My co-editor Phyllis Thompson and I received so many compelling responses to our call for submissions that our book project turned into two books. The first book, Lessons from the Pandemic: Trauma-Informed Approaches to College, Crisis, Change, is now available. The second book, Trauma-Informed Pedagogies: A Guide for Responding to Crisis and Inequality in Higher Education, will be available in 2022. So grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with so many passionate and compassionate educators.  

Lessons from the Pandemic abstract:

This collection presents strategies for trauma-informed teaching and learning in higher education during crisis. While studies abound on trauma-informed approaches for mental health service providers, law enforcement, nurses, and K-12 educators, strategies geared to college faculty, staff, and administrators are not readily available and are now in high demand. This book joins a conversation in place about what COVID-19 has taught us and how we are using what we have learned to construct a new discourse around teaching and learning during crisis.

Endorsements:

“This book is a gift to higher education. The authors acknowledge the agonizing pain of trauma, especially for those who are on the margins, but center healing and resilience through community, creativity, flexibility, and kindness. Each chapter is rich with practical examples that showcase and celebrate the different ways of knowing. Throughout, we are invited to reflect, to grieve, to celebrate, and above all, to grow.”

—Mays Imad, Ph.D.,Professor, Pathophysiology and Biomedical Ethics, Founding Coordinator, Teaching and Learning Center, Pima Community College, USA

“Global pandemics don’t have silver linings, but they do provide materials for grinding new lenses of perception. In this curated collection of essays, the editors lend us a view of higher education through both a trauma lens sharpened by the COVID-19 pandemic and a pandemic lens sharpened by recognizing diverse trauma histories. There is something here to inform practitioners of every academic discipline.”

—Wallace E. Dixon, Jr., Ph.D., Chair and Professor, Psychology, Founding Director, ETSU/Ballad Health Strong BRAIN Institute, East Tennessee State University, USA

“Lessons from the Pandemic represents an urgent invitation for all stakeholders in higher education to consider vulnerability, disruption, and loss in our communities, and just as importantly testifies to diverse and resilient interventions.  Particularly valuable as colleges and universities transition post-pandemic, this deeply thoughtful collection envisions this moment as opportunity: out of crisis, to discern and build upon what we have learned about individuals, communities, and practices, and as Carello and Thompson affirm, “reimagine ourselves as educators.” 

—Jeanie Tietjen, PhD, Professor, English, Founding Director, Institute for Trauma, Adversity, and Resilience in Higher Education, Massachusetts Bay Community College, USA