End Seclusion and Restraint - New Jersey
A Better Way
Students need to feel safe in all aspects—physically, socially, and emotionally—and require supportive adults, sensory-friendly environments, and opportunities for skill development and healing. When students feel safe, supported, and equipped to navigate school challenges, they are less likely to engage in aggressive behaviors.
Keeping all students safe starts long before a crisis happens.
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It starts with providing educators with training, resources, practice, and options.
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It requires a focus not on behaviors, but on the underlying issues causing behaviors.
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It involves a mindset shift about students who are behaving in undesired ways. They are interacting with their environment; it's not one-sided. They need to feel physically, socially, emotionally, psychologically safe. They need help, co-regulation, supportive adults, environments that don't overwhelm their senses, friends, accommodation, trauma healing, skill development, practice, to feel wanted, seen, understood, and believed.
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It requires that every student have a secure relationship with multiple adults in the building who see them for the great kid that they are even when they're having a hard time.
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Students whose needs are being met, who feel safe and comfortable in their environment, and who have the skills to handle the demands of school rarely act aggressively or hurt others.
Approved Educator Approaches to Student Interactions
Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (CPS)
Ross W. Greene, PhD
Replacing punitive, exclusionary practices with a more compassionate, effective approach to improve school culture, climate, and discipline by focusing on the problems causing behaviors rather than the behaviors themselves.
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Neurosequential Model for Education (NME)
Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD
A neurodevelopmentally-informed, biologically respectful perspective on human development and functioning) to help educators understand student behavior and performance
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R.U.L.E.R. Approach
Marc A. Brackett, PhD
Recognize, Understand, Label, Express, Regulate: RULER Approach supports school communities in understanding the value of emotion, building the skills of emotional intelligence, and creating and maintaining positive school climates
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
Ali Turfe, MA, SSP, LLP
A free, 8-week group program for cultivating a mindfulness practice for stress management through greater self-awareness, improved self-regulation and communication skills with our self and others, and responding vs. reacting - 30 CEHs or SCECHs
The Sanctuary Model
Sandra L. Bloom, MD
The Sanctuary® Model is a blueprint for clinical and organizational change which, at its core, promotes safety and recovery from adversity through the active creation of a trauma-informed community.
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DIRFloortime®
Stanley Greenspan, MD & Serena Wieder, PhD
Developmental, Individual-differences, Relationship-based approach; DIR provides a foundational framework for understanding human development and learning and how each person individually perceives and interacts with the world differently.
Low Arousal Approach
Andrew A. McDonnell, PhD
Managing Aggressive Behavior in Care Settings: Understanding and applying low arousal approaches
The Low Arousal approach emphasizes a range of behavior management strategies that focus on the reduction of stress, fear and frustration and seeks to prevent aggression and crisis situations.
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Intentional & Applied Educational Neuroscience
Lori Desautels, PhD
Intentional Neuroscience: Moving our Nervous System and Educational System Toward Post Traumatic Growth - All behavior is communication and all behaviors are signals and those signals share with us what's happening beneath the behavior.
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Self-Reg, Self-Reg Schools
Stuart Shanker, PhD
We help K-12 teachers, principals and school teams learn to apply the brain-body science of stress, dysregulation, and self-regulation. Self-Reg allows us to reframe and respond to challenging student behaviors, enhance student resilience, and get back to teaching and learning.
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Ukeru Systems, Grafton Integrated Health Systems
Kim Sanders, MS
Restraint free trauma informed care - No one wants to use restraint or seclusion to manage behavior. But when fear and frustration take over, it can seem as if there’s no other option. Let Ukeru show you another choice.
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Other Paradigm Shift Resources
Trauma Informed Educators Network & Podcast
Mathew Portell, MEd
The TIENetwork is here to support schools, districts, organizations, and businesses to learn about and implement the who, what, where, why, and how of trauma-informed practices.
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The Polyvagal Theory
Stephen W. Porges, PhD
The Polyvagal Theory links the autonomic nervous system to social behavior and emphasizes the importance of thinking about physiological state and the role the autonomic nervous system plays in regulating our health and behavior
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The Affirming Village Podcast
Dr. Destiny Huff, LPC, and Lisa Baskin Wright
Together, Destiny and Lisa bring lived experience, advocacy, and professional expertise to the IEP table. They help families and train professionals in affirming, inclusive practices for neurodivergent learners.
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Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint Interview
Assoc. Prof. Charles Bell
Dr. Charles Bell, an award-winning associate professor at Illinois State University, researches the impact of school suspension, seclusion, and restraint on families and educators in the U.S. He collaborates with organizations like the CDC and serves as an expert witness in school punishment cases, with his work featured in major media outlets.
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Brain-Body Parenting & Beyond Behaviors
​Mona Delahooke, PhD
Brain-Body Parenting: How to Stop Managing Behavior and Start Raising Joyful, Resilient Kids​
Beyond Behaviors: Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children's Behavioral Challenges
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The Power of Showing Up
Daniel J. Siegel, MD & Tina Payne Bryson, PhD
How parental presence shapes who our kids become and how their brains get wired - this approach applies to teachers, too - They can offer a quality of presence to help every kid feel safe, seen, soothed, and secure with the adults who are their caregivers
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Parenting Boys Peacefully, Out with Aggression, Listen
Tosha Schore, MA
Aggression can feel scary. And it doesn’t generally go away on its own. But we can stop it!
Parenting Boys Peacefully: On a mission to create a more peaceful world one sweet boy at a time​
Listen: Five Simple Tools to Meet Your Everyday Parenting Challenges
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Recovering our children from school related trauma
Kristy Forbes
A dive deep into the impact of school trauma on children, particularly those with a PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) profile. Join Kristy as they unpack the concept of trauma, how it manifests in children, and why post-traumatic stress is a rational and orderly response to distress. Challenging the idea of pathologizing children's trauma responses and emphasize the importance of providing long-term, consistent trust, safety, and space.
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Meet the Experts
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Sciences and expert on school discipline, violence, and education policy
Advocate & educator for Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) and Autistic identity and culture
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