1. Prompt #1:

   Prior to this course, I had heard buzz words around “trauma-informed care” and “trauma-sensitive schools”, but didn’t truly have an understanding of what that entailed. I also think I had a fairly narrow scope of what constituted “trauma” in children. After being in this class for several weeks and exploring the content we have explored thus far, I feel that my personal philosophy of working with children who have experienced adversity has broadened to encompass a more understanding outlook.
   Reflecting on the philosophy of this course, I think one major takeaway that I have noted thus far is how these adverse childhood experiences can affect children in a multitude of ways. To understand all that can fall under “adverse childhood experiences” as well as “adverse community experiences”, I think of all of the students that we encounter on an everyday basis that meet at least one, if not multiple, of these experiences. However, I want to strengthen my philosophy to recognize that even though the number of children who have experienced adversity continues to be surprising, one thing to stay cognizant on is the consistent, supportive relationships and environment that I can foster while these children are at school. I also appreciate the philosophy in the course that focuses on not only supporting adolescents to overcome adversity but to also flourish and thrive. I think this is such an important factor to remember as educators who play a crucial role in our students’ lives. Just as we have seen in many of the movie clips in class, adolescents are dealing with more than we could ever imagine. When students walk through the school doors, each day could be a new experience. While we focus on building relationships with our students, we must also look for ways in which we can support and advocate for these students to not simply “get by”, but to also have the same opportunities to thrive. I am eager to learn more about these practices to help students with the support they need but to also find best practices in order to continue to flourish as individuals.
   One challenge that stands in the way of this philosophy is understanding the brain development. Knowing how plastic children’s brains are in their early childhood stages between the ages of 1-3 challenges my own tendency to want to be able to “fix” everything. It was eye-opening to see the impact that stress (especially from adversity) can cause on a developing brain. I must recognize that my role as an educator is not to focus on what I cannot change from my students’ childhood experiences but to provide the best environment that I can to support students to overcome these adversities through meaningful relationships.
   I have also truly enjoyed learning about the different character strengths and I am looking forward to incorporating these into my classroom practice to utilize with my students. One challenge that I must overcome is the tendency to identify the areas of weakness first. In the daily rush of education, we are constantly looking at the students who are falling below the academic benchmarks, brainstorming interventions and remediation schedules to assist these children to stay “on grade-level.” However, the student’s character strengths could be used as a benefit not only in their development as a child but also in their academic developments. If I know that one of my students has a character strength of social intelligence, I may reconsider having the student work in a social group setting rather than on an independent task, so that the student can call on their strength in a challenging situation. I am hopeful to be more mindful of character strengths and to attempt to overcome any challenge that may present itself of identifying student weaknesses and neglecting identifying student strengths.

   Prompt #2:
   The character strength that I chose to challenge this past week was gratitude. I first looked at the specifics on the chart we used in class last week that provided a bit more detail for each strength. Under gratitude, it included: thankful for the good, expressing thanks, and feeling blessed.
   One way that I stretched this character strength this week was by recognizing when and where I could tell someone “thank you”, especially for someone who is typically not recognized. I started by intentionally focusing on when I could say thank you to my students in the class. I teach first grade, which is typically made up of “teacher pleasers”, so when I give out my thanks, the students seem very receptive of this and enjoy the gratitude. Likewise, when I am shown gratitude for my own actions, I too feel valued and appreciated. Within our PBIS framework, we utilize a student-recognition program called “Proud Paws.” When teachers observe students following one of our three school rules (Be safe, be responsible, be respectful), teachers can submit a positive referral to the principal, who will then read it over the announcements the next day. Students also receive a little coin with the positive referral that can be kept or turned in at the school store for a prize. Although I am always looking for opportunities to nominate my students for these “Proud Paws”, I decided to stretch it this week and focus on a handful of students who don’t typically get recognized for their actions. I chose to recognize a quieter student for helping a classmate pick up the items from their desk that had fallen on the ground, as well as another student who struggles with challenging behaviors by celebrating his eagerness to be a role model in a class activity with a “Proud Paw”. The students’ faces light up when they hear their name being recognized over the announcements, and just as the students are feeling the excitement, I too am also feeling the joy of having expressed my gratitude for their actions.
   One thing that I have to troubleshoot when it comes to calling on my character strength of gratitude is not being “swept up” in the everyday stress and chaos. To intentionally focus on being “thankful for the good”, I decided to keep a little log of the positive components of each day for the past week. While I feel like I do this mentally, I think writing down the positive components each day allowed me to reflect and be thankful for the good on a deeper level. I could see the lengthy list that came, as a result, each day, and although each day also had its stressors, seeing a physical list of the good from each day was a gentle reminder that the good outweighs the bad.

2. Reflection on Character Strengths
   Marchia Swanson
   In the craziness of our everyday lives, we have a tendency to focus on what is wrong with us. We want to fix our problems, and relieve our stress. We lose sight of what is good about ourselves, and what our strengths are. By adopting a strengths based approach to life, we may be able to shift our focus from what is wrong to what is strong. Focusing on our positive qualities can help increase happiness, improve relationships, and discover balance in our lives. It can be empowering and uplifting, and connect us to others.
   For this reflection, we were asked to concentrate on one of our signature strengths. However, I had the opportunity this week to reflect on one of my middle strengths: perspective. The quality of perspective landed at number 13 for me, placing it firmly in the middle of my collection of strengths. The VIA survey pointed out that perspective allows me to see the big picture in situations; and that I have a way of looking at the world that helps make sense of things. It also states that I am able to address important and difficult questions about life’s biggest issues. Perspective moved to the front of the line for me this week, because I encountered some things in my personal and professional life that gave me the chance to reflect on looking at the big picture.
   As a special education teacher, I have the chance to get to know my students and their families very well, because I have my students for more than one year. I work closely with their parents and try to best meet their educational needs, while taking into consideration their unique family situations and dynamics. One of my kindergarten students is a child with Autism, and he has been a bit of a puzzle for me and the other special education teachers this year. We have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to design the best academic schedule for him, while also trying to meet his behavioral and sensory needs within the classroom. Since September, he has made progress with his behavior, but his academics are still a concern.
   While the special education team has been brainstorming about how we can improve our services to this child; his mother suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. As a team, we were faced with a whole new problem; how were we going to provide the best and most caring setting to this child, who has a serious disability, and has just lost his mother? We had to switch our concerns from addressing the academic issues to addressing the emotional issues that this child was going to be facing from this point on.
   This tragedy gave me a chance to use perspective in a new way. I had to move from the realm of academics and the traditional role of teacher; into a role of emotional support for this particular student. I needed to take more time with this student, and listen closely to him, so that I could understand what he needed during this time. This was so hard, because while has has strong verbal skills, his autism makes it difficult for him to appropriately and adequately express his thoughts and feelings. Listening became my priority, because conversation is not one of his strengths. He did speak about his mother once, to tell me that she is in Heaven. (It was hard not to cry when he said that!)
   In an attempt to use my character strength in a new way, the resource from Neimiec suggested that I consider the wisest quote that I have come across. One of my favorite quotes is from Alphonse Karr: “We can complain because roses have thorns, or rejoice because thorns have roses”. This week, I took this quote and tried to apply it not just to this student’s situation, but to all the thorny issues that came my way. I have always considered myself very lucky, because I have a job that I really love, but there are times when I can get bogged down in the issues and drama that comes along with it. Teaching is the only profession where your performance is evaluated on something that you have very little control over. No matter how much time we spend working on the perfect lesson, or the best services, there will always be an unknown factor. We do not always know what is behind that student’s behavioral issues, but we have to do the best we can to make their educational experiences relevant to them. There are times when this is easy, and times when it seems like it is impossible. We have to see the roses, and not the thorns. This week, when I encountered something or someone that made me upset, I tried very hard to see the roses among the thorns. I kept my complaints to a minimum, and tried to increase my praise. With my students, I decided that I would concentrate on finding positive things to say instead of pointing out the areas where they needed to improve.
   I have to say that after using this approach for this week, I felt like I had improved in my ability to keep things in perspective. I tried to become a more active listener, and to tried and genuinely hear what my students were saying. This wasn’t as hard for me as using the skill with the adults that I come into contact with in my daily life. Sometimes I feel like I have a better understanding of children than I do of adults. I have to work much harder to view the roses among the thorny adults. This week gave me the chance to see that I need to change this perspective. I noticed that I have a tendency to excuse more behavior from children, but not from the adults, who I think should “know better” and should be more flexible in their thinking. I learned that I truly need to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes to really gain perspective. Everyone has a background story that we may not know about.
   I am hoping that by choosing to focus on perspective this week, I will be more appreciative of those around me, both the children and adults. Gaining perspective, and moving that character strength up on my list, will hopefully help me also increase my lesser strengths; particularly judgement and bravery. Those are two that I feel I need to improve.

3. Reflection on the Philosophy of Trauma Informed Care
   Marchia Swanson

   The course description of this class states that it will give me the opportunity to examine the influence of adverse childhood experiences and environments on the psycho-social growth and brain development of young people. The course focuses on developing intentional adult responsive practices to support kids not only to overcome adversity, but to thrive. I am excited to learn more about how to help children thrive, but especially excited to learn about developing practices that will make me a more intentional teacher.
   When I started my journey towards my Master’s at the University of Richmond, my intention was to add the EL endorsement to my current teaching license, and to get that “big pay increase” that will come along with my degree. However, through my coursework, I have noticed that I have achieved something entirely different than my original goals. I have started to be more reflective on my teaching practices, and I am moving towards being more intentional in my teaching.
   Teaching special education is rewarding, but also difficult. Sometimes I work with students that no one else wants, or that other teachers have given up on. It is hard not to fall into the trap of just giving up on a student, especially our toughest ones. Students who have had adverse childhood experiences probably fall into the category of being the tough ones more often than other students. They are the ones that can fall through the cracks of the education system. These are the students that need us the most. After our first class, when we watched the video about Liz and her story, I spent a lot of time thinking about our tough kids like Liz. Liz missed a lot of school, and when she did come to school, she was dirty and probably presented a very unappealing picture to the teacher and other students. She didn’t require specialized instruction, because she did not have a disability or a behavioral issue. She just existed within the school, fading into the background and falling through the cracks. Liz did not get the help she needed from the school, because she didn’t fit in anywhere. Liz could have presented a much different picture at school if she had acted out or become a problem, but that did not happen. She dealt with her adversity on her own. My heart broke for her, because her story was not heard by the people she needed the most. It made me wonder how often we miss the signs of adverse childhood experiences.
   My personal philosophy of working with children is to always look at the whole child. The practice of focusing on “what is strong, instead of what is wrong” is something I have always tried to do. I have always prided myself on my ability to understand my students and their needs, but I have also learned throughout my career that I am not perfect. I sometimes struggle with those tough students; the obnoxious ones who try my patience every day, or the ones that never do any homework or studying. I try to remember that most of these things are out of the control of the child. How can you remember to do homework, when you do not even know where you are going to be that night? Studying for a test takes a back seat to being hungry and not knowing when you will eat next. I try to keep all those things in mind with my students, and chose to focus on their strengths while providing specialized instruction to address their weaknesses.
   I think the challenges to this philosophy are the same challenges that occur in all aspects of the education field. We have so little time in our day to spend trying to understand why a student forgot their homework or did not study. We also have 24 other students who have unique problems and issues. We have to make sure we are teaching all the strands of the particular standard of learning that we need to address that week; and we need to make sure we keep up with the pacing guide. It is hard to be intentional in your teaching, when everyone has to meet the same standards and follow the same pace. It can also be hard to be sensitive to the needs of one particular student when all of the people who work with that student have already given them a label of “difficult”. Changing the mindset of other people may be the hardest part of implementing my personal philosophy. I hope that I can always be the advocate for my students. I would also hope that sometimes I can be the “cookie” person for a student who does not have anyone else to be their advocate. This is also a challenge that we face as educators; we can spread ourselves so thin that we might miss the opportunity to be there for the students that need us the most.
   I am excited about the movement towards social and emotional learning and positive behavioral intervention strategies that is occurring in Chesterfield County schools. These programs will give the teachers more opportunities to build the relationships that are so important to all our students, not just our toughest ones. It will not give us the gift of time, but hopefully it will help all of us become more intentional in our teaching.
   I am also very thankful to have made the choice to go back to school at this point in my teaching career. It has given me a new outlook on the profession of teaching, and given me hope for the direction that education is moving. Teaching as a profession can make us old and tired, and our teaching can become stale. Going back to school has energized my teaching in a way that was unexpected, but is very welcome. I look forward to learning more about creating positive outlooks for all of our students.

4. Reflection: My Philosophy

   I grew up knowing I was going to be a teacher. I was the epitome of what you would think of as a little teacher, growing up teaching my stuffed animals and forcing my friends to play school. I have always loved being around kids, and in many aspects of my life I was in the role of teacher. I taught Sunday School at church, took care of babies in the nursery, and then later on started working at a daycare. I have always known that my path would lead me to teaching, and here I am, 4 years in and I have learned so much.

   Being a psychology major in my undergrad, I was very interested in childhood development, particularly the brain and how different experiences affect the brain and its development. While we learned about some extreme cases such as the orphanages in Romania, I never really thought that I would potentially be seeing and dealing with some similar things in my classroom.

   I was lucky enough to be able to work with a wonderful, yet challenging group of students in my student teaching placement. There, I saw a glimpse into what the lives of some children consist of: abuse, neglect, poverty, etc, and how that transferred into the classroom. I have come to realize in my later years that I was somewhat sheltered in my childhood. I grew up in a small town, and pretty much never left. I only ever played with kids that went to my school, and I didn’t hear much about some of the tougher things in life. I was also fortunate not to experience many either, so when I was working with students who lived in the same county that I grew up in, and heard about some of the horrific things that they were dealing with I was shocked. All I knew was that I wanted to help in any way possible. One of the best things that has happened to me, and helped me to be who I am today was the influence of my cooperating teacher in my student teaching placement. She taught me so much, and helped me to form my beliefs and philosophy of teaching. In her classroom, we focused so much on building a community, and being a family, more than any standards or tests. That is where I really started to understand why I wanted to be a teacher in the first place; to help people and hopefully make a difference in children’s lives.

   Before this class, I had no idea what trauma informed care was, or anything about it, all I knew was what I had learned in school, and working with children: patience. Patience is something I believe is key when working with children who have experienced adversity. It takes patience to stop and think about what might be going on that triggered a student to throw a chair, or to refrain from reacting instead of responding. This is something I had to learn, and I am still working on each and every day. I think trauma informed care, or being trauma sensitive is an excellent way of making sure that teachers are aware of how to best support their students, which I believe takes patience. Understanding the brain, and how it is affected by experiences is also a key part of being trauma sensitive. In my opinion, when referring to trauma informed care, or being trauma sensitive, patience takes on a new meaning than teachers may originally have thought. In every day life in the classroom, teachers have to be patient with students who talk out of turn, or work very slowly, etc. When I talk about being patient in trauma informed care, I mean it in a way in which we have to try to take the time necessary to understand what might be going on. With some students this may be talking about their day, or maybe just sitting there with them, but it all takes patience to understand that what this student did or said is not something to be taken personally, it is an access point for you to start building a relationship with them

   In order to implement this in my classroom, I am going to have to practice my patience, because when the daily stressors of life as a teacher build up, it is very difficult to be patient with students and try to understand rather than fix. I really love “focus on what’s strong, not what’s wrong,” and I think that is a good way to approach many situations we may come in contact with in our classrooms.

5. Reflections: Character Strength
   This week I chose to focus on my character strength of Spirituality. I looked back over the resources we had, and noted that spirituality is faith, purpose; having coherent beliefs about the higher purpose and meaning of the universe; knowing where one fits within the larger scheme; having beliefs about the meaning of life that shape conduct and provide comfort. When reading through this description, I thought about mindfulness, meditation, and self-care.

   Over the past week or so, I have been feeling moderately stressed and just not very positive. I took this assignment as an opportunity not only to focus on one of my character strengths, but also to do some reflecting and self-care. One of the ways I used my spirituality this week was practicing yoga and meditation. I have always enjoyed yoga as a form of exercise, but never really looked at it as a mental/spiritual practice. During my yoga sessions I really tried to connect my mind and body, be present in the moment, feel my muscles working, and focus my mind. Meditation is something that I have tried before, but have struggled with because my mind always feels like it is on overdrive. I used the app called Calm, which has free meditation sessions on it, and that was helpful.

   Another part of spirituality that I focused on this week was my purpose. Each morning I would try to think of my main focus of the day, what my purpose was going to be, and try to make sure that I was remaining positive throughout the day. I think that focusing on the positive, the fact that we all have a purpose is something that really stuck out to me this week, and something that I will carry over into my classroom. I want all of my students to feel that sense of belonging, but also purpose, and feel like they are meant to be who they are, where they are, that they are important.

   Often times, teachers tend to get stuck in the rut of always thinking about others and putting others first, and while being kind and compassionate is excellent, we cannot keep giving if there is nothing left to give. Self-care is important and necessary in order to be the best person you can be. I feel like throughout this week, I have done some self reflection and it was a very positive and uplifting experience.

   1. Carmen,

      I am so glad you covered this topic in your reflection post this week! Self care is something I’m really trying to explore more this year and it’s a hot topic amongst the other teachers in my building. I love hearing about what other teachers do to make sure they are taking care of themselves. My character strength was love and while I did consider writing about “self-love,” it didn’t go along very well with the definition given by the VIA website. It’s interesting because I never would have thought of spirituality in the way you used it. When I hear that word, I automatically think about religion.

      I, too, try to meditate daily and use an app called Headspace. I only began using it recently but I’ve noticed a huge difference in my overall energy since I started. It’s fantastic and I highly recommend it to others. Usually I do my meditations right before bed because I have a lot of difficulty falling asleep. If I don’t, I start thinking about my to do list and it can become a downward spiral from there. Mediation has allowed me to connect more with my body and “let go” of any negative or stressful thoughts. A lot of people do meditations in the morning to set the tone for their day. I prefer to do mine at night, which leaves my mornings open for the onset of stress. I love your idea of consciously and intentionally setting a purpose for yourself at the beginning of each day. As teachers, it can become so easy to get sidetracked because we just have too much to do! I am going to try that this week and I think I may even write each purpose down so that I can hold myself more accountable for what I establish daily. I appreciate you sharing this and for giving me an entirely new perspective on this character strength.

6. Reflection on the Philosophy of Trauma Informed Care
   Emma Florek

   I was first introduced to “Trauma Informed Care” last semester in my advanced psychology course. We had a three-hour long presentation on the subject which was my only exposure to the term. Quite honestly, I wasn’t that excited at the outset. After an arduous day of teaching middle school students, the idea of sitting through such a lengthy lecture didn’t seem very appealing or worth my time. I could not have been more wrong. Those three hours changed my perspective as a teacher entirely and caused me to restructure my graduate school path by enrolling in this course for the spring semester. The philosophy of this course has redefined my own personal philosophies about working with children who have faced adverse experiences. As a result of our discussions, class activities and readings over the past several weeks, I feel like I can reflect on my practices with more clarity and look at my students’ behaviors through a more compassionate and informed lens.

   Growing up, I unknowingly experienced my own adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) – four to be exact. Up until recently, however, I never would have defined them that way. The terms “trauma” and “adversity” seemed too severe to describe my parents’ divorce or father’s path to recovery with alcoholism. The emotional abuse and neglect I endured in middle and high school was just a way of life, surely not a “trauma.” Until learning more about the philosophy of this course, I never realized how broad the spectrum of trauma really is or the negative impact a series of ACEs could have on a child’s future. I always figured the experiences I’d had were ones that would impact on my life in some way, but because of this course, I understand more about how they’ve made me into the person (and teacher) I am today. A major takeaway from this class has been the realization that I may share more in common with my students than I realized. By testing out the strategies we’ve discussed, my relationships with certain students have grown stronger. There are little things that I have started to incorporate into my lexicon with students that have yielded amazing rewards. By telling students how happy I am to see them or trying to sit with them and asking about their days, interests, etc., it creates a more positive attitude amongst the individuals in my classroom.

   There are some challenges, however, that I’ve been faced with in trying to implement some of strategies we’ve learned in class. The average class size in my room is around thirty students. Once class has started and everyone is working, it’s difficult to focus on whether a student is having a bad day with everything going on around me. It can feel as though I’m being pulled in a dozen different directions at once and I fear that at times, I may be neglecting students who need attention the most. There are also times where I also have to remind myself to respond rather than react to students’ behaviors. I may need to put my own personal stress, frustrations and beliefs aside to properly respond to a students’ needs and really listen to what they are saying before reacting irrationally. I’ve really had to think back to our discussion on a child’s brain development and remember that the students I’m teaching (11-14 year olds) may truly not understand why they’ve done something or exhibited a certain behavior. There are also times where I may have more than one student with ACEs in the classroom. It can feel overwhelming if those particular students are struggling simultaneously because as a teacher, I naturally want to help and try to solve their problems. I’ve come to realize that at times, the best I can do is just listen. As evidenced by my experience with Lindsey this week (see my next reflection post on character strengths), listening and just being there for someone made a huge impact not just on the student, but on myself as well.

   Reflection on Character Strengths
   Emma Florek

   This week I concentrated on my signature strength of love, which is defined by the VIA Institute on Character as “valuing close relations with others, in particular those in which sharing & caring are reciprocated; being close to people.” When I originally completed my character strength profile, I was surprised to find that love came before traits like creativity or curiosity given that my content area is in the visual arts. After intentionally stretching the trait of love more this week, I understand why it landed where it did on my results. Initially, I thought love referred to romantic love and obviously couldn’t figure out how that applied to my teaching practices. Love has many contexts and within the classroom and building as a whole, I’ve realized that it really has to do more with the bonds between teachers, students and other school personnel.

   Just yesterday I had a success with a student that would have never happened had it not been for this course or my character strengths. An eighth grade advanced art student – we’ll call her Lindsay – had seemed unusually quiet for the past few weeks. She has an IEP for an acute anxiety disorder and puts an enormous amount of pressure on herself to perform exceptionally in and outside of school. Four years ago she lost her older brother suddenly to a heart condition. While she does go to counseling often, she is still grieving. Yesterday, I was meeting with students in her class individually to go over their rough drafts of artist statements. When I finally got to meet with Lindsay, she was still unusually quiet. She also did not seem to be very engaged with her work, almost like she was distracted. I tried thinking back to our class discussions and said, “You seem upset lately. I could be wrong. If you are, I don’t know what’s going on, but I am here to listen if you need me to.” Almost immediately tears began streaming down her face. I discreetly asked her to come sit outside in the hallway with me where it was more quiet and she opened up entirely, explaining how anxious she is for the transition to high school and that she just wants more empathy from her peers and family members when she is feeling stressed. Having gone through my own issues with anxiety, I tried to relate as best I could. I realized that in having that conversation, her attitude has completely changed. She seems more upbeat and focused in class. She’s requested to come have lunch with me once a week to just catch up and have an outlet if she needs it. I was thrilled to see that such a small change to my practice made a meaningful difference.

   My students complete journal assignments daily. Typically, the journal prompts I create are pertinent to what we are learning in class. This week, I decided to try out something different. Each day, I asked students different questions about their personal interests and what they love. For example, I asked students to name someone they look up to and explain why, to describe a time that they feel loved, what they do to in a school day to show others that they care about them, etc. We then shared our answers as a group which was amazing to witness. My students really listened to each others’ responses and it created a wonderful dialogue in our class about what love really means. I came up with my own answers to these questions as well and shared them with the group. I think my students really appreciated hearing their teacher’s perspective and hopefully, they feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts with me as a result of the activity.

   As important as it is to demonstrate love for our students, I think it is equally as important to show our colleagues how much we value them as well. This week, I left a small note for the five people in my building that have helped make my year better. Each day I left a note for a different person, telling them how they’ve impacted me as a teacher, what I appreciate about them and why I value their companionship. This was such a small act of kindness, but I have to say, not only did it make the recipients smile – it made me feel good too! I hope I can start thinking of some new ways to use my strength of love in the remaining months of the school year. I didn’t realize how many different ways love could be used in school but I am really grateful for this assignment and plan to try it out with my other character strengths as well.

   1. Emma,

      I really appreciated your post about your character strength of Love. I think that what you are doing with your students is amazing, and definitely reflects your love. I also think that it is really important to show your students that you love them, and care, as well as getting them to think and discuss what love is. I love how you incorporated their perceptions of love into your daily routine this week, so it was brought into the classroom as well as in the forefront of your mind. Sending little kind messages is also a great way to spread the love. It is sad to think of all of the missed opportunities in the day that we could have used to thank someone or just let them know you appreciate them.

   2. Emma, I love how you utilized your character strength of love. Not only did you practice love yourself, but you taught your students how to practice identifying their character strength of love. And by sharing your personal struggle with anxiety you were able to identify with your student and build that trusting relationship. You validated her feelings and let her know that it is normal to feel anxious about high school. Also, in demonstrating love and appreciation for your colleagues, you practiced gratitude. We so easily take for granted the people in our lives. You were just spreading love all over New Kent Middle School.

7. This is Lisa Mitchell’s Week 3 Reflection – The philosophy of the course: Trauma Informed Care
   • Does it fit with your personal philosophy of working with children who have experienced adversity?
   • What are the challenges to putting your philosophy into practice?

   Twenty years in the classroom has widened my eyes and opened my heart to the bitter realities from which my innocent students suffer. Thirty-three years parenting has given me a front row seat to the fragilities and vicissitudes of childhood and child development. The confluence of my personal and professional experiences has created in me a late-in-life champion for our most vulnerable.

   I am a champion of optimism and positive energy’s power to rise up and overcome, given healthy and supportive environments and role models. I believe in psychology’s power to heal and rebuild brokenness. I teach because I believe and I can; I parent because I am in awe of the connectedness to the larger gift to the future. My personal philosophy of working with children of adversity and children of fortune are intertwined: children deserve and need strong, connected and committed people and institutions to guide them through the tough business of growing up. I am committed to the daily give and the daily grind that is parenting and teaching. This investment in our future is vital to our social stability, economic viability and healthy psyche. It is our fundamental responsibility to grow healthy children who, in turn, will grow a healthy future.

   The realities of collective pain and struggles run against my optimistic beliefs. Children are mistreated, misunderstood, mishandled and abused. These innocents are drawn into the educational system and become part of a microcosm of societal ills and realities, also known as the classroom. They are blameless children suffering from hardships handed to them as inheritance and inevitability. They are trapped. They are traumatized and re-traumatized and defy my Pollyanna approach to childhood ideals.

   Schools need to teach adults how to teach children of adversity and abuse. Programs need to be initiated that support mental health services and access to professionals in the school setting. Universities need to better wave the flag to future educators. Before we can initiate academics we must remediate and reimagine developing brain growth. Before we can grow future citizens we must craft corrective emotional experiences for these children along their developmental pathways. Can this be the work of one educator or one administrator or one school counselor? This must be the collective work of educators, administrators, mental health professionals and social workers under one roof. This multidimensional attack has to be funded with real dollars at local, state and federal levels by supporters who understand the vital importance of recalibrating abuse and disequilibrium as a means to a healthier society.

   Challenges to positive changes abound. We need to shake the policy makers and the professionals who have a hand in rebuilding institutions and legislation in favor of remaking damaged children. We need to guide and support the professionals in charge of educating and caring for children of adversity and abuse. We need to cast a wide net to all the first responders (teachers, law enforcement, social workers, psychologists, et al) involved with our younger generation of needy, broken children. All I can do as one lone educator is to give all I can as I learn what is happening within the four walls of my tiny classroom community. Beyond that I can soldier on and learn from professionals with more experience and knowledge. This class is one such launch pad for me to learn from and take back to the trenches to effect positive change.

   My glass-half-full vision has been tempered over the years. I see the glass as potentially half-full now but seriously in jeopardy of being drained and emptied. I am committed to dedicating my personal and professional energies to healing and helping and teaching with heart and soul in the hopes of keeping that glass upright and able to be filled.

   1. Lisa,
      I really appreciated your comment about parenting and being connected to the future! Being a teacher gives you an appreciation of the impact you may have on children, but not nearly as much as being a parent does! Sometimes that “front row seat” really turns into a wild ride, but all the downs are followed by some pretty awesome ups. Being a parent and a teacher gives you a unique perspective on child development and how to support those children on their journey to becoming strong, functional adults.
      I also agree with your point about working as a collective to be the best advocates for our most vulnerable members of our society, our children. As teachers, we can inadvertently take on the role of parent as well as educator, because sometimes we are the most stable point in a child’s tumultuous life. Just as the children need supportive and caring relationships, we also need the support of those around us. This is a huge responsibility that can not just be carried by teachers.

   2. Lisa,
      So much of what you stated truly resonates with me. I am also a late-in-life champion for our vulnerable children. I feel that I have to be an advocate for my students as well as teaching them how to properly advocate for themselves. Being a parent I sometimes find myself struggling with building a supportive relationship with students without enabling them. I believe it takes caring, coaching, and modeling for our students to learn and thrive in this society where children are so easily labeled and thrown into the justice system. My parenting style may be a little different from most; fun and loving but very strict and no nonsense. I was that mom that everyone was afraid of. I admit that because of the way that my children were brought up, I was one that would quickly label a child as “bad as hell” and felt they needed to be reprimanded….in other words, he/she needed a good beating. I was that judgey mom (even being a teen mom). Of course I felt this not knowing or understanding anything about childhood trauma or even mental health issues. I didn’t understand it until I began volunteering with various organizations. I say this to validate your statement that schools need to teach adults how to teach children of adversity and abuse (this would definitely reduce teacher turnover). I’ll go even further to say that parents need some type of training as well. I’ve been both the young, over worked, single parent that only sent in pencils to the classroom winter party and the completely involved room mom, dance mom, soccer mom, etc. mom. Educating on the importance of parental engagement and mental health diagnosis can make a world of difference it the success of our students. It takes a village and the responsibility should not be left solely on our teachers. I truly believe that when you know better, you do better. I think that educators like yourself and everyone else taking this course are going to make a tremendous difference in the lives of these children and provide them with the encouragement and support that they need to build there resilience. And when it comes to the glass half full/half empty debate….I teach my kids to be happy to have a glass at all. Don’t lose your optimistic spirit! Your passion for your students is obvious….I see an advocacy in your future.

8. Carmen,
   Your reflection on focusing on your character strength of spirituality was inspiring! I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on how to strengthen all the aspects that spirituality encompasses. I related to your post, not because I am an avid yoga goer, but I have had an increasing interest in both yoga and meditation for the past several months. I am eager to try yoga to experience the connection between mind and body and feeling present in the moment. I have also been using a meditation app called Headspace (I have Calm, too!) and I really enjoy it. The free beginner’s sessions walk you through those feelings of your mind always being in “Overdrive” and how meditation can truly focus our attention on the here and now. I look forward to continuing this to strengthen my character strength of spirituality as well!

9. Emma,
   I am in the same boat with you regarding the presentation that we saw last semester in our Psych course! It truly was eye-opening and I had to fight back tears through some of the slides we saw because it hit so close to home for some of my students this year. I agree with you 100% that I have strengthened my own reflections and perceptions of student behaviors through a new informed lens. I have struggled greatly with behaviors this year with a handful of students, truly trying to understand triggers and stressors – with little success. Through the presentation, we saw last semester and the beginning of this course, my mindset has already begun to shift. Reflecting on it, one challenge that I face is the fact that I have to first talk myself out of taking certain behaviors personally and being able to take a step back to evaluate the situation to avoid reacting over responding. If taking it personally, I notice it clouds my judgment and takes away attention and focus on the individual who truly needs it – the student.

   Thank you for sharing your personal reflections on your own life and how it has grown to help you connect deeper with your students. It truly is a special thing to be able to connect with any student, especially when you serve so many at one time!

10. Prompt #1:
    The concept of childhood trauma is not one that is unfamiliar to me. Although I am new to the field of education, I was a volunteer with Henrico CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Abused and Neglected Children) where I was exposed to many cases of trauma. This opened my eyes to a world that I was not accustomed to and affected me personally. I reviewed files and read instances of adversity over and over again. It was heartbreaking and I knew that the children that I worked with required empathy and compassion. The behaviors became understandable, not justifiable…but there was validity to how they handled situations. The approach of this philosophy is applicable for the students that we work with. I feel like your philosophy of strength-based paradigm, solution-focused, and positive psychology is in alignment with my own philosophy. I agree that every person has strengths and I believe whole-heartedly that people do their best to cope when in stressful and challenging situations or environments. I do however think that it is important to be aware of the deficits that affect how they cope and deal with their issues. When people realize what strengths lie within themselves it gives them a sense of self-awareness and self-worth. This in turn gives people the sense that they are capable and are able to persevere in spite of their deficits. I especially like your strength philosophy that states that “the problem is the problem; the person is not the problem. I see in society, especially in education where children are labeled as “bad” when in fact they are very sweet and intelligent children that make poor decisions. When they are constantly told that they are bad and only focus on negative behaviors, that is what the child begins to focus on. There is a quote that speaks truth to me by Brooke Hampton that says “Speak to your children as if they are the wisest, kindest, most beautiful and magical humans on earth, for what they believe is what they will become.”
    Solution-focused practice is also good practice. I believe in “small wins” and praising people for the effort and accomplishments that they make no matter how minute. Progress takes time but as you stated, change is inevitable. You have to be able to see things from different perspectives to understand the people/children that you are working with in order to help them or build trust. The idea of positive psychology speaks to what I stated earlier that you must acknowledge your weaknesses as well as your strengths. I personally feel that when you can embrace your deficit whether it be disability, disease, or circumstances, you can then use your strenghts to help others that may be experiencing the same burdens. This negative part of a person can now become purpose in helping others cope. Building positive and authentic relationships, and learning a person’s strengths and capabilites, as well as their interests are the ways in which to build resiliency and nurture growth.
    I feel that the challenge of putting this philosophy of trauma-informed care or trauma sensitive schools into practice is that it takes buy-in, not just from administration but teachers as well. I’ve found that many teachers aren’t interested in the trauma piece, they just want strategies to utilize when dealing with “difficult” students. I personally think that some of this is due to the unrealistic expectations set on teachers in regard to SOLs and school accreditation. Some find that trauma is being used as an excuse for behaviors and that it enables the child. I think that if we can change the mindset of how children are effected by trauma, we can address the social-emotional needs and in turn improve academics and school climate.

    Prompt #2:
    When attempting to implement one of my signature strengths in a new way every day, I found that it was actually challenging for me. With the hustle and bustle of my day I really had to be intentional about putting my strength to use. I chose my sixth strength of judgement which is the ability to think things through and examining them from all sides; being able to change one’s mind in light of evidence; and weighing all evidence fairly. I typically try to look at things from different perspectives to try to understand all aspects of a situation, but this can sometimes be difficult when your students have a pattern of behaviors. This week I really listened to the explanations that my students gave when finding themselves in trouble. I didn’t make any assumptions or give my normal “you know better” look, instead I asked the questions that warranted details of the situation; the what, the why, and the how did you feel? Some reasoning made sense and we were able to discuss a better way to handle that type of situation in the future, others completely irrational. But with those irrational explanations there came understanding of how this student perceives herself and the environment around her. I believe a this made me a better support for my students.
    In another way that I used judgement in a new way was using the suggestion from table 2.1 Using Signature Strengths in New Ways. I had a conversation with my eldest daughter about her choice to become vegan. I do not take issue with her decision, I just do not appreciate when she tries to push her opinions on my food choices and it sometimes upsets me. Earlier this week I decided to have a discussion with her with an open-mind. Once I was able to consciously put my opinions aside and really listen to her reasoning I was able to get clarity. She wasn’t trying to push her beliefs on me, rather she was concerned about our health and the effects of processed foods, dairy, etc. And although she didn’t change my mind there is a mutual understanding and respect of opinions. Again, this was not an easy task. It took some mindfulness on my part but it was so beneficial.

    1. Chris,

       I love what you wrote about “small wins” and the Hampton quote you shared. For me, that really ties into what we’ve learned about focusing on what’s strong, not what’s wrong. I’ve tried to start doing that more in my own classroom – praising students for the small things and their accomplishments, no matter how great or small they may be. I have a sixth grade student named Michael* who was truant at the beginning of the year because his mom was in and out of the picture. Academically, he performs well below grade level and receives special education services. If he had any excuse to skip school, he would use it. He absolutely hated coming to school at the beginning of the year. Around Thanksgiving, his mom was sent to prison for a probation violation so Michael was forced to move in with his grandparents. His attendance has been much more consistent ever since. I try to tell him every day that I see him how happy I am that he is there and that I can’t wait to see him in class. It’s a small thing for me to say, but I really consciously try to go out of my way to share those thoughts with him. I really think it has made a difference. He loves art class which is on every “A” day of his schedule (we’re on an A/B block schedule). For me, that is a small win. It can be difficult though to remember to consistently share those sentiments with students. I teach nearly 180 students at New Kent Middle and while I want to make sure they all feel like the “wisest, kindest, most beautiful and magical humans on earth,” it can be exhausting! There are days where I have to really muster the energy to remind all of my students how amazing they are. It is going to be important for me to really make that solution-focused mindset a more consistent part of my practice so that it starts to happen more naturally.

    2. Chris,

       I agree with everything that you posted about. I think that I too have opened my eyes and become aware of things that I really wasn’t aware of before this class. I also agree that putting this philosophy of trauma sensitive, and focusing on what’s strong, not what’s wrong does take a lot of buy in, and it isn’t easy to get that from some teachers/admin. I know that when I was a first year teacher one of the phrases I heard most often was “we have always done it that way.” Unfortunately, most schools have always focused on deficits, and not celebrated the “small wins.” I don’t think that this is because our teachers or administration are trying to be deficit focused, but it is something that they don’t know how to fix or adjust within their system of behavior management or IEP process, etc. I think that it would be amazing to see the difference in the schools we work in if Trauma Informed Care was mandatory.

    3. Chris,
       Wow! I have always wanted to work with CASA, but never really pursued it because I was afraid of personally not being able to handle the emotional aspects of the work. You make a strong point when you say the the behaviors of the children were understandable; not justifiable, but a valid reaction to what they had experienced. It reminded me of our class discussion of intolerable and tolerable stress, and how we deal with each of those. We all have to do whatever it takes to help move that intolerable stress into a place where we can deal with it.
       My heart also goes out to those “bad” children who aren’t really bad, but just make poor choices. When they are told over and over that they are bad, it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy, and they begin to believe they really are bad. If we can change that perception, we can start to build those children up, instead of letting them down. We need to keep building those positive relationships!

       1. Marchia, you hit the nail on the head!!! Perception is key to how we as educators respond to student behaviors. I think that this is one of the reason for such a disparity in referrals/suspensions amongst our schools. If we just dug a little deeper or built an authentic relationship with these students, it would be clear that these students are most likely lacking basic social skills or executive functioning skills needed to properly function while at school. By the way, you definitely have what it takes to be a CASA volunteer. 🙂

11. Kirsten
    Thank you for both of your blogs. I appreciate your reflections and the ways you integrate what you are learning. In your fist post you write that you will work on ways to focus less on weaknesses. I am not sure we discussed in class how challenging this may be – because our brains our wired to pay more attention to negative an positive. This is related to “hardwired” motivation to consistently scan if a person/thing is safe to approach or should be avoided – necessary for the evolutionary development of our species.
    I love how you purposefully sought to find ways to appreciate kids who normally get overlooked. So wonderful and intentional. I also think you are absolute correct about that we pay more attention to an action when we write it down in addition to mental reflection.
    Erik

12. Marchia,

    Wow, what a powerful character strength blog. I was unable to hold tears back when I read about your student losing his mother, another stressful event in addition to the inner turmoil autism cause people. As teachers we really do deal with the whole person and the ups and downs they go through. I know you selected the right approach to support him. Your tenderness and support will make a lifelong impact in his life. Thank you also for the quote, which certainly highlight the full spectrum of perspective. Choosing to work on one of your middle strengths is wonderful example of ways we mindfully can bring strengths forward in situations where we need them.

    I was thrilled when I read your first paragraph in your second blog! So wonderful to read that your master program have made you a more reflective and purposeful teacher. That, I think, is really a primary goal of the program.
    As you write, it is often difficult to change our own mindsets – and even more difficult to change the mindsets of others – it requires that we pursue a growth mindset and are willing to learn from mistakes and failures meaning that we begin to take steps to act on the relationships and things according to our beliefs. We may not be successful every time, but we made a try giving fuel to try again.

13. Carmen, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and reflections in your two blogs. I am always somewhat surprised when a person knew all their life what job they wanted to do. I never had that clarity, I was all over the place, and ended on working with children because i wanted to make a difference in the world – an expression of my character strength of fairness. I tried out many areas where I thought I could make a difference – driven by my perseverance. It looks like your life was guided by your spirituality – purpose – strength which gave you clarity early in life. Facinating, how the character strengths come to our awareness when we begin to look for them!
    You found creative ways to dray on your spirituality last week when you felt a stressed. As you write, self-care is often overlooked, but is so important in the work we do. Otherwise, may of us become complacent and cynical. Thank you for sharing the app. I will try it.
    Erik

14. Emma, thank you so much for your insights and for sharing (character strengths perspective and courage) the stress you experiences growing up. Your sharing adds a deep personal connection to our understanding of the lives of children and many other people. I am convinced that your increased awareness and understanding of your life helps you related to kids in your classroom. Students who have teachers like you will definitely feel supported and trusted. In addition to realizing how common stress is in children’s lives made me also think to remember that is just as common in our colleagues. With this insight we can possibly learn to become more patient, less judging, asking more questions, and listening to our colleagues too.
    I was teary-eyed in class when you shared your conversation with Lindsey in class and had to totally let go when I read your blog. Your interaction with Lindsey illustrated how to be Intentional by using TRU (Think-Relate-Understand) and Relate (Connect-Showing warmth and respect).
    Since Love is my top strength, I also really appreciated how you related love to your work. You expanded my understanding of how I use love.
    Erik

15. Chris, thank you for highlighting the importance of tuning in to growth areas (i.e, deficits or what’s wrong). It is just as unhelpful to overlook challenges and problem areas as it is to overlook strengths. (Please see my comments to Kirsten about are brains being hardwired to see the negative). One of my friends put it this way “Glance at problems, gaze at strengths,” – I think this is an important reminder to help us override the brain’s wiring to look for problems.
    Your examples of using character strengths in a different ways are very illustrative. By intentionally listening and asking questions you pulled forth your judgment strength and was able to override your deep-help belief (???) that children “know better,” which I am not sure they often do. I think, kids to the best they can to cope with stress, and while their strategies at times appear unconstuctive and selfdefeating, they really do the best they can. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the foremost psychiatrist in the field of developmental trauma warn us that one of the most common mistakes well-meaning adults make is to believe that children who have experienced trauma, know better.
    Thank you, also for sharing how you were able to listen to your daughter’s reasoning for being a vegan. It must mean lot to heard that you listened to her.
    Erik

16. Lisa, having know you for several this year, every word here is definitely you. Your philosophy is so eloquently described and draws from your character strengths of fairness, hope, and spirituality.
    As a parent I appreciate your comments about what you have learned both from that role and the role as a teacher. Your comment “I teach because I believe and I can; I parent because I am in awe of the connectedness to the larger gift to the future” is very powerful – thank you.
    I also love your call to action for all first responders to understand the whole child and develop policies and practices to support children.

17. Prompt #1
    Personal Philosophy

    Early in my career, I provided case management services for Richmond Behavioral Health Authority, and the population that I served was children and adolescents within an urban setting. In order to systemically manage the service delivery and associated costs for treatment of care, Managed Care systems offered oversight to cost, utilization, and quality of service provided by contracted agencies and managed care organizations (MCOs). MCOs established deficit-based paradigms to gauge the effectiveness of treatment care by offering and evaluating the quality of treatment services and payment arrangements for services. As an agency, our practicing theoretical orientation at that time was Cognitive-Behavioral and Person-Center approaches to satisfy MCOs recommended counseling techniques for quality services.

    Over the years, Solution-Focused therapy has dominated my personal theoretical practice in the educational setting. In contrast to my years with RBHA, Solution-focused brief therapy offered an approach to solution-building rather than deficit-based problem-solving. In the school setting, finding solutions to students’ issues and concerns must be unearthed swiftly while practicing within an ethical scope of counseling. Individual sessions and group sessions must produce quick results, and avoid lengthy sessions in resolving personal/social conflicts or academic concerns. It rarely extends beyond eight sessions and often only one session is sufficient. That being said, “Solution-Focused” counseling, provided me the opportunity to help students think of what they would be doing differently if the problem was absent. When students present magnification or catastrophic-thinking, I pose the ‘Miracle Question’ to the students.

    Erik Laursen describes his philosophical practice as creating supportive ecologies and relationships to support clients in meeting psycho-social growth needs, achieve wellbeing, and pursue happiness. IRAP is centered within a “strengths-based paradigm, solution-focuses practices, and positive psychology. Ultimately, IRAP helps individuals acquire intentional responsive strategies to create positive outcomes by working through tolerable stress.

    Positive Psychology
    Laursen introduced to the reader Martin Seligman’s Positive Psychology, and its essence of studying strengths and virtues that enable individuals, communities, and organizations to thrive. Positive psychology focuses on what makes life most worth living. Positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishments make up Seligman’s five core elements to psychological well-being and happiness. Positive Psychology takes a balanced approach to people by exploring both their strengths and their challenges. Strengths Based Approach by bringing their strengths and resources to the forefront of counseling, clients healing capacities can be nurtured to help overcome adversity, crystalizing hope, solutions, and opportunities rather than defeat and hopelessness.

    By contrast to strengths based is the deficit paradigm which promotes faults, deficits, and disorders. Strengths-based practice establishes conditions that enables people to identify, value and mobilize their strengths and capacities in the process of change. Illnesses and trauma may be injurious but they may also be sources of challenges and opportunities. Solution-Focused Practice Solution-Focused practices are goal-directed and emphasize solution-finding, rather than finding problems, experience a problem all the time. Solution-focused practice believes that most people already possess the resources they need to change, and clients defines the goal of treatment which will more likely lead to achievement. Small changes are encouraged and noted to lead to more change.

    Prompt #2
    Fairness, Character Strength & Personal Implementation

    In completing the VIA Institute survey on Character Strength, Fairness was my top strength identified, with spirituality a close second. Fairness is not only one of the twenty-four strengths introduced by Martin Seligman, but fairness is also one of six Character Trait (Pillars) taught in the educational setting to help teachers teach core ethical values that transcends cultural, religious and socioeconomic. Seligman’s research in Positive Psychology extends to develop individuals’ well-being through twenty-four character strengths and six virtues. Personally, I have always strived to promote equitable service and fairness to all within both my personal and professional life, no matter socio-economic status, political affiliation, ethnicity or gender, to bring about balancing social equity or social justice.

    Seligman draws his principal framework from philosophers of the past such as Plato ethics, whence maintains a virtue-based conception that is happiness or well-being is the highest aim of moral thought and conduct, and the virtues are the requisite skills and dispositions needed to attain it https://plato.stanford.edu/. Taken from ancient Chinese and Roman philosophers, Seligman suggest that character strengths can be learned, practice, and cultivated through intentional response and rehearsal, bringing out the best version of ourselves and others around else, VIA Institute. Many learning opportunities to explore historical studies in positive psychology are provided through the VIA Institute website such as VIA Institute website, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdQRECe37K0#action. Given my daily practice of implementing Fairness as a just cause for carrying out daily counseling responsibilities, I have intentional rehearsed the practice of being non-judgmental and without biases, and being an active listener with an open-mind. Truly, the strength of Fairness represents the basic qualities of any counselor such as impartiality and open-minded listening, taught as fundamental techniques in counseling.

    According to Character Counts, FAIRNESS is defined as playing by the rules, taking turns and sharing, don’t take advantage of others, not blaming others carelessly, treating all people fairly, being open-minded and listening to others. Whereas Dictionary.com, Fairness is defined as “the state, condition, or quality of being fair, or free from bias or injustice; evenhandedness.” At a young age, I understood the value of integrity and fairness from my parents’ repetition of rehearsed bible verses, which still resonates strongly in my personal construct – Bible verses such as Psalm 106:3, “Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times.” Both of my parents laid the foundation of treating others fairly, and being the advocate to speak on behalf of those individuals or groups in need. Throughout middle and high school, I’ve always advocated for the less fortunate or students who were unable or even fearful of voicing their opinions.

    Overall, the character strength of Fairness has given me the foundation to advocate for parents, teachers and students alike while taking a stand for the virtue of Justice. In doing so, I too contribute to creating a harmonious environment, without biases of race and gender or socioeconomic disenfranchisement. At times, I feel a sense of well-being and personal accomplishment to a greater cause thus experiencing moments of purposeful meaning or transcendence.

18. Kirsten –
    Thanks for sharing your insight on how early childhood brain development, and the plasticity of such brain development while exposed to toxic stress significantly impacts the potential of acquired learning. In discussing how you adapted your learning environment to incorporate students’ character strengths rather than focusing on students’ learning deficits, demonstrates your ability to not only provide instructional flexibility within your classroom but also your understanding of implementing deposits of positive psychology. You also addressed, the need to focus on offering a learning environment that supports students to overcome adverse childhood experiences by reframing their current classroom exposure, devoid of chronic stressors. Good job!

19. Marchia –
    Wow! Your initial paragraph captivated my interest in understanding how your character strength shaped your ongoing search of life’s purpose and balance by practicing Seligman’s strength-based approach to living. Although Perspective was not one of your top strengths, your ability to draw upon your mid-tiered character strength to self-reflect on personal and professional struggles, demonstrated the quintessential characteristics of your virtue – Wisdom. Given the tragic loss of your student’s family member, and the tolerable stress you faced due to the indirect impact of such loss, you validated authentic empathy for your student by first ‘listening’ and then offering perspective. Throughout the week, you cultivated many opportunities to gain perspective by self-reflecting, offering insight and guidance, and problem-solving. Ultimately, your mindset changed from being close-minded to open-minded when you reported having shown restraint to swiftly judging others without knowing their situational circumstances, and voiced having a new non-judgmental perspective in the weeks to come.

20. Blog Comment –
    Prompt# 1
    Personal Philosophy
    Early in my career, I provided case management services for Richmond Behavioral Health Authority, and the population that I served was children and adolescents within an urban setting. In order to systemically manage the service delivery and associated costs for treatment of care, Managed Care Systems offered oversight to cost, utilization, and quality of service provided by contracted agencies and managed care organizations (MCOs). MCOs established deficit-based paradigms to gauge the effectiveness of treatment care by offering and evaluating the quality of treatment services and payment arrangements for services. As an agency, our practicing theoretical orientation at that time was Cognitive-Behavioral and Person-Centered approaches to satisfy MCOs recommended counseling techniques for quality services.
    Over the years, Solution-focused therapy has dominated my personal theoretical practice in the educational setting. In contrast to my years with RBHA, Solution-focused brief therapy offered an approach to solution-building rather than deficit-based problem-solving. In the school setting, finding solutions to students’ issues and concerns must be unearthed swiftly while practicing within an ethical scope of counseling. Individual sessions and group sessions must produce quick results, and avoid lengthy sessions in resolving personal/social conflicts or academic concerns. It rarely extends beyond eight sessions and often only one session is sufficient. That being said, Solution-focused counseling, provided me the opportunity to help students think of what they would be doing differently if the problem was absent. When students present magnification or catastrophic-thinking, I pose the ‘Miracle Question’ to the students.
    Erik Laursen describes his philosophical practice as creating supportive ecologies and relationships to support clients in meeting psycho-social growth needs, achieve wellbeing, and pursue happiness. Lauren describes IRAP as centered within a strengths-based paradigm, solution-focuses practices, and positive psychology. Laursen further suggest that IRAP helps individuals acquire intentional responsive strategies to create positive outcomes by working through tolerable stress.
    Laursen introduced Martin Seligman’s Positive Psychology, and its essence of studying strengths and virtues that enable individuals, communities, and organizations to thrive. Similarly, to Solution-focused counseling, Positive psychology can help me to change students’ distorted thoughts by focusing on what makes life most worth living. Positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishments make up Seligman’s five core elements to psychological well-being and happiness. In using Positive psychology in the school setting, I can create a balanced approach to students by exploring both their strengths and their challenges. Once again the parallel to Solution-focus counseling, cultivates the Strengths-based approach by bringing students’ strengths and resources to the forefront of counseling. Laursen suggest students’ healing capacities can be nurtured to help overcome adversity, crystalizing hope, solutions, and opportunities rather than defeat and hopelessness.
    By contrast to strengths-based approach is the deficit paradigm which promotes faults, deficits, and disorders. For years I practiced from a deficit paradigm, identifying chronic psychiatric symptomalogies in youths and establishing core interventions to reduce the frequency of problem areas or eradicate psychiatric dysfunction. According to Seligman, illnesses and trauma may be injurious but they may also be sources of challenges and opportunities.

    Prompt# 2
    Fairness, Character Strength & Personal Implementation
    In completing the VIA Institute survey on Character Strength, Fairness was my top strength identified, with spirituality a close second. Fairness is not only one of the twenty-four strengths introduced by Martin Seligman, but fairness is also one of six Character Trait (Pillars) taught in the educational setting to help teachers teach core ethical values that transcends cultural, religious and socioeconomic. Seligman’s research in Positive Psychology extends to develop individuals’ well-being through twenty-four character strengths and six virtues. Personally, I have always strived to promote equitable service and fairness to all within both my personal and professional life, no matter socio-economic status, political affiliation, ethnicity or gender, to bring about balancing social equity or social justice.
    Seligman draws his principal framework from philosophers of the past such as Plato ethics, whence maintains a virtue-based conception that is happiness or well-being is the highest aim of moral thought and conduct, and the virtues are the requisite skills and dispositions needed to attain it https://plato.stanford.edu/. Taken from ancient Chinese and Roman philosophers, Seligman suggest that character strengths can be learned, practice, and cultivated through intentional response and rehearsal, bringing out the best version of ourselves and others around else, VIA Institute. Many learning opportunities to explore historical studies in positive psychology are provided through the VIA Institute website such as VIA Institute website, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdQRECe37K0#action. Given my daily practice of implementing Fairness as a just cause for carrying out daily counseling responsibilities, I have intentional rehearsed the practice of being non-judgmental and without biases, and being an active listener with an open-mind. Truly, the strength of Fairness represents the basic qualities of any counselor such as impartiality and open-minded listening, taught as fundamental techniques in counseling.
    According to Character Counts, FAIRNESS is defined as playing by the rules, taking turns and sharing, don’t take advantage of others, not blaming others carelessly, treating all people fairly, being open-minded and listening to others. Whereas Dictionary.com, Fairness is defined as “the state, condition, or quality of being fair, or free from bias or injustice; evenhandedness.” At a young age, I understood the value of integrity and fairness from my parents’ repetition of rehearsed bible verses, which still resonates strongly in my personal construct – Bible verses such as Psalm 106:3, “Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times.” Both of my parents laid the foundation of treating others fairly, and being the advocate to speak on behalf of those individuals or groups in need. Throughout middle and high school, I’ve always advocated for the less fortunate or students who were unable or even fearful of voicing their opinions.
    Overall, the character strength of Fairness has given me the foundation to advocate for parents, teachers and students alike while taking a stand for the virtue of Justice. In doing so, I too contribute to creating a harmonious environment, without biases of race and gender or socioeconomic disenfranchisement. At times, I feel a sense of well-being and personal accomplishment to a greater cause thus experiencing moments of purposeful meaning or transcendence.

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