Hillsboro Part 1

I intended to write a further blog at the end of this week but I've already been inspired by so many things that I felt that it was important to get my thoughts on paper today and then I can sum up at the end of the week too.

What has been absolutely amazing here in Hillsboro County is to see the way in which schools have embraced the idea of trauma informed approaches - that's not to say that there haven't been challenges in doing this, they have been very open about the fact that for some people in education the idea that you focus on the emotional regulation of children - sometimes accepting that academic progress may be more slow for a time - is a huge shift for teachers with a focus on academic outcomes.

So what is working here? Well what's working here is that firstly the system tries to model the approach, which means that there is an acceptance that change can be hard, that we don't get things right first time so we have to be able to cope with adapting, that people are human and fallible, but ultimately that in order for children to learn their brains need to be in a place that is ready and able to do so. They focus on the four zones of emotional regulation and the children are able to describe those themselves in words that they understand, but in brief they look like:


Green zone - calm and able to learn
Blue zone - feeling low, tired, down
Yellow zone - feeling agitated, fidgety
Red zone - we are not able to cope, may not be safe to ourselves or others

It's great that they understand what zone they are in but what to do with it? Well the schools have several things going on, most obvious is that they have Wellness Centers dedicated classrooms where children can have brief sessions. Inside they will show which zone they are in and have a simple task (removing shoes, washing hands) that demonstrates that they are in a place where they can take instruction. Then they would choose an activity, this would be something calming or something active - to regulate by discharging energy or by relaxation and calming down. From there they would do an activity like yoga or breathing exercises with the coach, and finally have a brief discussion about their feelings and what was happening for them.

The idea is to teach basic techniques that they can go on using, classrooms also have a Peace Place where children during a lesson can spend a short time regulating themselves whilst still being part of the lesson. Each of the wellness centers was different and each of the classroom areas was different - because classes and schools differ, the culture and atmosphere and makeup of classrooms and schools differ.

What the schools here also use is Pax - this is a behavioural model common in many schools but it fits well with trauma informed work as it focusses on teaching the children to be 'Pax Leaders', in other words they work together with teachers to create a good atmosphere and to bring themselves into a place where they can learn. It's highly collaborative between the students and between teachers and students. There is a focus on emotional regulation, discussing feelings, and frequent opportunities to praise and to celebrate success. I like the idea of Tuttles, the opposite of a 'tattle' where you 'tell on' someone for being good and then you write it down for them, so you may praise another student for being peaceful or being helpful, teachers will also issue them.

Morning meetings are also an important part of the day, where teachers will set up the day by discussing what has been going well, any challenges and inviting the students to have a strong input into problem solving. This means that they discuss some quite challenging issues at times, but in a way that allows them to learn.

Morning meeting allows discussion to take place

There are other vital cogs in the wheel such as Care Co-ordinators and Student Success Coaches who are tasked with looking at and supporting specific pieces of work, training teachers, reaching into families and so on. I'll have more to say on them later in the week!

In essence so far what I have had reinforced to me is that modelling has to be from the top to the bottom, peer to peer support is an essential component of successful trauma informed work, being explicit in your intentions to value emotions and emotional regulation is vital, and people need to be allowed to err as long as you keep their intentions on the ultimate goal.

Hillsboro is quietly doing some really amazing work, enabled by the fact that they have a genuinely talented and enthusiastic group of people driving the change. Roll on the rest of the week!