What It Means to Be Trauma-Informed:
Creating Safe Spaces Where Children Can Heal and Thrive 

In today’s classrooms and caregiving environments, we’re seeing more and more children who carry invisible burdens. Their struggles with behavior, learning, or relationships are often misunderstood or mislabeled, but at the root of many of these challenges is a common factor: trauma.

Becoming trauma-informed isn’t about labeling or pathologizing—it’s about seeing differently, responding compassionately, and supporting intentionally. It’s about recognizing the lasting impact of early adversity and shifting the way we relate to and care for children.

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What Are ACEs—and Why Do They Matter?

ACEs, or Adverse Childhood Experiences, are potentially traumatic events that happen in childhood. These can include physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, neglect, household dysfunction, exposure to violence, or loss of a caregiver.

ACEs are important because they’ve been proven to affect brain development, emotional regulation, and even long-term physical health. Children with high ACE scores are more likely to experience depression, substance use, learning difficulties, and chronic illnesses later in life. 

The good news? Positive, consistent relationships and trauma-informed environments can buffer these effects and help children thrive.

Learn more: https://www.cdc.gov/aces/about/index.html 

Understanding the Risk Factors for Trauma

Trauma can affect a child before they’re even born. Here are some of the major risk categories:

• Prenatal Risks – Exposure to drugs, alcohol, domestic violence, or maternal depression

• Perinatal Risks – Birth complications like loss of oxygen or emergency C-sections

• Postnatal Risks – Time in the NICU, separation from the primary caregiver

• Maltreatment – Physical, emotional, or sexual abuse

• Neglect – Failure to meet both physical and emotional needs

• Systemic Stressors – Poverty, racism, lack of access to healthcare or education

• Natural or Man-Made Events – Fires, car accidents, hurricanes, community violence

Each of these experiences can disrupt a child’s sense of safety and connection, affecting how they learn, behave, and relate to others.

The Three Pillars of Trauma-Informed Care

A trauma-informed approach centers around three critical pillars:

1. Safety – Children must feel physically, emotionally, and psychologically safe. This includes predictable routines, respectful communication, and environments free from shaming or unpredictability.

2. Connection – Relationships are the foundation of healing. Building trust, offering consistency, and showing unconditional positive regard are essential to helping children feel valued and understood.

3. Coping (Regulation) – Many children who’ve experienced trauma struggle with emotional regulation. We must teach them skills for calming their bodies, naming their emotions, and responding to stress in healthy ways.

What Does It Mean to Shift to a Trauma Lens?

At the heart of trauma-informed care is a mindset shift:

From “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”

When we view behavior as communication, we stop seeing children as defiant or manipulative and start seeing them as hurting, overwhelmed, or trying to cope with what they’ve experienced. This perspective allows us to meet them with empathy rather than punishment—and helps build trust instead of fear.

The Four Skills for Meaningful Relationships

Healthy relationships are key to healing from trauma, but they require specific skills that not all children (or adults) have learned:

1. Give nurturing care – Expressing empathy and support to others

2. Receive nurturing care – Allowing others to care and show compassion

3. Be an autonomous self – Understanding one’s identity, preferences, and voice

4. Negotiate needs – Expressing what you need without fear or aggression

These skills can and must be modeled, taught, and practiced, especially for children from hard places.

How Many of Our Students Are Affected by Trauma?

The numbers are staggering. Studies suggest that nearly half of all children have experienced at least one ACE—and many have experienced more. In some communities, that percentage is even higher.

So the question becomes:

What are we already doing for them?

• Are we building classrooms that are calm and predictable?

• Are we teaching regulation strategies alongside reading and math?

• Are we creating systems that respond to behavior with support instead of shame?

If we are, we’re on the right track. If we’re not, it’s never too late to start.

Conclusion: Be the Safe Place

Trauma-informed care is not a strategy—it’s a culture of compassion. It asks us to show up differently, to lead with empathy, and to believe in every child’s capacity to grow and heal.

Whether you’re a teacher, school counselor, caregiver, or community member, you have the power to be the safe place a child needs. And when enough of us make this shift, we create schools, homes, and communities where every child is seen, supported, and empowered to thrive.

About the Author:

Patrick Dierschke is a former foster parent, kinship home study assessor, educator, and founder of the San Angelo Family Network. He leads workshops and trainings on trauma-informed care and the role of community in supporting kinship families.