Ms. Jen’s Trainings for Building Trauma-Sensitive Schools

Empower your staff to create real change!

Trauma-sensitive learning environments are the key to promoting the safety and well-being of both students and staff. They improve school attendance and reduce office referrals—all while ensuring high academic expectations for all learners. That’s why the American Psychological Association has recommended training and support to help all educators effectively implement trauma-informed practices.

Train with Ms. Jen

There’s no one more qualified to lead your trauma-informed training than Jen Alexander: author, seasoned educator, school counselor, and trauma expert. A warm, compassionate, and highly experienced teacher and trainer, Ms. Jen understands the real struggles of everyday teaching and learning. She knows that today’s educators need to understand much more than just the basics of what trauma is and how it affects youth. And she’ll help your entire school community realize that real, sustainable change is not only possible, but definitely doable.

Customize Your Training

While everyone in your school needs to make trauma-sensitive paradigm shifts to drive trauma-informed change, not everyone needs the same thing to get there. Ms. Jen facilitates unique and customized trainings for the full range of PreK-12 professionals, including:

• School administrators and other leaders
• Support team professionals (e.g., school psychologists, counselors, and social workers)
• K-12 certified and non-certified educators
• Early childhood educators
• Family and community caregivers

Ms. Jen’s trainings are specially tailored to your setting and needs. Each training supports a trauma-informed MTSS framework and is offered in flexible half-day, one-day, and two-day options, whether in-person or virtual. Going far beyond the fundamentals, any Ms. Jen training will empower your staff with practical strategies that make a real difference in the classroom and beyond. Every staff member will come away with the specific knowledge and skills they need to help build safer, more supportive learning environments for all youth and adults.

Sample Training Topics

Here are some possible topics you might consider choosing for your group’s training. These are aligned with the MTSS tiers: Tier 1 topics cover the foundations of trauma-sensitive practice that are essential for all learners, and Tiers 2 and 3 topics address how to support students with more complex needs related to their stress responses. (Ms. Jen is also available for other topics upon request.)

Tier 1:

• Trauma-sensitive leadership
• Building a relationships-first culture
• Becoming a trauma-sensitive educator
• Practical strategies for responding to dysregulation in the classroom
• Preventing challenging behavior with groups of learners
• Tier 1 instruction for improving youth regulation skills
• Trauma-sensitive discipline
• Disrupting and preventing racial trauma—with Andratesha Fritzgerald and Ms. Jen
• Nurturing educator well-being

Tier 2 and Tier 3:

• Feeling, dealing, and healing after a loss or crisis in your community
• Trauma-Informed MTSS for addressing big behavior
• Developmental trauma, its effects, and interventions that work
• Trauma-informed counseling techniques for children or teens at school
• Attachment-focused counseling interventions that support healthy peer relationships
• Co-designing student-centered trauma-informed plans
• How to coach students for improved safety, connection, regulation, and learning
• Coaching skills for helping other adults help kids
• Partnering with families and caregivers to support traumatized youth