Mental Health & Student Wellness (PD+)
Strengthen educators' understanding of student well-being, resilience, emotional development, and supportive practices that contribute to healthy learning environments.
Course Catalog
Trauma Informed Classroom (PD+)
This graduate-level course prepares K–12 educators and administrators to design and implement trauma-informed, responsive, and inclusive learning environments grounded in current research on child development and neuroscience. Participants examine the impact of trauma on brain functioning, cognition, behavior, and academic performance, and apply core principles of trauma-sensitive schools to evaluate and strengthen classroom and school-based practices that promote student well-being, safety, and equity. Emphasizing the relationship between connection and learning, the course engages learners in the intentional design of psychologically safe environments through relational practices, structured routines, norms, and the integration of student voice. Through rigorous, university-level engagement, learners demonstrate knowledge acquisition through assessments, applied activities, and substantive participation, supported by ongoing instructor feedback from an expert practitioner. Participants analyze the effects of trauma on attention, memory, and executive functioning and develop instructional strategies that reduce cognitive load while increasing engagement through scaffolding, structure, and autonomy. The course also emphasizes real-time, trauma-responsive approaches to behavior, including co-regulation, de-escalation, and restorative practices. Assignments are designed to produce practical tools, strategies, and classroom-ready artifacts, culminating in the evaluation and refinement of participants’ own classroom systems to support sustainable, trauma-informed practice.