100% of our students have experienced significant trauma and most are still living in highly stressful (chronic stress) situations.
That was our numbers as well. I think you will continue to struggle and see turn over if it is something left up to certain school staff to "deliver" the trauma-informed practices. To me, a trauma-informed school is one that practices the approach in all of their interactions using "universal precautions."
How long has it been since the school has implemented the practices...and what exactly are the practices? I'm curious as to what certain counselors, social workers do.
I can tell you what we did, although it was a private school/ residential treatment facility. The school was made up of the students from the residential houses as well as community kids that surrounding districts determined they could not serve. One of the benefits that we had was a person who could spend a lot of time working with staff (me) and I know that is a luxury many schools don't have.
One thing that I found early on is that trauma-informed practices have to start in human resources. There should be no surprise when a new staff comes in and finds that we are not about timeouts, compliance, and a swift kick/ punishment (if we look at many behaviors as a result of neurological changes due to trauma, why punish for being traumatized?)...
One of the initial training sessions for new employees involved a day long trauma-informed services training. This is introductory and required annually, as well as a second tier of training.
Students are given a chance to voluntarily complete the ACEs survey. There is also a "de-escalation preference" survey that would be completed that gives us information on things that help them feel clam and safe when they are starting to become upset, as well as the valuable information of what triggers them. The information from these surveys are used in developing plans that inform interactions with the students.
When considering physical restraint, the debriefing process became a great tool. Reflecting on what could have gone different often found staff recognizing a point where it went wrong and how they contributed to it. I'm proud to say that in the last year the occurrences of restraint drastically reduced.
A really simple way of looking at it is that there is what trauma-informed looks like and what trauma-informed does not look like. I know that may seem easier said than done, but it really is hard to argue with. You can't use trauma-informed practices "sometimes" or only some people. it really takes more than just being informed, but being responsive and practicing it.
This article is aimed at residential facilities, but I feel it applies when looking at systemic change toward trauma-informed http://www.sanctuaryweb.com/PDFs_new/Bloom%20TC%20Sanctuary%20Model%20Organization%20Development.pdf
Its also important to be aware of secondary trauma working with these kids, and help take care of ourselves. We can't lose good people to burnout.
Good luck, and I hope we get some great responses here!