Learning Brain and Survival Brain: How experience shapes behaviour (8:35 mins)

hi i'm professor dawn bessera from the centre for aboriginal medical and dental health in the school of medicine at the university of western australia from my work in the area of aboriginal health and family and domestic violence i would like to yarn with you about work done by dr jacob harm from mount sinai hospital in new york who has given his permission for us to share this work with our families and communities across australia what i am going to tell you about is now very well known and has come from talking and doing research with thousands of people across the world when i heard the message from dr hum i and my colleagues at the university of western australia thought that it was very important that we share what he had to say to help families and communities to understand how fighting can affect our kids and young people in ways that are not helpful and do not give our kids a good start to life let me explain a bit about the impact of violence fighting pain fear and stress on a child's brain let's think about a small child they've seen fighting at home or in the community maybe they've been hit or hurt by what someone has done or said to them maybe they've been left alone when they were too young to be left by themselves they felt scared alone and very unsafe all of this pressure and stress can affect them when they are in school they may be angry a lot mean to other kids rude to the teachers or else really really quiet they may also find learning difficult and hard to do what is going on for them one way of understanding this is thinking about two parts of the brain that we humans have the survival brain and learning brain when the learning brain is switched on a child is open to new information they are open to listening thinking things through carefully and are calm and relaxed if things are a bit confused or not clear the child is okay with that they can handle that when the learning brain is in control the child can see the big picture it's like the learning brain is sitting on the veranda looking at the landscape and figuring out what's going on [Music] emotionally when the child is in learning brain they can feel calm peaceful and maybe a bit excited about what they're going to learn in school the child can be playful with learning and they are not afraid of making mistakes so they're not thinking about themselves too much and can have some confidence in learning new things however survival brain on the other hand is completely different survival brain is hugely focused on threat you've probably heard the expression fight or flight that's when the brain and the body get ready to fight an enemy or something that is threatening them or else run away fast from it or maybe they go numb and switch off completely survival brain gets the body fired up with the hormones to act fast to protect itself fight run away or go numb and hide in its own world survival brain doesn't like it when things are confusing or unclear survival brain is about all or nothing thinking that is when a child is in survival brain they either see something as all good or all bad all happy or all sad on the emotional level survival brain makes people feel panicky and afraid of getting things wrong people in survival brain don't feel calm and open to learning new information they just want to get things over with people in survival brain don't like making mistakes and they are afraid of looking stupid too [Music] so in school a child in survival brain does not want to be picked on they don't want to put their hand up and ask questions because they're afraid they're afraid of looking stupid or foolish they are full of doubt about their ability to learn stuff and they're afraid that other people can see how stupid they really are they feel embarrassed really easily and when they feel ashamed they may get angry and aggressive or they may tune out completely or disassociate that is they can disconnect themselves from what is happening in the classroom or around them or from other people a child in survival brain finds it hard to concentrate and relax into learning so we all have both these kinds of brain states or states of mind in us how do these brains interact or work with each other well when survival brain is in control the learning brain doesn't function well at all and that makes sense because survival brain is trying to save your life and so if your brain thinks there's something dangerous happening you better pay attention to it right but the tricky thing is is that as survival brain stays switched on longer and longer it's harder and harder to get out of that or to switch it off it gets harder and harder for learning brain to switch on for instance think of someone pushing a rock up a hill being a learning brain is like being on top of the hill but it takes energy and effort to stay up there that rock can easily push you back down the hill into survival brain again and again and again the rock that this person is trying to push that rock is like stress all kinds of stress and the more trauma like violence or neglect that you have experienced the heavier and bigger that rock becomes and it just pushes you back into survival brain quicker and quicker so for our little child who experienced violence when they were very young who experienced trauma and pain when their brain was developing and maybe continuing into their school years this child's survival brain is often switched on and begins to dominate their learning brain stress for them is very intense and rigid events that wouldn't be stressful to someone else can set them right off kids have had a lot of trauma like violence or neglect might see any confusing situation that may not actually be dangerous or scary as a threat that rock of stress stays big all the time now the good news is the more that stress is controlled the easier it is to be in learning brain because that rock gets a lot smaller so the best way to control stress and to get children into learning brain is to make them feel safe and supported by the adults around them that makes their rock of stress smaller it's like in those nature shows where the baby elephant is exploring a tree playing with leaves or playing with other baby elephants and having lots of fun the only reason why the baby elephant can do that is because there's a whole group or a community of mother and father elephants around it protecting it and looking out for danger now a kid who has had trauma whose survival brain is in control that kid is like the baby elephant who doesn't have protective adults around they can't play and learn because they are way too worried and always looking out for threatening situations or threatened danger so what can we do well we need homes communities and schools that make kids feel safe physically emotionally mentally and socially tuning into kids emotions and reassuring them that they are safe and secure making sure that kids are surrounded by trustworthy caring and nurturing adults stopping the violence the fighting trauma and stress in front of kids helps their learning brain to switch on and to stay switched on and this is how we begin to heal our families communities and each other this is at the heart and beginning of the healing journey [Music] you

Channel: WA Centre for Rural Health

Views: 36,619

Keywords: childhood trauma, learning brain, survival brain

Id: A3cAhyHeXEk

Length: 8min 35sec (515 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 15 2021