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The School Counsellor’s Role in Trauma-Aware Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2021

Judith Howard ,
Lyra L’Estrange  and
Meegan Brown
Judith Howard*
Affiliation:
School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Lyra L’Estrange
Affiliation:
School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Meegan Brown
Affiliation:
School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
*
*Address for correspondence: Dr Judith Howard, Queensland University of Technology, School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education, Victoria Park Road, Kelvin GroveQLD4059, Australia. Email: ja.howard@qut.edu.au
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Abstract

It is not unusual for school counsellors to be involved in trauma-aware education practice; however, their role is not uniformly defined in the literature nor consistently applied in professional settings. Trauma-aware education is relatively new but rapidly growing in Australia and beyond. It involves supporting students in a neuroscience-informed manner to address the impacts of complex trauma on their capacities to feel safe, to relate, to emotionally regulate, and to learn. Twenty-six school counsellors completed questionnaires, and eight of those joined focus group discussions to explore the role of school counsellors in trauma-aware practice in Queensland, Australia. Drawing on the voices of practitioners, the present report discusses categories of practice that are prioritised by school counsellors and recommends supports to effectively undertake trauma-aware practice in school settings.

Keywords

trauma-awaretrauma-informedschool counsellor
Type
Original Article
Information
Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , December 2022 , pp. 243 - 253
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Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

For the purposes of this article, the term trauma-aware can be considered as synonymous to trauma-informed, and trauma-sensitive.

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