Youth, Trauma, & Resilience: A Qualitative Interview with a Teacher
A presentation at CIIS Narrative Inquiry Presentations 2020 by Jacob Campbell
JACOB CAMPBELL, LICSW YOUTH, TRAUMA, & RESILIENCE A Qualitative Interview with a Teacher California Institute of Integral Studies Photo Credit: @sharonmccutcheon https://unsplash.com/photos/WxOZNy7SPkA
AGENDA The why of the study Interview and methodology Findings and insights Conclusions Jacob Campbell, LICSW DEFINITION OF TRAUMA BLURRING OF BOUNDARIES REQUIREMENT FOR SINCERE INTEREST IN YOUTH WITH EBD IMPORTANCE OF RAPPORT AND CONNECTION EXIGENCY OF INCREASED TRAINING AROUND TRAUMA AND RESILIENCE California Institute of Integral Studies Youth, Trauma, & Resilience
WHAT WAS THE PURPOSE OF THIS PILOT STUDY Jacob Campbell, LICSW This pilot study looked to understand the perceptions of a veteran teacher around trauma, resilience, and the needs of students with emotional and behavioral disabilities. California Institute of Integral Studies Youth, Trauma, & Resilience
THE INTERVIEW MORE THAN 20 YEARS EXPERIENCE EXPERIENCE AS BOTH A TEACHER AND ADMIN PREVIOUS PLACEMENTS WORKING IN NON-PUBLIC SCHOOLS WITH STUDENTS WITH EXTREME TRAUMA AND BEHAVIORAL DIFFICULTIES Jacob Campbell, LICSW California Institute of Integral Studies Youth, Trauma, & Resilience
The interview took place over zoom, and lasted approximately an hour. Informed consent was reviewed and obtained. The interview was recorded, initially transcribed using Descript, and then reviewed for accuracy. The interview was semistructured and questions followed a twosentence format. During the analysis phase, the transcript was reviewed for themes and those themes are compared to similar ndings in the literature. METHODOLOGY fi Jacob Campbell, LICSW California Institute of Integral Studies Youth, Trauma, & Resilience
STUDENTS WITH HISTORY OF TRAUMA “I would just say that’s hard, because I feel like trauma can be di erent to anyone. It just depends on who you’re dealing with.” Interview Participant LIKE A DEEP SCAR Interview Participant ff Jacob Campbell, LICSW California Institute of Integral Studies Youth, Trauma, & Resilience
TRAUMA SOMETIMES WITH TRAUMA, THERE ARE DIFFICULT BEHAVIORS EARTHQUAKE BEHAVIORS TRAUMA fi Jacob Campbell, LICSW Externalizing behaviors in youth can be characterized by behaviors such as noncompliance, de ance, disruptive, and aggressive behaviors (Lambros et al., 1998; Walker and Severson, 1992) “He just saw red, you know what I mean? It was, it was directly a correlation. It was directly correlation [to his trauma]. I mean, and, I knew, I knew this child’s Interview participant background.” California Institute of Integral Studies Youth, Trauma, & Resilience
TRAUMA Resilience is a type of perseverance and focused on building skills to handle a di cult situations. She emphasized the importance of relationships and connection with students as a form of developing resilience in students. Interview Participant RESILIENCE “the capacity of a system, enterprise, or a person to maintain its core purpose and integrity in the face of dramatically changed circumstances” (Zolli & Healy, 2012, Introduction: The Resilience Imperative section, para. 24) SOMETIMES WITH TRAUMA, THERE IS GROWTH ffi Jacob Campbell, LICSW California Institute of Integral Studies TRAUMA Youth, Trauma, & Resilience
ROLE DESCRIPTIONS USED IN INTERVIEW BLURRING OF BOUNDARIES AND ROLES Advocate Students voice Teacher Professional parent Protector “…AT WHAT POINT THEIR TASKS AS A TEACHER ENDED AND AT WHAT POINT THOSE OF A SOCIAL WORKER OR PSYCHOLOGIST STARTED” Solid (Alisic, 2012, p. 54) Jacob Campbell, LICSW California Institute of Integral Studies Youth, Trauma, & Resilience
SINCERE INTEREST IN “like I want to help all kids now. I mean, not obviously that’s shifted, but I want to and help the ones who needed it like me once who were like, rebellious [pause], trouble [pause]. I want to help those kids.” Interview Participant CHILDREN WITH EBD Emotional & Behavioral Disability “Having a sincere interest in children, speci cally in children with emotional and/or behavioral disorders, was a key characteristic of each of the teachers in this study. Nearly half of these teachers had careers or interests in social work, mental health, or other ‘helping’ professions prior to beginning their careers as educators. Their interest in the relationships they have been able to form with students seems key to their suitability for a career in this eld.” (Prather-Jones, 2010, p. 186) California Institute of Integral Studies fi fi Jacob Campbell, LICSW Youth, Trauma, & Resilience
RAPPORT AND CONNECTION In describing her role as a professional parent, she described being a protector “cause I’m not going to let anybody mess with any of my kids and really anybody who has any student. Regardless of their disability, regardless of their background, whatever, any student who Interview Participant walks in my room is my kid.” ff Jacob Campbell, LICSW Providing youth with a secure relationship is considered highly important in working with youth who have experienced adversity. (Sciara a et al., 2017) Classrooms with warm teacher-child relationships promote learning. (Merritt et al., 2012; Schonert-Reichl, 2017). California Institute of Integral Studies Youth, Trauma, & Resilience
NEED FOR INCREASED TEACHER TRAINING “lot of big-hearted educators and, but they don’t see things I see at the same time.” Interview Participant Jacob Campbell, LICSW in understanding trauma and resilience RESEARCHERS FREQUENTLY SITE THE NEED FOR INCREASED TEACHER TRAINING. California Institute of Integral Studies Youth, Trauma, & Resilience
CONCLUSIONS - A great amount of overlap between literature base and the participants responses There is a need for increased ways of helping expand a traumainformed perspectives within school settings Jacob Campbell, LICSW DEFINITION OF TRAUMA BLURRING OF BOUNDARIES REQUIREMENT FOR SINCERE INTEREST IN YOUTH WITH EBD IMPORTANCE OF RAPPORT AND CONNECTION EXIGENCY OF INCREASED TRAINING AROUND TRAUMA AND RESILIENCE California Institute of Integral Studies Youth, Trauma, & Resilience
Presentation completed regarding narrative inquiry project I completed.
Abstract: A semi-structured qualitative interview with a veteran teacher is the basis of this study. I designed the questions to uncover her perspectives and look for insight regarding trauma, resilience, and students with emotional and behavioral disabilities. I elaborate on the study’s procedures and design. Included is the full transcript of the interview and forms used for informed consent as appendices. Themes from the exchange include defining and understanding trauma and resilience their connection with behavior. Boundary blurring, sincere interest in the youth, developing rapport and connection, and school reform were all included as other ideas exposed during the dialog. The participant’s perspective showed alignment with current research publications, and the analysis consists of tying in the information drawn from the interview with these other publications.
More information can be found at School-Age Youth, Trauma, and Resilience: A Qualitative Interview with a Teacher to Understand Perspective of Working with Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities
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