According to the Australian Psychological Society (APS), trauma stems from highly frightening or distressing events. It is labeled as a psychological wound or injury. The effects can be lifelong and seemingly ordinary events and images can trigger a response. The trigger takes the person back to the time and place when the trauma occurred. It seems like the brain does not know that the trauma happened in the past, it is as if the trauma is happening in the present moment.
Children and young people who have experienced trauma may seem like they are “normal” and “doing okay” in their new learning environments. They are often categorised under behaviour management issues when in reality, they are acting out as a means of coping with their emotional triggers. They may not be able to verbalise or explain their pain. The expressions of their inner demons may look like punching a wall, shouting or screaming at their peers and teachers, violently pushing an adult away, crying uncontrollably, and so on.
Teachers are not trained psychologists and therefore should not be expected to know what to do when these breakdowns happen. School leadership needs to have a focus on trauma strategies especially if they have a large cohort of refugees. Trauma is now recognised as an inter-generational issue, so even when the new generation of children are born in the new country, they can still carry the trauma of their families within them. Schools need to work hand-in-hand with trained psychologists who can support teachers to set up classroom boundaries and plans to help students with trauma.
As trauma can be ongoing and potentially a lifelong struggle, the support from governments, schools, and local communities also need to be a continuous process. Teachers need to have trauma awareness training so they can identify students displaying trauma related behaviour and seek help from third party providers. If schools and communities work together, there is a possibility that children with trauma get detected for early intervention and get the help and support they deserve in order to have some normalcy in their lives after having lost everything that is familiar and precious due to no fault of their own.
© Boney Nathan 2022
