The Immigrant and Refugee Mental Health Project facilitates a virtual Community of Practice (CoP) comprised of health, settlement and social services providers across Canada who support the mental health of immigrants and refugees. The CoP online discussion board allows providers to pose questions to the Project's panel of subject matter experts (SMEs). We will be bringing you some of the questions posed by providers and answers provided by the SMEs.

Question

What thoughts do you have about the need for professionals to share information about students who have had complex traumatic experiences: how broad should the circle of information be? As teachers we need information to help support our learners; should educational assistants be included? 

Dr. Ghayda Hassan, Psychologist, Université du Québec à Montréal, writes: 

To me, what matters is not sharing information about the student; that would be a breach of privacy and may generate more stigma if teachers or other personnel are not prepared to handle this. However, what we can share as professionals are our professional impressions, and what we consider to be the needs of this young student and the conditions to ensure their well-being and success.

Dr. Debra Stein, staff psychiatrist (children and adolescents), SickKids Centre for Community Mental Health, writes:

When it comes to personal trauma experiences, I rarely assume a “circle of care” for sharing such experiences. I get consent from the individual beforehand. This information, even when the details of trauma are spared, is just too sensitive, and while some may be okay with sharing between educational professionals, others may not be. If I think it may be useful for a teacher or educational assistant to be aware that the individual is suffering from effects of complex trauma, I always discuss it with my client first, to get their direction on how to proceed. Hope this helps!