Learning and Trauma
An important point made in the on-line discussion was that educators never just work with the minds of learners, but with their hearts and spirits too. When we recognize that memories and information are carried not just intellectually but physically, even at the cellular level, it becomes evident how trauma, past or present, interferes with the ability to learn. But while safe and holistic learning environments must be created for survivors of trauma, it is important also to provide support and resources for instructors. Issues of disability were also raised, in that counselling, resources and safe learning opportunities for those with disabilities are scarce. The workshops presented under this theme all came under the rubric of Implications of Trauma and Violence for Women's Learning, with the subheadings: Too Scared to Learn; Supporting Practitioners; and Program Models.

Too Scared to Learn: Women, Violence and Education
Jenny Horsman, author of Too Scared to Learn, facilitated this workshop on the effects of violence on women's learning. Participants shared their experiences of working with women survivors of violence, especially to validate the large impact that trauma has on learning. Women believe that they cannot learn or accomplish more than the person whom they believe has power over them. Partners and family members (including adult children) are often threatened by a woman's desire to improve her life. Women themselves often fear their own success, having been told so frequently that they can only fail.

These challenges in learners' lives present strains for instructors as well. It's painful when women give up, quit the program. It's frustrating to work in opposition to the influence of another party outside the learning environment, whose pull on a student is greater than her own desire to learn; it's difficult to maintain a clear distinction between the learner's experience of violence and an instructor's own sense of fear and threat, to not be overwhelmed by the disclosures of violence and trauma.

Participants on-line and in the workshop raised the question of how appropriate and possible it is to allow the issue of violence in the classroom. Some learners need to make disclosures before any learning can begin; others want to be safe from hearing or re-living stories of violence and trauma. Some learners are overwhelmed by realizing that the violence they live in is not "normal". Participants shared their strategies for coping, including:

• maintaining hope and sharing it with learners
• exploring the intersections between therapy and education
• keeping the classroom door open to women who may return after an absence
• raising awareness and visibility of the issue
• supporting one another.

Resources that would help include:

• financial aid for supportive services to women (childcare, counseling, transportation, living allowance)
• training for staff and instructors to learn how to listen, ask questions and remain clearheaded when dealing with violence in the classroom
• a means to communicate with policy makers to facilitate their acceptance and understanding of the impact of violence on learning.

Jenny Horsman's research can be found at: www.jennyhorsman.com.