The following are resources for faculty and staff at Iowa State University to help incorporate wellness ideas in classes or groups on campus.

Resources for Trauma-Informed Teaching

Trauma: An event, series of events, or a set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or threatening and that has adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being. [from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration]

Trauma-Informed Teaching: Teachers are proactive and responsive to the needs of students suffering from traumatic stress and make small changes in the classroom that foster a feeling of safety. [Jessica Minahan, ASCD]

“Trauma-informed educators recognize students’ actions are a direct result of their life experiences. When their students act out or disengage, they don’t ask them, ‘What is wrong with you?’ but rather, “What happened to you?’” [Huang et al., 2014]

What trauma might look like in postsecondary learners

  • Difficulty focusing, attending, retaining, and recalling
  • Tendency to miss a lot of classes
  • Challenges with emotional regulation
  • Fear of taking risks
  • Anxiety about deadlines, exams, group work, or public speaking
  • Anger, helplessness, or dissociation when stressed
  • Withdrawal and isolation
  • Involvement in unhealthy relationships

Strategies for trauma-informed education

  • Empower students
    • Offer choices for participation and give students a sense of agency in their lives
  • Check in with students
    • Ask your students how they are doing and give them a way to reach out for help
  • Prepare for significant anniversaries
    • If a student mentions a significant date that is traumatic for them, make note of it and check in with them when that date comes up to see if they need additional help
  • Be sensitive to family structures
    • Change the language in syllabi and assignments to use terms such as “caregiver” or “guardian” instead of “parent” to respect differences in family structure
  • Avoid romanticizing trauma narratives
    • Ensure your lesson content does not depict trauma as romantic or desirable
  • Identify mentors and other support systems
    • Connect students to peers and adults who can provide additional support
    • Provide information to students about Student Counseling Services

Class Assignments, Activities, or Meeting Ideas

Encourage your students to reflect on their health and wellbeing by including wellness topics in your class assignments.

Types of Assignments

  • Canvas Reflection
    • Include throughout the semester 1-3 reflection prompts as an assignment for students to write a reflection on how they are doing? This can give you an opportunity to check in with them, highlight resources in class, and make connections to how focusing on their wellbeing can help them in the classroom.
      • How would you describe your current state of wellbeing (physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual, etc.)? What is going well? What is not going so well?
  • Reflection paper
    • You can assign a short reflection for a small percentage or extra credit at the beginning of the semester to encourage students to be aware of their health
  • Question in attendance tracking
    • If you track attendance with a system such as Top Hat, you can add a question for each class period to ask about students’ well-being
  • Small group discussion to build community
    • Give your students an ice breaker to get to know one another and reflect on their own health
      • Examples of Prompts
        • List three things you are grateful for today/this week.
        • On a scale from 1 (low) to 10 (high), how stressed do you feel this week? How are you managing your stress? What could you do to improve your stress management?
        • What is one goal you want to achieve to improve your health and well-being this month/semester?
        • Describe your support system. Who can you rely on to help you when you feel stressed or need to talk to someone? Who can you call, message, or visit for emotional and social support?
        • How do you plan to keep track of your assignments this semester? What are three things you can do to get help or focus on your academic success?
        • Does your class/work schedule allow for enough time to eat three meals a day? What are some portable foods you can pack to snack on throughout the day? If you need to eat during class, do you feel comfortable explaining your situation to your instructor and asking for permission to do so?

Wellness Discussion Questions

Start a Meeting with a Short Discussion about Wellbeing

There are a variety of brief activities to start a meeting or class that will establish a culture of care and respect. This is an activity you can do with your colleagues and/or with your students, depending on what you are comfortable with and how time allows. They can turn to a partner, share in small group, do a 3 minute Zoom breakout, etc.

Discussion Topic Examples

  • What is going well (Positive)
    • Have each person say one thing that is going well this week (personal or professional).
  • Gratitude
    • Have each person name one or two things they are grateful for this week. Name someone they are grateful for this week.
  • Mindfulness
  • Self-Care
    • Ask everyone to describe something they are doing this week to take care of themselves?
  • Recommendations
    • Have everyone give one recommendation they have for the group: a book, movie, Netflix show, recipe, hiking or biking location, etc.