Trauma-Informed Education for Teachers as a Form of Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Across Cultural Contexts

Author

• Emma A. Aellen, Concordia University St.PaulFollow

Date

10-29-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Human Services: Emphasis in Trauma, Resilience, & Self-Care Strategies

Department

Human Services

First Advisor

Jerrod Brown

Abstract

Natural disasters are ecological events that cause mass casualties and physical destruction. They are also psychological and cultural happenings which shape the lives of the affected people well beyond the immediate crisis. Emergency response systems have historically prioritized the needs for material relief, such as food, shelter, and infrastructure repair, but all while neglecting mental health support. This review draws on disaster psychology, education, and community resilience research, including cross-cultural, organizational, and institutional theory, intervention programs, and disaster mental health policy. Sources were analyzed thematically to build a multi-actor framework linking teachers, schools, and communities in post-disaster recovery. The review argues that teachers and schools hold a distinct preventative position; furthermore, it asks: How might trauma-informed, culturally reflexive teacher education and training mechanisms function as preventative, multi-actor-oriented strategies for building community and child resilience after disasters, and what might sustain or erode teachers’ capacity to deliver it? Schools are reflections of culture and society, spaces for learning, creativity, empathy, and cognitive development. The central argument of this paper is that with active support from families and community institutions, they can ease community recovery. Teacher education is therefore understood as a core infrastructure that connects children, families, and communities to accessible, culturally grounded, preventative psychological support and their future perspectives.

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