COMING BACK TOGETHER
I consider 2020 a “ collective intersectional crisis .” It ’ s “ intersectional ” in that there are three historical crises ( four including climate ) spanning overlapping domains of our lives that influence one another ; it ’ s “ collective ” in that while we may not all be traumatized , we are all affected . Our identities and circumstances , more powerful in combination , make most of us vulnerable in one way , or several . As professional educators , we provide security and stability as our students face the stresses and challenges inherent in their developmental unfolding . Now , we may be as unsettled as our students . Many of the adults and children on our campuses are affected by complex , interwoven consequences of this crisis . A low-income Black student ( or faculty member ), for example , is statistically speaking more at-risk for CO- VID-19 infection , more emotionally damaged by viewing viral videos of police brutality toward Black Americans ( Tynes , 2019 ), and more likely to experience parental job loss . A middle-aged , middle-class white staff member may not be vulnerable in these particular ways , but may have an immunocompromised child at home , feel compelled to come to campus in-person due to real or perceived job insecurity , or have lost a parent to COVID-19 .
Trauma
Even among health professionals , there is not one agreed upon or standard definition of trauma . In recent years , “ trauma ” and “ PTSD ” ( Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ) have entered the colloquial vernacular . Does our students ’ dropping of these terms in lunchtime conversation or TikTok videos align with what we mean when we discuss the effects of crisis and disaster ? The current edition of
As professional educators , we provide security and stability as our students face the stresses and challenges inherent in their developmental unfolding . Now , we may be as unsettled as our students .
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the American Psychiatric Association ’ s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM-5 ) identifies the trigger to PTSD as “ exposure to one or more event ( s ) that involved death or threatened death , actual or threatened serious injury , or threatened sexual violation ” either directly , by witnessing the event as it occurred to someone else , learning about a close friend ’ s or relative ’ s actual or threatened violent or accidental death , or experiencing repeated exposure to distressing details of an event , such as a police officer repeatedly hearing details about child sexual abuse . It ’ s not hard to fit some of our students ’ experiences into these boxes this year , given illness and deaths from CO- VID-19 and viral videos of both police brutality and U . S . detention and imprisonment of migrant children . Much of what our students are experiencing even indirectly constitutes “ repeated exposure ,” through news broadcasts , social media , and anxious household conversations .
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CSEE Connections Fall 2020 Page 3