Explaining the School Wellness Wheel

the impact of childhood trauma and toxic stress in shaping health outcomes across the entire life spectrum. This policy statement directly referenced the immense and expanding body of scientific evidence from molecular biology, genomics, immunology, and neuroscience to help clarify our understanding of how childhood stress can ultimately weaken brain architecture and, thus, affect learning capacities and adaptive behaviors. The report also addressed the historical and ongoing effects of racism and poverty—specifically how living in poverty, living in racially segregated environments, or experiencing housing or food insecurity can exacerbate the effects of ACEs, thus dramatically impacting adult productivity as well as a person’s lifelong physical and mental health. This policy statement called for a seismic shift in pediatric medicine to expand outreach efforts to family and community groups that could help build strong foundations for children’s lifelong health by preventing toxic stress and actively addressing ACEs early in the life cycle.

Even more contemporary medical and psychological research has further cemented the fact that childhood stress and trauma can have a tremendous impact on health outcomes throughout life. Leaders such as Nadine Burke Harris (2019) and Rachel Yehuda and colleagues (2016) have presented innovative research in the field of epigenetics, which seeks to explain how this toxic stress can alter the way in which our DNA is adapted biologically and can be passed on to subsequent generations. We now know, for example, that trauma and high-level stress are toxic and can have a dramatic impact on the body through the hormonal and immune systems. They also affect cognition, as evidenced by the fact that young people with four or more ACEs are 32 percent more likely to be diagnosed with learning and behavior problems (Harris, 2019). Chronic stress impacts the brain through, among other things, increased activation of the amygdala, the brain’s fear center; the locus coeruleus, which regulates impulse control, arousal, and attention; and the prefrontal cortex, which is the seat of executive functioning, cognition, judgement, and mood. When children are exposed to complex, acute trauma, their brains shift their operations and functioning from normal growth and development to the stress response, which can have lasting repercussions over time.

On the bright side, contemporary research strongly indicates that we humans also have a profound ability to heal ourselves and each other. An exponential increase in research from cognitive neuroscience has revealed a remarkable period of rapid neural development as evidenced by a high level of neurogenesis (the brain’s ability to produce new neurons and grow grey matter) and neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to continually form new synaptic connections whenever we learn something new) during adolescence that is second only to infancy. This can open a critical window in which schools can help heal traumatized brains, strengthen resilience in nontraumatized brains, and build the habits of mind and body that support a thriving adulthood

(Cantor et al., 2019; Harris, 2018). In fact, negative experiences can spur positive change, including the personal realization of strength and resilience, improved interpersonal relationships, being more open to the exploration of new possibilities, and a deeper passion for life and well-being. This phenomenon is often referred to as posttraumatic growth and can be demonstrated in people who have been survivors of war, disasters, bereavement, economic devastation, job loss, and serious illnesses or injuries (Tedeschi, 2020; Tedeschi, Shakespeare-Finch, Taku, & Calhoun, 2018). Thus, despite being subjected to trauma-inducing events and toxic stress, many people can grow and develop in beneficial ways. Educators, in particular, can help the students in their care to do just that. By bringing the science of toxic stress and trauma into mainstream school systems, we can help people learn a host of skills and strategies that could potentially boost synaptic plasticity in the brain, which can, ultimately, facilitate healing and help build resilience (Cantor et al., 2019; Harris, 2019; Yehuda, Daskalakis, et al., 2016; Yehuda, Spiegel, et al., 2016).

An Evolved Vision of Schooling

Unfortunately, the tremendous power of this diverse and robust research base to address personal learning and overall human development has not been realized in schools. Simply stated, vast amounts of research remains dramatically underutilized in schools and classrooms, which continues to directly contribute to persistent disparities and inadequacies in our educational systems. As Pamela Cantor and her colleagues (2019) stated, “there exists a great need to align and synthesize this increasingly vast, field-specific body of knowledge from biology, neuroscience, psychology, and the social sciences within a dynamic, holistic, contextualized framework” (p. 309).

Although the AAP policy statement called for doctors and medical agencies to expand their influence among the public, the reality is that our classrooms hold a special place in the pantheon of human services. Schools are uniquely positioned to impact every child, every family, and the overall community in ways unavailable to other social service organizations. Aside from the family unit, the school can provide the most proximal setting for cultivating and nurturing strong human relationships, which are a critical component of learning and development. In fact, when schools are organized in ways that provide a web of support and foster developmental relationships for students with their teachers and peers, they also cultivate key conditions for learning, such as engagement, agency, connectedness, challenge, respect, and physical, intellectual, and emotional safety (when one can recognize and accept feelings while trusting that someone will give them the benefit of the doubt; Berkowitz, Moore, Astor, & Benbenishty, 2016; Crosnoe & Benner, 2015; Osher & Kendziora,