Chapter 7: Journaling for Students Exposed to Trauma
Discussion Points
Journaling is a time-tested technique that many counselors utilize to help students cope with various issues. As a means of building trust with students exposed to trauma, this strategy is hard to beat. While topical journals are sometimes used, for open journals, students determine how and what to share, and teachers can select what topics from the journals to explore further with the students. Coupling daily journal writing with a simple count of inappropriate behaviors will frequently show that simply “getting one’s frustrations out in journal form” can decrease problem behaviors over time, for some students. The facilitator may also wish to discuss the vignette below in which the teaching intervention of journaling did not work, while pointing out that interventions that work for some students exposed to trauma will not work for others. This is a simple reality that all practitioners face, and veteran teachers already understand.
Recommended Videos
Kindergarten Journal Writing Lesson (7 minutes)
https://youtube.com/watch?=sqySzZp2Hrs
In this video a kindergarten teachers leads a journal writing lesson featuring sight words, with a small group of students.
How to Write a Journal Entry (8 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHNICh8yGVY
This explains how to do a journal entry for the early grades. This example includes “drawing” out a story, as part of the planning for the journal entry, noting the date, and then writing the entry.
20 Health Benefits of Journaling (3 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIuw9cCTtHw
This brief video lists 20 health benefits of journaling, many of which are discussed in the chapter. https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-benefits-of-journaling
The Hidden Dangers of Journaling (9 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLRiNf1hhNU
This Youtube video described both benefits and dangers or concerns in journaling. The dangers of journaling typically center around situations in which the journaling only stresses highly destructive situations, or negative experiences. Teachers who plan to use journals with students exposed to trauma should consider watching this video.
In this video a kindergarten teachers leads a journal writing lesson featuring sight words, with a small group of students.
How to Write a Journal Entry (8 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHNICh8yGVY
This explains how to do a journal entry for the early grades. This example includes “drawing” out a story, as part of the planning for the journal entry, noting the date, and then writing the entry.
20 Health Benefits of Journaling (3 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIuw9cCTtHw
This brief video lists 20 health benefits of journaling, many of which are discussed in the chapter. https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-benefits-of-journaling
The Hidden Dangers of Journaling (9 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLRiNf1hhNU
This Youtube video described both benefits and dangers or concerns in journaling. The dangers of journaling typically center around situations in which the journaling only stresses highly destructive situations, or negative experiences. Teachers who plan to use journals with students exposed to trauma should consider watching this video.
Additional Resources
An Example of Journaling Not Working:
Dr. Bender, in 2021 began a journaling intervention with a student in his church, at the request of the student’s parent. While authors would love to say that interventions work “all the time” it is important to realize that sometimes they do not. Here is one intervention that seemed to be working but did not resolve the problem behaviors in time.
Tremain’s Anger Journal: Tremain was a sixth grade student who manifested a very bad temper and significant anger at his Mother, with whom he lived, because of the separation from his Dad, and their pending divorce. Prior to the parental separation, there had been a significant use of alcohol by the father in the home (another ACE to which Tremain was exposed), but no physical abuse had taken place. When the father left the home, the courts ruled that Tremain and his younger brother remain with their Mom. While the younger brother didn’t seem to have any notable behavioral issues, Tremain did. He refused to obey his mother, and often had “shouting matches” with her. By her report, when she attempted to discipline him he would begin shouting at her, and on occasion he would hit or kick her. The shouting was so loud that neighbors called the police once or twice, and later on, even Mom had called the police during an angry outburst by Tremain. Over a two month period, the police had been called to the home eleven times, and that resulted in the involvement of the Juvenile Court. Dr. Bender began to work with this young man at his Mom’s request, in an effort to help him identify and clarify his anger issues.
Initially, Dr. Bender talked with Tremain about anger, and how much of a problem it was, without getting into whose “fault” it was (Tramain’s or his Mom). Dr. Bender pointed out that with the Police coming to the house every week, sooner or later Tremain would be taken from the home, and he didn’t want that unless it was to move in with Dad. Dr. Bender pointed out that, while that might be an option, the Juvenile Court could also decide otherwise, and possibly put him in a foster placement, which Tremain said he didn’t want. For that reason, Tremain agreed with Dr. Bender to try and get his anger under control, by using an Anger Journal, with the stated goal of not arguing with Mom and forcing her to continue to have the police come to the home.
Tremain was given a journal notebook, and he agreed to remember to write in his journal each time he got angry at Mom. He was expected to answer several questions about his anger (what made him angry, what was happening before he got angry, etc.). He was told there are no wrong answers, and that this would be used to help Dr. Bender understand how to help him get along with his Mom. Dr. Bender and Tremain agreed that at least once each week, they would review and discuss the anger journal entries together. Over the next two weeks, Tremain made seven entries in his journal, and in each case answered the questions above, though his typical answers were only one or two sentences. Dr. Bender was able to talk with Tremain four times during that 13 day period, and Mom reported that the shouting was much less, and there had been no hitting and no need to call the police. She also indicated that, on one or two occasions, Tremain had clearly gotten mad, but instead of shouting and calling his Mom names, he went to his room to write in his journal. These things seemed to indicate that the journaling was working in this case. This intervention gave Tremain something to do, when he got angry and encouraged him to consider his emotions and actions more carefully.
We would love to say this strategy continued to work over the long-term, but it didn’t. On day 15, Tremain and his Mom had another highly negative interaction. On that weekday evening, when Mom told Tremain to turn off his tablet and begin his bath to get ready for bed, he refused. He took his tablet into his room and continued to play on it. Mom went into the room to physically remove the tablet from his hands, and he hit her in the face. She called the police at that point. Within two weeks, Tremain was taken out of the home, and was placed in the temporary custody of Child Protective Services. The courts did eventually place Tremain with his father, and he does call his Mom and visit with her on weekends, though his behavioral issues continue to be a problem during those weekends.
While this outcome was not optimal, the initial successes, the reduction of angry outbursts, shows that this was not a bad intervention selection. However, as sometimes happens in the ongoing work with highly traumatized children, the intervention showed some promise but was ultimately unsuccessful in this case. As always, this was a humbling experience for Mom and Dr. Bender both, but it does show many of the challenges professionals face in dealing with these highly traumatized students.