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Trauma-Informed and Trauma-Responsive Care on Today’s College Campus

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Course ID: SA113
Title: Trauma-Informed and Trauma-Responsive Care on Today’s College Campus
Facilitator: Dr. Monica Galloway Burke

REGISTRATION CLOSED.

The replay is not available at this time.

Why is this session invaluable? Because trauma does not always look like trauma. A student’s withdrawal, anger, disengagement, or difficulty trusting may tell us that something more is happening. This session will help you look beyond the behavior, avoid assumptions, and respond in ways that promote safety, trust, and empowerment.

OVERVIEW
College students bring a wide range of life experiences to campus, and many have encountered adversity or trauma that can influence how they learn, engage, build relationships, and seek support. While student affairs professionals are not expected to diagnose or treat trauma, they are often among the first trusted individuals students turn to during times of stress or crisis. Developing a trauma-informed understanding and responding with intentional, supportive practices can foster student well-being while promoting belonging, resilience, and academic success.

This interactive webinar explores the foundations of trauma-informed practice and the application of trauma-responsive care within higher education settings. Participants will examine how trauma can manifest in students, learn to recognize potential trauma responses without making assumptions or diagnoses, and explore practical strategies for creating safe, supportive, and empowering interactions. Through case studies, reflection, and discussion, participants will leave with evidence-informed approaches they can immediately apply to their work with college students.

This live, interactive discussion will bring together Burke’s work on helping skills, mindfulness, student stress, and trauma-responsive practice. Drawing from Helping Skills for Working with College Students and Mindful Strategies for Helping College Students Manage Stress, they will use realistic campus situations to explore what we might notice, what we should not assume, and how we can respond with greater intention.
Helping Skills for Working with College Students (2nd ed.)
Mindful Strategies for Helping Students Manage Stress

BRIEF OUTLINE

  1. Understanding Trauma in Higher Education
    • Opening: The Sophia Case. Who Has Been Affected?
      • Examining the individual, cultural, and community effects of a campus incident
      • Reflection: Who may experience trauma, and who needs support?
    • Defining trauma and its impact on college students and the campus community
    • How trauma can influence learning, behavior, relationships, and well-being
    • Interactive reflection: Looking beyond the behavior
  2. From Trauma-Informed to Trauma-Responsive Practice
    • What it means to be trauma-informed
    • Recognizing potential effects and signs of trauma
    • Understanding trauma-informed principles and strategies
    • Avoiding assumptions, labels, and retraumatization
  3. Recognizing Possible Trauma Responses
    • Cognitive, emotional, behavioral, physical, and relational manifestations
    • Interactive activity: I’m Fine. I Just Need This Fixed.
    • Distinguishing observable activation from assumptions about triggers
  4. Trauma-Responsive Care and Helping Strategies
    • Creating safety, trust, and psychological safety
    • Validation, empowerment (voice and choice), and supporting student autonomy
    • Responding while maintaining appropriate professional boundaries
    • Interactive case application
  5. Applying Trauma-Responsive Care Across Campus
    • Revisiting the opening case: Sophia
    • Supporting directly and indirectly affected students
    • Practical strategies/takeaways for everyday student interactions
    • Reflection, questions, and discussion
Trauma-informed is what you understand. Trauma-responsive is what you do. Move from awareness to action and discover how intentional responses can change the way students experience support.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

  • Differentiate trauma, stress, and adversity and describe how trauma may influence students’ academic experiences, well-being, relationships, and engagement.
  • Explain the principles of trauma-informed practice and distinguish them from trauma-responsive care in higher education settings.
  • Recognize common cognitive, emotional, behavioral, physical, and relational trauma responses while avoiding assumptions or clinical diagnoses.
  • Apply trauma-responsive helping strategies that promote safety, trust, empowerment, belonging, and psychological safety during interactions with students.
  • Respond to students experiencing distress while maintaining appropriate professional boundaries and recognizing when referrals or collaborative support are warranted.
  • Develop practical, evidence-informed approaches for creating more trauma-informed and trauma-responsive environments across their areas of practice.
Being trauma-informed changes what we notice. Being trauma-responsive changes what we do. We may never know the full story behind a student’s behavior, but we can choose to respond in ways that create safety, preserve dignity, and empower the student in front of us.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:
This webinar is designed for:

  • Student affairs professionals at all levels
  • Faculty
  • Graduate students

Dr. Monica Galloway BurkeMonica Galloway Burke, Ph.D., is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Counseling and Student Affairs at Western Kentucky University and serves the Faculty Fellow for ONE WKU in the Office of the Provost. With more than 28 years of experience in higher education and a professional background in mental health and student affairs, her teaching, scholarship, and professional service focus on helping relationships, student development, student well-being, leadership, and student success.  READ MORE →