Vestiges of Trauma in the Social Work Classroom: Resilience and Growth for All

Overview: Studies indicate that, for many, the appeal of the helping professions—including social work—is a personal history of trauma. Often labeled “wounded healers,” these providers are believed to be motivated to help others in part by their wounds. Educators can and should explore those inevitable vestiges of trauma in the classroom.Proposal text: Studies indicate that, for many, the appeal of the helping professions—including social work—is their personal history of trauma. Often labeled “wounded healers,” these providers are motivated to help others in part by their wounds. As social work educators, we have an obligation to remain informed about this phenomenon. Coupled with increases in rates of depression and suicide (Drapeau & McIntosh, 2018), the role of adverse childhood experiences in the lives of so many professional helpers behooves us to assess the challenges and provide effective classroom methods.

My study followed a quantitative design, with consideration of action and translational research, and included the use of three scales: Adverse Childhood Experiences, Brief Resilience, and Life Satisfaction. The Bachelor and Master of Social Work students in the study were found to have relatively high levels of adverse childhood experiences. Nonetheless, they also had overall positive scores in Resilience and Life Satisfaction. However, though both non-white and white students had relatively high levels of both factors, the group with the highest scores was not a surprise.

Though definitions vary (Sciaraffa et al, 2018), decades of scholarship have been directed towards the protective factor of resilience in the aftermath of adversity (Masten, 2014). In this study, resilience (Smith et al., 2010), defined as the ability to bounce back from stress, is assessed. Furthermore, post-traumatic growth, a more current factor concerning the study of adversity, is a variable that deserves attention. Tedeschi and Moore (2020) describe the research on post-traumatic growth (PTG) and its integrative applications in education, psychotherapy, and self-help, with goals of symptom reduction as well as achievement of something more profound in the wake of trauma. This option deserves consideration as per the application of trauma-informed coupled with resilience-informed pedagogy. As asserted by Frankl (1959), “... the third avenue to meaning in life: even the helpless victim of a hopeless situation, facing a fate he cannot change, may rise above himself, may grow beyond himself, and by so doing change himself” (p. 146).

Educators need to consider innovations in pedagogy such as growth mindset theory (Yeager & Dweck, 2020), which appears to have the potential to inspire university students, promote resilience, and lead to greater academic achievement; similar results were found in a study with African American students (Aronson et al., 2002). Furthermore, the growth in Positive Psychology scholarship provides us with an array of tools that can be used by all populations. Seligman (2019) asserts the vision that well-being will become a cornerstone of morality and all aspects of human life.

As social work educators, we must understand potential risk and protective factors. Even with years of experience, faculty are not fully prepared to assess and address vestiges of trauma that manifest in the social work classroom. In addition, educators may be minimizing the variables of resilience and post-traumatic growth which have been found to protect against stress. Our pedagogy must include approaches that understand trauma effects but that also recognize and utilize the abilities and tendencies to grow, heal, and rebound.