It began at TSS
In February 2021, I had the honor of moderating Dyane Carrere’s session, “A New Way to Respond to Challenging Behavior: The Re-Set Process” at ATN’s virtual Trauma-Sensitive Schools (TSS) conference. Carrere’s approach to and heart for children from hard places impressed me. So much so, in fact, that I ordered her book, The Re-Set Process: Trauma-Informed Behavior Strategies. I eagerly began devouring it as soon as it arrived.
The teacher-educator in me cannot say enough good things about this book! I always felt dissatisfied and uncomfortable with behaviorist-based classroom “management” strategies. Why? They didn’t work for me as a young survivor. If anything, they often only added shame. Better ways exist, as Carrere shows.
About the book
Carrere, who writes with Wynne Kinder, opens The Re-Set Process by defining trauma and helping readers understand what trauma looks like and entails. She then integrates this understanding into the “Re-Set Process” that gives the book its title. Using stories and anecdotes, the author explains why traditional approaches often do not work for children with trauma backgrounds. She provides abundant adaptations and alternatives. She shows that if we work to help children who have experienced trauma, it benefits all children.
Carrere includes so many resources both in her book and online that finally, I just had to stop and write this. I want ATN blog readers to discover Carrere’s work for themselves. She describes it as follows:
“The Re-Set Process approach to behavioral challenges is not simply about changing the behavior of the student or decreasing disruptions to the classroom environment, although those certainly are both worthy goals. The Re-Set Process does those things but it also is designed to teach the struggling student valuable skills for self-management–skills that he or she needs to be successful in school and beyond. It is a nonpunitive, relational approach that is structured for consistency.”
Why you should read it
As I have written about in my books and some of my other ATN blog posts, I experienced trauma as a child. At school, I needed someone to teach me the self-regulation skills Carrere describes. What I got instead–people telling me simply to “control myself better”–did not help. In fact, that ultimately led to my mental health struggles later on. Some strategies may make help children behave better in the moment, but they can also set them up for more difficulties over time. Carrere helps break this cycle.
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Blog manager’s note: Intrigued? Want to learn more? You can watch Dyane Carrere’s workshop by purchasing a TSS After Pass on the ATN website. Also, keep an eye on the ATN Bookstore, where we are adding new titles all the time. Although we do not yet have this particular title in stock, you can order The Re-Set Process most places where books are sold.
