Unit 2 – Working towards healing

Introduction

A young student standing a classroom full of other students sitting down.

You will begin this unit by reading a poem written by a poet who fled Syria as a child, taking tiny precious things that would remind him of home and using these smells and textures to soothe him at a time when he faced hostility and fear while being displaced.

This poem highlights the anti-refugee hostility that many people face while being displaced but also sheds light on the small things that can help a person to heal like a certain smell, a certain memory or a certain item they carry with them.

In this unit, you will explore two approaches that you can use to appropriately support your students on their healing journey – trauma-informed care and identity-informed approaches. You will also explore psychosocial support and how certain strategies can be implemented in school to support all students and staff.

As you complete Unit 2, you will review several useful tools and resources to take away and use in your daily work. You will also learn about relevant frameworks and activities to help you use trauma and identity informed approaches in your work.

Finally, you will work through a short case study to try to implement some of the strategies you have covered.

Learning outcomes icon. A person climbing to the peak of a mountain. Unit 2 Objectives

 

  • Explain the impacts of utilising trauma-informed approaches and identity-informed approaches.
  • Identify ways that people can heal using individual or collective healing strategies.
  • Formulate psychosocial support strategies to enable healing within school.

Poem – My Hazara people by Shukria Rezaei