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sie.education@ubc.ca
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EDST 498F (3): Healing the Roots of Trauma and Building Resilience
July 4 – 21 (Tuesday to Friday) | 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Format: In-Person
This course will focus upon understanding the roots and impact of trauma to offer methods of supporting students in the classroom. Understanding the roots of trauma is key to building an environment that promotes healing and resilience. The content will include a brief overview of brain development research and the epigenetic changes that can occur and impact future generations, as well as the value and limitations of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) research. Using an empathetic approach, teachers will learn to create a healing environment to support the needs of their students, incorporating the evidence-based techniques from social-emotional learning and also incorporating techniques derived from Indigenous principles.
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- state their vision for their classroom
- understand types of stress and their impacts on mental health
- identify the impact of toxic stress/trauma on brain development
- understand the role of epigenetics in trauma and intergenerational trauma
- understand and recognize the impact of ACEs
- identify both positive and negative coping mechanisms
- differentiate between sympathy and empathy
- increase their capacity for empathy
- incorporate Indigenous principles for healing
- understand social-emotional learning and its role in the BC Curriculum
- personalize social-emotional learning techniques in accordance with student needs.
Sandy Balascak is a dynamic and creative educator and mental health advocate who has dedicated her career to promoting mental health and well-being for at-risk youth. With over twenty years of experience in education, including twelve years as an administrator in an alternate/continuing education school, she has developed the unique Whyse Approach to help youth reach their full potential.
Sandy’s passion for promoting mental health stems from her own experiences as a “problem child.” She has leveraged her extensive education and training in Women’s Studies, Drama, Information Systems, Interdisciplinary Studies, and Counseling to make a real difference in the lives of those she serves. Her creativity and innovative approach to education have been recognized through her TEDx talk, which serves as a platform for her message of hope and change.
Sandy is currently an on-call teacher and instructor with Queen’s University, in addition to teaching her second course this summer with UBCO SIE. She is also actively developing a course for an Indigenous agency and delivering workshops on topics related to mental health and trauma using The Whyse Approach. Despite being officially retired, she prefers to say she is “pretired” as she remains engaged in both the classroom and research to stay current in the latest educational and mental health theories.
Sandy’s work is a testament to the power of education, personal experiences, and a commitment to change in making a meaningful difference in the world. Her dedication and passion for helping others to understand mental health and trauma fuel her desire to remain active in her own learning and in her teaching throughout her “pretirement”.
How to register
To register for courses, please visit the Student Information Service Centre (SISC).
Register for Term two (July/August) courses via the Student Information Service Centre (SISC).
If you are looking to transfer a course into UBC Vancouver, or another institution, please confirm transfer credit will be approved prior to registering for a UBC Okanagan course.
*It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the course is accepted towards the completion of a program.
Register for Term two (July/August) courses via the Student Information Service Centre (SISC). You must have 2021 Summer registration eligibility. If not, please email sie.education@ubc.ca.
If you are looking to transfer a course into UBC Vancouver, or another institution, please confirm approval of transfer credit prior to registration.
*It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the course is accepted towards the completion of a program.
To register for a course, you will first need to submit an online application via Education Planner BC portal.
- Sign up for your EducationPlannerBC Account and follow the instructions to complete your applicant profile.
- Select University of British Columbia as the institution you want to apply to
- Select the upcoming Winter Session: September – December
- Select “Access Studies”
- Under “Access Studies” section, indicate that your program of interest is the Okanagan School of Education’s Summer Institute in Education Summer Session May – August.
- Once all necessary fields are filled in, click the “Save” button at the bottom of the page.
- You will be prompted to review your EPBC application and pay an application fee.
Once you have paid the application fee, email nondegree.ok@ubc.ca if you want UBC to process it quicker. If not, it will take three to five business days for UBC to admit you.
Please contact sie.education@ubc.ca with your UBC student number and courses of interest.