Presented by: Judy Cruz-Ransom, Leslie J. Davila
Audience: Faculty, Staff, Administrators
Virtual: Zoom

Learning Goals
Participants will:
• Define various forms of trauma.
• Discuss what being empathetic to students involves.
• Illustrate best practices for being trauma-informed and providing equitable learning environments.
• Plan how you will implement today’s teachings into the future curriculum, syllabus, and pedagogy.
• Evaluate what tools you commit to using in upcoming semesters.
• Provide base-level self-care tools.
• Expand your resources for yourself and your students

Seminar Description
Trauma-informed policies and practices offer brave and safe learning environments for our students; they provide options for self-care. It will be vital to have trauma-informed practices college-wide as well. Trauma exposure can range from interpersonal to sociopolitical experiences; oppression and racism expressly reflect both. When working on diversity, equity, and inclusion, we must also consider these topics through the lens of trauma. Our college is in an urban area plagued with poverty, and students often present with many experiences of trauma. Our students often face many obstacles over many years and carry all of that into our spaces. Educating ourselves about the historical and institutional oppressions that our students may have faced helps to predict and prepare them for the materials that will be covered. We need to move from asking what is wrong with our students and expecting them to be resilient to advocating on their behalf and recognizing what has happened to them instead. As a community college, we must adopt trauma-informed practices that create supportive campus cultures. Being a trauma-informed college can provide the necessary tools for faculty and staff to thrive in all spaces. This will enable faculty/staff to care for themselves so that they can care for and support our students.