Counselor Johnson

From Friday, May 30, 2020 The Psychology Behind Rioting From Your Friendly School Counselor Last night, I sat here talking to my husband about trauma and racism and police brutality and rioting and looting and I cried. I went to bed with a heavy heart and tossed and turned and couldn’t rest. I finally got up and went to sleep in the other room because I was so restless and I knew he had to be up at 5:30 this morning for work. This morning, I woke up with tightness in my chest as I immediately felt hurt for the people of this world. I looked at these pictures of what was my home city (Louisville) for more than a decade and I sobbed. The link to these pictures is in the comments.  I want to say upfront that I am not condoning, justifying, or encouraging rioting, looting, or violence. However, I do want to encourage my white friends to be empathetic. To try to understand it. To try to imagine what it might take to push you that far.  I teach my students several lesson...

"Trauma Informed" has ben the topic of focus this year.  A majority of the professional development in our district has been centered around being more trauma informed.  Trauma used to be the counselor's area, only.  It was part of my training for my Master's Degree and when there's trauma, usually teachers and administrators turn to me for guidance.  But, now, we are training all educators to be more informed about trauma and I believe that helps us to serve our students better.  Not only the students that are processing major trauma, but all students.  It has started to inform everything we do from assessments, school programs, behavior interventions, etc. as we begin to look at everything through a trauma lens instead of labeling students as students with "trauma".  Especially, since we can't always see trauma and we don't always know which students are dealing with trauma.   Our state has passed legislation requiring trauma informed training,...