This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 209 of the Cult of Pedagogy Podcast.

In this episode we are going to unpack the approach to building learning environments

known as trauma informed teaching.

My understanding of the word trauma has evolved over the last few years.

It used to be limited to incidents that were objectively harmful and almost always severe.

Events that involve some kind of violence, like experiencing or directly witnessing a physical

assault or a tragedy of some sort, a natural disaster, a vehicle collision, something that caused

destruction or bodily harm. While these things still sit squarely under the trauma umbrella,

that umbrella has expanded to include lots of other experiences that can have negative and

long-lasting impact, things like neglect, emotional abuse, and harassment. While some lives are

much more trauma-heavy than others, every life contains some degree of trauma and it affects

each of us differently. In fact, it is the way we process and experience certain events that

defines how traumatic they are. Two people may process the same episode quite differently,

making it a traumatic event for one but a minor blip on the radar for another.

This broader definition does not water down the concept of trauma. It makes it universal,

and this means it will show up for many if not all of our students and for ourselves.

Making educational decisions with a sensitivity toward trauma, commonly referred to as trauma-informed

education or teaching, has gotten more attention in recent years, and there's a long list of reasons

why, including the rise of childhood depression and anxiety, pandemic-related stressors,

economic struggles, and a constant threat of gun violence to name just a few.

I have wanted to do an episode on this topic for a while, and I've found someone pretty

incredible to help me do that. My guest today, Alex Sheverin-Vinette, is someone whose work has

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