b'WILLIAM JAMES COLLEGE 5entire workforce is coming back under theproviders, she explained. Educators, staff, weight of stress and potentially traumato aand administrators infuse and sustain trauma job that most already find stressful. awareness, knowledge, and skills into their To support teachers and improve classroomschool climate, programs and classrooms. environments, Danna advocated for the use ofThey collaborate with all those who are a trauma-informed approach. involved with the child, using the best available A trauma-informed system is one wherescientific evidence, to maximize physical and all parties involved recognize and respondpsychological safety, facilitate the recovery to the impact of traumatic stress on thoseor adjustment of the child and family, and who have contact with the system, includingsupport their ability to learn and to thrive. children, caregivers, staff and service To Address Campus Mental HealthCrisis, Engage EmotionallyWhat was already a serious issue for college andIf one was to create a university administrators has become a public healthrobust therapeutic crisis as experts warn of an echo-pandemic ofmilieu that mental illness caused by the length and breadth of could rebuild the exposure students have had to adverse effects relationships, of the pandemic.encourage According to an October 2020 study by Americanthe exchange Campus Communities, 85 percent of college studentsof emotions, reported more stress, anxiety and depressionand increase compared to one year ago.opportunities for Studies by the Centers for Disease Control, andmastery and competence the Kaiser Family Foundation, show 40 to 50 percentin the wake of a pandemic, of college-age adults are reporting symptoms ofit would look like most of our higher education anxiety, depression, and substance use disorderlearning communities. With the right environment with 25 percent experiencing suicidal thoughts.and support systems in place, young people are Impacts are owed not just to the pandemic, but alsoremarkably resilient.to the profound social disruptions of racial violence,We have an opportunity, now, to invest xenophobia, and political division that have beenmore in a public health model of services traumatic, especially to our students and staff of color. and to define what a new normal in mental If there is good news to be shared, it is thathealth looks like on our campuses. college campuses are the optimal places to create relationships, share emotions, rediscover a senseAdapted from "Students returning to campus of mastery and to heal what has been broken.will carry trauma," by Dr. Nicholas Covino. Commonwealth Magazine, August 2021.'