We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brittany Collins a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Brittany, appreciate you joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Grief-responsive teaching is a pedagogical and interpersonal approach to teaching and learning that integrates science and stories of grief into actionable classroom practices that support students’ and teachers’ wellbeing in times of loss.

Because grief impacts the brain, body, and behavior— and, by extension, teaching and learning— grief-responsive teaching seeks to support and empower the whole person, socially, emotionally, culturally, and academically.

I founded Grief-Responsive Teaching, a professional learning community and resource hub for educators, and wrote Learning from Loss: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Supporting Grieving Students, because I lost my father to male breast cancer when I was 14 and know that grief can be both an othering experience and a catalyst for learning and growth. I’m motivated by the mission to create nonjudgmental, supportive, and collaborative spaces for educators, mental health professionals, and youth workers to think together about loss, grief, trauma, and healing in all iterations.

Brittany, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I entered education because of a deep passion for storytelling, inquiry, and the lived experience of benefiting from the healing power of intentional learning environments and caring educators — as well as a keen awareness of how many students do not have affirming, welcoming, or equitable experiences within Western educational systems. One moment from my time as a student especially stands out: In high school, a special committee hosted “identity development nights” which comprised storytelling circles in which students, staff, and faculty were invited to share personal stories about something that impacted their identity. Those events broke down all barriers between and across ages and backgrounds, and the connections forged through vulnerable, authentic, witnessed stories were palpable and enduring.

This truth — that stories hold the power to heal, the connection offers salve amid hardship — is a thread woven throughout my writing and work with teachers and students within K-12 and higher educational environments. Navigating my own experiences of parental death and familial disability as a teen inspired me to consider the ways in which loss enters and impacts learning environments, and what teachers can do to better support young people who are grieving any type of loss (because grief impacts the brain and body during all forms of losses, not only those tied to a physical death). I wrote Learning from Loss to offer a map, a safe space on the page, to spark reflection, inquiry, and action among teacher-readers or anyone who cares about/for youth and wishes to better navigate the challenging topic and reality of grief.

Throughout my work, I’ve been most proud of and humbled by opportunities to connect authentically with practitioners in and beyond school settings; though grief-responsive teaching is a methodology that began in relation to school contexts, I have had opportunities to work with mental health professionals, afterschool specialists, and social workers since the publication of my book. It’s beautiful and enriching to be able to learn from professionals who carry different backgrounds and expertise, to consider together all that is transferable from the classroom to other contexts, and to combine perspectives to learn and improve our collective practice. I’m motivated to keep the work moving, to build momentum; I am looking forward to offering new synchronous and asynchronous professional learning opportunities in the coming year and have started mulling over topics for a next book relating to trauma-informed instruction.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Too many to count! I believe that maintaining a consistent reading practice is key to becoming a lifelong learner and continually iterating and improving one’s practice. Alex Shevrin Venet’s book, Equity-Centered, Trauma-Informed Education; Bettina Love’s We Want to Do More Than Survive; Galit Atlas’s Emotional Inheritance; Judith Herman’s Trauma and Recovery; Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score; and Lisa Schulman’s Before and After Loss all impacted my view of, and approach to, equitable, grief-responsive, trauma-informed practice.

I also believe in learning from genres outside of the one that you call “home,” so beyond the education and trauma science worlds, I resonate with Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book and Madeline Miller’s Circe, as both texts entertain themes of loss, learning, acceptance, and perseverance in artful, nuanced narrative arcs and captivating characters.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Throughout my work, I’ve had to unlearn– and am continually unlearning– the internalized “imposter syndrome” that is rooted in gendered and ageist economies. I pitched and published my first peer-reviewed article to a professional journal at the age of 20 — and my first professional book at the age of 22, a month after graduating from college. Working with colleagues and collaborating with audiences comprising professionals who have decades of experience in their fields is an incredibly rich learning experience that conjures rich conversations. Acknowledging my positionality and pursuing professional growth opportunities even when I’ve questioned my place “in the room,” so to speak, has always paid off, but it’s not always easy — and I think it’s important to name and acknowledge that internal reality to destigmatize it. And, of course, to bring to light the equity issues that breed imposter syndrome in so many workplaces and industries.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.griefresponsiveteaching.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/griefresponsiveteaching/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/likes/?ref=page_internal
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittany-collins-ba2016142/
• Twitter: @brcollins27

Image Credits
Katri Mizula