Trauma Sensitive Schools (TSS) Program

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth

Year: 2023

Childhood trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) can take a toll not only in the daily quality of life of children, but often also leads to severe and life-long health impacts.  There is a strong correlation in the dose-relationship between ACE’s and chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and including mental health disorders such as depression and suicide. Many school systems are recognizing the mitigating role they can play in addressing childhood trauma that can promote healing and resilience while also enhancing school readiness. Beginning in the 2020-2021 school year, Maricopa Department of Public Health (MCDPH) sought collaboration with schools who were currently working or seeking to work in the practice of implementing trauma-informed and social and emotional learning. The Trauma Sensitive Schools (TSS) program offers “mini-grant” funding to schools in support of projects that utilize trauma-informed approaches to foster resilience and social/emotional competencies in students’ grades PK-12 in Maricopa County, Arizona.