Our Curriculum

We want to equip all staff with the knowl­edge to cre­ate a trau­ma-informed environment.

Our train­ings build on the Attach­ment, Self-Reg­u­la­tion, and Com­pe­ten­cy (ARC) frame­work, an evi­dence-based ther­a­peu­tic mod­el that is effec­tive in help­ing chil­dren and adults who care for them address the neg­a­tive impact of trauma. 

Our Curriculum

  • Ten, two-hour train­ing sessions deliv­ered by a Trau­ma Smart Trainer. Click here for descriptions of each training.
  • Deliv­ery is approx­i­mate­ly one-third didac­tic, one-third dis­cus­sion, and one-third hands-on par­tic­i­pa­tion to reach all learners.
  • Pro­vides pre­ven­tion-based tools and skills that can be applied in real life.
  • Includes mate­ri­als that staff can uti­lize in their role right away! To see some exam­ples, please vis­it our Resources page.
  • Builds on the ARC Model developed by Kinniburg and Blaustein. Full reference: Blaustein, M. and Kinniburg, K. (2010). Treating Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents: How to Foster Resilience through Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency: New York, New York: Guildford Press.

Success Stories

  • I have truly enjoyed the Trauma Smart training sessions. Some of it was very painful for me, due to my own trauma, but it helped me to better understand why I react to situations the way that I do. It is very difficult for me to feel like I’m less than perfect in my job performance. Any mistake, and I beat myself up for days. Thank you for this training.

    Elementary Teacher

  • This has been an incredible journey incrementally growing my understanding and learning and create paths and patterns for personal change and being an agent of change for others.

    Early Childhood Educational Coach

  • I am actu­al­ly going to miss hav­ing Trau­ma Smart train­ing — but I have no doubt it was use­ful. I think this was some of the best PD we have had all year (or actu­al­ly since I start­ed teaching).

     Char­ter School Teacher

  • Trauma smart has really helped me with learning different ways to handle situations for myself and with children. It has helped with building better relationships with those around me.

    Head Start Teacher

  • We are using infor­ma­tion from all the train­ing across the agency to shift our whole orga­ni­za­tion’s trau­ma lens.

    Ear­ly Learn­ing Director

  • The Trau­ma train­ing gives moms a bet­ter under­stand­ing of chil­dren’s behav­iors. It also helps moms see your­self bet­ter as a per­son and as teachers.

    Pre - K teacher and Mom

  • Trau­ma Smart Train­ing has enabled me to look at staff and chil­dren’s behaviors/​emotions from a nur­tur­ing lens. The brain as a car method is used daily.

    Head Start Teacher

  • Trauma Smart has opened my eyes and made me a new, more aware individual, in my work environment and my personal life. It is so amazing how you will realize compassion for humanity…I personally, would not have handled the pandemic well if it were not for Trauma Smart.

    Head Start Education Manager