects… Access and Inclusion and Civility and Respect …this week and in all aspects of our organization.

3. Introductions Maricela Becerra, M.A. • LD Specialist • 13 years in higher education • Masters in Special Education • Certified in Adult LD • Trilingual (Spanish, English, & ASL) • Limited advising/counseling experience W. Franklin-Martinez, Ph.D., CRC • Dean of Student Services • 22 years in higher education • Masters in Rehab Counseling & Doctorate in Adult Education • Certified Rehabilitation Counselor • Fluent in ‘Espanglish’ • Limited LD assessment experience

4. WHO IS IN THE ROOM? • How many of you are from the community college system? Four-year? • How many of you have a Learning Disabilities Specialist at your campus? • How many of you screen for trauma? • How many of you are from a college that acknowledges & supports students with trauma?

5. PART I: TRAUMA AND THE COLLEGE STUDENT • Over 2.3 million students attend one of the 114 California community colleges; • 1 in 4 (or 500K) of these students will experience a diagnosable mental health problem (Steinberg Institute, 2016); • 40% (or 200K) of these students will not ask for help when they need it (Steinberg, 2016); • Community college students have more severe psychological concerns and fewer institutional mental health resources than university students (Katz, 2014).

6. TRAUMA AND THE BRAIN • In the U.S., 61% of men & 51% of women report experiencing a traumatic event. 90% of clients in public behavioral health care settings have experienced trauma (SAMHSA, 2019) • While reactions to trauma can vary widely, and not everyone will develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), trauma can change the brain in some predictable ways that everyone should be aware of. • Physiologically, trauma changes the brain by adversely impacting the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in learning and memory, as well as multiple frontal-limbic system structures that help regulate emotional responses to stress and fear (Karl et al., 2006)

7. TYPIFIED CAUSES OF TRAUMA • Sexual Abuse or Assault • Physical Abuse or Assault • Emotional Abuse or Psychological Maltreatment • Neglect • Serious Accident, Illness, or Medical Procedure • Victim or Witness to Domestic / Community Violence • Historical Trauma

8. OTHER CAUSES OF TRAUMA Increasingly common causes of trauma include: • War / Civil & Political unrest; • Losing a home/possessions in a fire or natural disaster; • Children & family members of undocumented citizens • Religious backlash / persecution / genocide • Generational trauma (family traumas passed down)

9. ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES STUDY (ACES) • One of the largest studies about childhood abuse/neglect/household challenges and the connection to health & well-being in adulthood. • In 1998, responses from over 17,000 Kaiser Permanente patients in California reported being traumatized or living with trauma during their childhoods. • The study asked participants if they had experienced any of 10 identified adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). • Given the questionnaire’s use as an assessment tool, mental health professionals have included other ACEs, such as experiencing racism or witnessing violence, to identify trauma in specific populations.

10. ACE QUESTIONNAIRE

11. identifying & Serving students with Trauma:challenges • Manifestations of trauma are identified as something else. (ADD vs Trauma) • Lack of verifying documentation or professionals who can provide documentation. • Language and cultural barriers (i.e. Latinos show the highest rate of trauma and there is a lack of bilingual and culturally representative professionals). • Lack of awareness in the post-secondary setting regarding effective services, support strategies, and best practices.

12. PART II: SUGGESTIONS FOR EFFECTIVE PRACTICES By the time students see us for an assessment, a lot has happened in their lives. This is what I call the beginning of “untangling the chain.”

13. LD SPECIALISTS (LDS) ARE GREAT SCREENERS! • They are fascinated by the brain, how it works, & the differences among people. • They strive to find connections between cognition, aptitude, abilities, & multiple intelligences. • Advisors are focused on academics while the LDS are focused on what is affecting learning.

14. THE LD INTAKE PROCESS AS A SCREENING TOOL • LD Specialists (LDS) spend more time with students than other support professionals due to the nature of the LD assessment process. • Given the nature of the intake questions, an LDS can build rapport quicker with a student, especially if their responses reveal traumatic life experiences. • The LD Intake Booklet does a good job of helping us map out a students learning difficulty history.

15. WHAT I HAVE LEARNED THROUGH WORKING WITH TRAUMATIZED STUDENTS • When a student comes to us, it’s because they need help and many are desperate. • They may not be fully aware of what can be causing their learning difficulties or academic challenges. • Many students feel it’s our job to figure out the specifics and find the solutions. • Trauma manifests itself differently in different people.

16. “Thawing” stage • One student described the after affects of trauma as her coming to terms about what happened and not being able to do anything about it. • She compared it to being in a bad car accident where she knew she made it out alive, but she was now realizing the totality of the aftermath. • She needed to understand how bad the accident was the bruises, the car destruction, etc. • Once she was able to ‘see’ / assess the accident, she was able to feel the aftermath & better able to address the trauma.

17. THE CRYING STUDENT Biologically, crying is: • a way to respond to an emotional state, pain, or physical irritation of the eye; • a way to get the attention needed for something; • A way to help let go of an emotional burden;

18. RESPONDING TO CRYING STUDENTS • My reaction to students crying: it caught me off guard. • I evaluated why my natural reaction was to say, “Oh no, don’t cry”. • In hindsight, what I wanted to say was “I’m sorry you are hurting and I wish you were not.” • I researched my vocabulary to reflect what I was really trying to say. • I’ve recently discovered that crying is not a bad sign; it’s actually a GOOD ONE!

19. A STUDENT SPILLED THEIR GUTS:NOW WHAT? • For those of you who aren’t mental health practitioners, did you just realize that crisis counseling was not part your graduate education and you weren’t emotionally prepared to hear the student’s trauma? • What is helpful: • identifying on-campus mental health therapists and knowing your campus referral process; • collaborating with campus wellness services to formally evaluate the student for anxiety, PTSD, depression, or other challenges (if the student wants it); • creating a process where the campus professional can provide the appropriate documentation, enabling Disability Services to serve these identified students.

20. PART III: WHAT CAN WE TAKE BACK TO OUR COLLEGES?

21. WHAT STUDENTS HAVE SHARED Among the things students with trauma have shared about how to support them: • Having a culturally competent mental health professional. • A preference for therapists who share their same first language or have a shared cultural background. • Having a place where they can go to recover from a crisis or triggering event. • Identifying faculty who can be supportive of their learning challenges and can refer them to get help to address the barriers of learning. • Taking courses with faculty who interact with them regarding their accommodations. • Knowing where to go or whom to reach out to for help.

22. Practical advice for practitioners • Tell students that difficulty in learning does not equate to having a learning disability. • Every student is unique and needs different things; some students are ready to talk, while others are not. • During the intake process, past trauma is often unearthed; just because the student has experienced trauma doesn’t mean they won’t be assessed for LD.

23. more advice for practitioners • Share with the student your thoughts about what you’ve learned and let students decide how they want to move forward. • Psychotherapy, LD assessment (if appropriate), or referral to support resources (on & off campus) may be choices. • If a student chooses therapy, be sure you know the process for accessing support (i.e. the number of sessions, service hours, etc.) and share with them the importance of mental health wellness.

24. The other side of trauma: RESILIENCE! • It’s the ability to bounce back from difficult situations • If you have survived trauma, that means you have resiliency • Surviving trauma takes fortitude, creativity, and patience • The way people had to survive trauma during or after leaves people venerable. • Part of the recovery from trauma is looking at how one survived it or copes with it: substance abuse, anger, avoidance, numbing out, or disassociating.

25. Life after trauma:Post-Traumatic Growth • Surviving and thriving after trauma - focusing on one’s strengths instead of the challenges. • It does not justify having experience trauma but instead bringing to light those incredible gifts that can come from negative experiences. • This is not always an outcome for individuals who have experienced trauma and some individuals may focus on feeling wounded or weak. • Don’t minimize the impact of the trauma in an effort to promote post-traumatic growth. • It is important to have a sense of hope and that a person who has experienced trauma can survive and can experience positive life changes as a result. • It’s important not to imply any failure or minimize the impact of the trauma.

26. RESILIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

27. What can you do at your campus? TRAUMA INFORMED STRATEGIES • Establish strategies and informed practices to identify students and refer them to support; • Offer staff development trainings and perform campus in-reach; • Providing access to mental health services on-campus (which can help documentation process); • Identifying campus spaces where students experiencing trauma (or PTSD) symptoms can go to safely recover. TRAUMA SENSITIVE PRACTICES • Cross training front desk staff. • Referring students to disability services or a learning specialist to be screened. • Don’t reject (re-traumatize) students, even if there is no medical or therapeutic diagnosis. • All students feel safe, welcome, and supported and where addressing trauma’s impact on learning on a school-wide basis is at the center of its educational mission.

28. TRAUMA ASSESSMENT PRE-SCREENER • Used at BCC during the initial appointment for LD assessment. • During the LD intake process, we can often unearth some past trauma. • When the tears begin to flow, that may be a clue to something else going on, such as trauma.

29. PERALTA COLLEGES STUDENT HEALTH FEES

30. WHAT BCC IS DOING • Zen room for students having panic attacks, paper bags, weighted blankets; • 1 full-time tenure track licensed mental health therapist, 4 part-time; • Free/reduced-fee acupuncture & message therapy services; yoga; • Referrals to emergency support services for food & housing.

31. WHAT BCC FACULTY IS DOING All colleges enroll students who have experienced trauma, but faculty may not always know who these students are until they are in crisis. BCC faculty is doing: • Providing extra credit for student to see a counselor; • Sharing their own experiences and normalizing difficult situations; • Including syllabus trigger warnings / lecture trigger warnings; • Extra credit for researching the topic of trauma; • Rewriting a student success course to address trauma, resiliency, and emotional intelligence; • Classroom presentations regarding available supports & resources.

33. THANKS AND APPRECIATION MARICELA BECERRA • To the Audience For taking the time to listen to this research; • To my amazing students who bravely share their stories of trauma with me without whom this presentation wouldn’t have happened; • To the staff, faculty, & administrators at Berkeley city college; • To my femtor, my personal cheerleader, my oyster, & my PowerPoint clicker, Dr. Windy Martinez. W. FRANKLIN-MARTINEZ • To the Audience For taking the time to listen to this research; • To those students courageous enough to seek out help for their learning challenges. presentation wouldn’t have happened; • To the staff, faculty, & administrators of the west kern community college district; • To my femtee, my Parenting coach, & my brilliant colleague, Ms. Maricela Becerra.

34. REFERENCES • Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. (n.d.) 2019. About the CDC-Kaiser ACE Study. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childabuseandneglect/acestudy/about.html • Trauma. SAMHSA-HRSA Center for Integrated Health Solutions. (n.d.) 2019. https://www.integration.samhsa.gov/clinical-practice/trauma • Trauma Informed Care. (n.d.) 2019 http://cccstudentmentalhealth.org/docs/TIC-Fact-Sheet.pdf (Katz, 2014) • Trauma Informed Care. (n.d.) 2019 http://cccstudentmentalhealth.org/docs/TIC-Fact-Sheet.pdf(Karl et al., 2006) • Trauma Informed Care. (n.d.) 2019 http://cccstudentmentalhealth.org/docs/TIC-Fact-Sheet.pdf (Steinberg Institute, 2016) • What is resiliency? (2013). Manitoba Trauma Information & Education Centre. Canada. Retrieved from http://trauma-recovery.ca/resiliency/what-is-resiliency/

35. Session Evaluation Please see session moderator for paper evaluation form or complete the evaluation online.