LIfTs Research and Conference workshops
LIfTS Researchers to present at NEERO, 2024
The Lesley Institute for Trauma Sensitivity [commonly known as LIfTS] is an initiative committed to raising educators’ awareness of the effects of trauma on student learning, behavior, and social-emotional well-being, and helping them implement strategies to ameliorate those effects. The LIfTS Research Team designs and studies inquiries around the development of trauma-sensitive learning environments.
What are the stories of our students on the margins? This hands-on workshop is designed to foster trauma-informed practices that center all students’ stories. Together we hope to explore the power that art, music, and movement have to create safe spaces for those living the pain of ‘unbelonging’, being silenced, and feeling othered. We assert that artistic expression fosters individual skills of resiliency, fosters community healing, and re-imagines the classroom spaces that once silenced - to spaces that elicit and value all students’ stories. Join us in using the arts to disrupt practices that silence, exclude, and “spirit-murder” students.
Educators’ Perceptions of Trauma in higher Education
Contact Information: kvogel2@lesley.edu and sarah@sarahkipp.com
Kelly Vogel, and Dr. Sarah Kipp, will present their paper, Educators’ Perceptions of Trauma in higher Education, at the 2024 conference of the New England Educational Research Organization on April 26th. Kelly is a current LIfTS Fellow and doctoral student at Lesley; and Sarah is a former LIfTS Fellow and a recent graduate of the Lesley Educational Studies doctoral program. Attached is a pdf document that summarizes their paper presentation.
Presentation at NEERO 2024 Conference: Educators’ Perceptions of Trauma
Eldine Beaubrun Montauban; Natalya Rakevich; Kelly McDermott; Nick Suchecki; Adina Feldman
The objective of this exploratory case study was to evaluate how educators in four varied settings defined trauma. The definition of trauma from SAMSHA (2023) was adopted for analysis purposes. Participants were from four varied sites including educators in the Ukrainian non-occupied territories of Kirovograd and Dnipropetrovsk regions. The other three sites were in Massachusetts. Educators in an urban fully inclusive K-12 school, elementary educators in a smaller suburban school, and music educators working across multiple suburban schools participated in the study. Results were analyzed employing a structured tabular approach designed by Robinson (2022), for working with brief texts to develop and analyze themes. Most participants’ responses reflected some of the facets of the SAMSHA definition of complex trauma responses including psychological maltreatment, neglect, physical and sexual abuse, and domestic violence. Participant definitions of trauma included fear, stress, and a lack of self-regulation or inability to move forward. Interpretation of the data revealed that the perceptions of trauma are varied, especially when comparing responses of Ukrainian and Massachusetts educators. The educational significance of the results has already led to a planned increase or continuation of professional development for educators regarding trauma-informed practices in two of the four sites. .