The Five Foundational Factors to Building Resilience in Young People

Format

Individual Presentation

Presenters

Taylor TeichmanFollow

First Presenter's Institution

Center for Schools and Communities

First Presenter’s Email Address

tteichman@csc.csiu.org

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Taylor Teichman joined the Center for Schools and Communities in 2021 as the Youth Development Coordinator for Pennsylvania’s Education for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness (ECYEH) program—providing training and support to regional ECYEH teams statewide. Prior to joining the Center, Taylor worked for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center providing national trainings, ongoing technical assistance, resource development and program management. From her early grassroots initiatives as an Education Advocate for a local domestic and sexual violence center- after graduating from Millersville University- to working at the national and state level, she carries with her over 15+ years of involvement in both anti-violence and nonprofit programming. Taylor enjoys exploring the variety of ways in which we can center healing through body movement and self-expression, practicing yoga and the workout The Class, reading, and trips to the beach and Disney World. She lives with her partner/husband of 10+ years, their three-year-old toddler, and herding dog Merlin.

Second Presenter's Institution

Center for Schools and Communities

Second Presenter’s Email Address

klehman@csc.csiu.org

Second Presenter's Brief Biography

Karen Lehman is currently the Youth Development Program Manager at the Center for Schools and Communities (Center) in Camp Hill, PA. Lehman has been with the Center since 2005 and brought with her extensive social work experience related to pregnant and parenting teens, individuals experiencing homelessness, and a certification through Parents as Teachers. As program manager Lehman oversees initiatives supporting afterschool, teen parenting, foster care youth, youth experiencing homelessness, and migrant youth. Karen obtained her MSW from Marywood University in 2004 and enjoys the combination of education and social work that her position at the Center allows. The aspect of her job that Karen enjoys the most is providing guidance to staff, working as a coach, and helping others strengthen their leadership skills. Karen is certified in Leadership Essentials from eCornell, Enhancing Trauma Awareness through Lakeside, and as a Trauma-Skilled Specialist from the National Dropout Prevention Center. Karen’s outside interests include youth mentorship, baking, wine collecting, traveling, reading and playing string instruments. She lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with her partner Tim and Isabella (Bella), the sweetest Old English Sheepdog that has ever lived.

Location

Session Five

Strand #1

Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership

Strand #2

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Relevance

“It takes a village to raise a child" is a proverb we hear often enough. With the impacts from a global pandemic, it is more imperative than ever before that we recognize not just the need, but the absolute necessity to cultivate spaces, opportunities and a village of love to foster the well-being of our young people–the future leaders of our world. Our young people today are exponentially experiencing a rise in mental, social and emotional traumas–and at disproportionate levels for low-income children and students of color. While our future leaders continue to experience these challenges and navigate a world on the other side of a pandemic, we– as educators, caring adults and youth-serving professionals are being provided with new opportunities to enhance our engagement across partners, systems and services by being in community and learning alongside one another. We hope our presentation brings to light how we can unearth in new ways renewed energy, finesse skills and converse in dialogues within our schools, communities and programs in order for our future leaders to fully bloom and reach their highest potential.

Brief Program Description

The Trauma Skilled Approach when working with young people begins with the mindset-shifting question, “what happened to you?” This workshop will explore step 2 of the Trauma Skilled model: Connection, Security (Belonging), Achievement, Autonomy and Fulfillment as the five foundational factors to building resilient youth. There will be opportunities to work in small groups reviewing Purposeful Practices that can be replicated by participants in their own practice.

Summary

The Trauma-Skilled model, from the National Dropout Prevention Center, strives to create a culture that supports every student. We don’t need to identify particular students experiencing trauma because our culture should support every student. You might have heard the saying, “a rising tide lifts all boats.” This model creates conditions for learning and success. The creators of this model were finding that success of their most vulnerable students occurred by chance - they were lucky to find caring adults who provided these foundations for them, and it was not due to overall design. Adults, working together, can set the conditions for learning and success for the students with whom we work. Positive conditions contribute to positive results.

Participants attending this workshop do not alone have the power to change their organization's culture. But, they do have the power to change their own perspective. We can view every interaction with a child - from enrollment, to program referral, to career advising - as an opportunity to build one or more of the resilience factors identified. At the root of being trauma-skilled is that we understand how trauma impacts youth behavior and we have adopted specific action steps to alter practices, climate, and interactions to achieve improved behavior.

This presentation will take a deep dive into the five foundational factors that have been shown to foster resilience, and participants will walk away with tangible, realistic steps to put into practice. Intentional, purposeful practices/activities will be demonstrated, shared, and discussed throughout the session and will be tools attendees can take back to their support services.

Evidence

The Trauma-Skilled Schools Model is a five step model or roadmap, developed by the National Dropout Prevention Center to alter staff behaviors, institutional practices, and organizational policies. All of the steps are important to achieve desired student outcomes over time; however, there is value in learning about and adopting practices in any of these steps. The first two steps in the Trauma-Skilled Model will be addressed in our presentation - with a focus primarily on step two. For a commonplace of understanding of the five step model, the five steps are:

Addressed during presentation:

1. Knowledge, or establishing a foundational body of shared vocabulary and concepts among all staff and colleagues regarding trauma’s impact on behavior and learning;

2. Build Resilience, meaning understanding that trauma-impacted youth are very likely to be deficient in one or more of the 5 essential, or foundational, resilience factors: connection, security, achievement, autonomy and fulfillment.

The remaining steps are:

3) Skill Acquisition;

4) Assessment & Implementation; and

5) Maintenance and validation.

https://dropoutprevention.org/executive-summary-of-the-national-dropout-prevention-center-trauma-skilled-schools-model/

Research
Gailer, J., Addis, S., Dunlap, L., Daggett, W., McNulty, R. (2018). Improving School Outcomes of Trauma-Impacted Students

Rumsey, A., & Milsom, A. (2017). Dropout prevention and trauma: Addressing a wide range of stressors that inhibit student success

Rosenbloom, D., Williams, M. B., & Watkins, B. E. (2010). Life after trauma: A workbook for healing. Guilford.

Bloom, Sandra L. (2013). Creating Sanctuary: toward the evolution of sane societies. Routeledge.

Addis, S. (2018). Trauma Skilled Schools Model Presented to SC House Education Committee

Additional Resources:

The Power of Reframing to ‘Rewire’ Students’ Brains, Lori Desautels, January 2023: https://www.edutopia.org/article/reframing-rewire-student-brains

Learning Objective 1

Define the 5 foundational factors to build resilience from Step 2 of Trauma-Skilled model, by the National Prevention Dropout Center.

Learning Objective 2

Walk away with at least 3 Purposeful Practices they can implement in their services/programs.

Learning Objective 3

Gain an overview of the Trauma-Skilled Model developed by the National Prevention Dropout Center.

Keyword Descriptors

resilience, wellbeing, mental health, foundational, achievement, purposeful, practices

Presentation Year

2024

Start Date

3-5-2024 10:15 AM

Recommended Citation

Teichman, Taylor, "The Five Foundational Factors to Building Resilience in Young People" (2024). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 43.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2024/2024/43