Critical incident frameworks applied within schools are a means to support school staff to respond and guide planning to reduce critical incidents rates. This article explores the significance of the Therapeutic Crisis Intervention in Schools (TCI-S) critical incident framework to decrease the prevalence of behavioural critical incidents and to improve staff and student emotional competence in schools. The application of the TCI-S framework to reduce critical incidents within the United States and the United Kingdom school systems are demonstrated through upskilling school staff in social-emotional and co-regulation skills. It is suggested that TCI-S has the potential to support students with behavioural and emotional challenges and increase staff competency to implement trauma-informed practices that ultimately will reduce critical incidents.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia are especially vulnerable to traumatic and discriminatory experiences. However, limited literature and research has implemented and evaluated school-based interventions designed to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people to overcome their adversity and achieve their potential at school. This article reviews the literature and frameworks on school programs designed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who have experienced trauma. The key aspects of trauma-informed programs in schools for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students is explored and recommendations made for further research and greater acknowledgement of cultural and historical issues for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students when implementing culturally informed and trauma-informed practices in schools.

This opinion piece draws on the literature regarding absconding from care and its links with child sexual exploitation and trauma. The author draws on her experience in the child protection, out-of-home care and therapeutic services to raise some questions and suggest some themes about how the system responds when young people run away from what is purportedly safe to what is palpably unsafe. The article concludes with a brief description of trauma-informed practice and suggests that this concept is a useful contribution in our response to helping young people no longer needing to run.