In November of 2020, I attended the virtual Suicide Talk Workshop offered by the Canadian Mental Health Association, Windsor-Essex County Chapter. The purpose of this workshop was for participants to become more aware of suicide prevention opportunities in their community. My interest for taking this workshop was to be able to continue to educate myself and improve my own practice as an educator. This workshop provided me with the information to better understand how trauma can impact the brain, the different types of trauma that students can experience, how trauma can impact brain development, and ultimately strategies when working with children using a trauma informed approach.
My experience taking this workshop and my reflection post-workshop led me to believe that taking this workshop was incredibly successful in my opinion for my own professional practice. Learning these strategies and about the different effects that trauma can have on a student will assist me in being able to fully understand and be able to help students in a classroom and continue to promote student learning.