A Custom GPT for Trauma-Informed Learning Design
Closing the gap on trauma-informed learning
Over the past few years, every time I’ve written about reducing psychological harm in Learning & Development, my inbox has filled up.
“Where can I find resources to start applying this?”
“How do I actually build training that doesn’t accidentally re-traumatise people?”
“Is there a framework for adult learning - all I can find is for schools”
Short answer: there’s not much out there for adults. Most resources focus on children and forget that they grow up into employees that have to keep learning. But I’m confident this is an area that will mature over the coming years, as it becomes increasingly obvious that we can’t continue designing learning as we always have.
That time I thought I might get stabbed
On my very first day teaching English at an overseas primary school, my colleagues shook my hand and informed me that the last two people who’d taught that class had been stabbed by a student. That school was in a pretty rough area. Most days, kids rocked up barefoot with empty bellies and the local prison - just up the road - was home to more than a few of their family members.
These were good, smart kids. But they were expected to sit quietly and learn their grammar as if everything at home was perfectly fine. No wonder they were lashing out.
Being young and idealistic (and having re-watched Dead Poets Society not long before that) I put all my energy into figuring out how to build safety and trust in rooms where individuals half my size could (and occasionally did) absolutely lose it.
It was probably inevitable that I’d get a little obsessed with how brains respond to stress, threat, and power dynamics in learning. Turns out if you feel under siege, good luck absorbing anything beyond where the nearest exit is.
Adult learning isn’t so different
Fast forward, and I’m working with highly educated professionals as an ESL instructor. I started noticing the huge difference between their confidence walking into class, and their behaviour during a lesson. For instance:
the surgeon who went pale and clammy if asked to order coffee in English
the CEO who’d sooner parachute out of a plane than answer a question out loud in front of peers
the engineering director who couldn’t talk about her area of expertise in front of the class without shaking
Turns out schooling systems that shame and humiliate people embed pretty deeply. Those same nervous systems show up in corporate training rooms decades later, still on high alert for danger.
So after years of experimenting, reading, poking holes in my own assumptions, and writing about trauma-informed learning design online… I decided to build something.
Introducing, Calm Before the SCORM
It’s a custom GPT I’ve trained on the best research and frameworks I could get my hands on around trauma-informed learning design for adults.
It’s not therapy. It’s not medical. And it’s also not perfect! But it’s a practical tool for anyone building workshops, eLearning, or training programs who wants to incorporate psychological safety.
I feel strongly (like, stand-on-my-soapbox strongly) that trauma-informed practice shouldn’t be reserved for people who’ve survived wars or natural disasters. It’s a way of designing learning so everyone has the best possible conditions to learn, grow, and not secretly plot your demise while you’re standing there pointing at a flipchart.
More resources coming
This GPT is just one small offering to you, my L&D colleague. I’ve got a few other projects bubbling away to help people do this work better, braver, and with a lot more humanity.
In the meantime, please experiment with Calm Before The SCORM and let me know how you’re finding it.
And if you want a heads-up when I drop more resources, you might like to sign up to my newsletter.
