April 22, 2021

President Emeritus Dr. Peter Mitchell and Assistant Professor of Social Work Dr. Shirley Huisman were interviewed recently on the SHARE (Stories of Humanity and Resourcefulness in Education) podcast about the Institute for Building Resilience Through Trauma Informed Practices (I-BRTIP). During the interview, Dr. Huisman discussed the College's ongoing innovation efforts in the field of trauma-informed education.

"I don’t know how many graduate programs in trauma-informed practices there are, but I certainly know that there’s probably none other like ours in that it is really sponsored by two departments, one is the education department and the other social work," said Huisman. "So the uniqueness of our program is that half of our courses are being taught by social work faculty and the other half by education faculty."

Dr. Mitchell explained how the Master of Education in Trauma-Informed Education degree program sparked the idea for the Institute. 

"[The Institute is] informed by the master’s degree because, while [the education arena] was the core concept, we recognized that the program had interest from other fields such as criminal justice, such as healthcare, even business with HR," said Mitchell. "We started to develop a thought piece, Shirley and I, we discovered that there was interest across the campus, and that then precipitated Shirley working with different faculty members."

In addition to the Master's program, Columbia College also offers a new Certificate in Trauma-Informed Practices in Higher Education through the Institute. The program is made up of six modules designed to build a better understanding of the nature of trauma and its impact on student performance and help participants develop strategies  for creating a trauma-informed campus culture. 

The interview along with a transcript is available at https://sharetolearn.com/podcast-episode-8-dr-shirley-huismann-dr-peter-mitchell/.

For more information about Columbia College's Institute for Building Resilience through Trauma-Informed Practices, as well as the graduate degree and certificate program, visit www.ColumbiaSC.edu/ibrtip

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