An AACP Interim Meeting keynote speaker opens up about how her life experiences inspired her to become a passionate advocate for trauma-informed leadership.
By Jane E. Rooney
For Dr. Helen Sairany, the decision to focus her research on trauma was intensely personal. As a young child growing up in conflict-ridden Iraq, she experienced a harrowing incident when she picked up a grenade, mistaking it for a toy. Fortunately, U.S. troops driving by convinced her to trade it for some candy. But that experience, combined with a period of displacement and then arriving in a new country as a refugee, created lasting trauma that did not surface for many years. It wasn’t until she graduated from pharmacy school in 2010 and worked overseas for Doctors Without Borders that some painful memories began to surface.
“I was treating so many little girls like my own seven-year-old self. The pain would wash over me every day and I would wake up screaming and I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was reliving some of the terror I went through,” Sairany explained. After returning to the United States, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD. The recognition that a childhood trauma could affect her so profoundly as an adult led her to pursue research and advocacy work around trauma-informed leadership. Her keynote presentation “Transforming Campus Culture: Trauma- Informed Strategies for Empowering Learners” kicks off this month’s Interim Meeting in Houston. She will discuss how adjustments can be made to higher education to support student well-being and academic success.
The core definition of trauma, Sairany explained, is experiencing something that is too much too fast too soon. “What takes precedence is survival. That becomes the number one priority—it’s the body’s alarm system. That is the past. But the body’s alarm system doesn’t have a memory so you continue to relive it. The body keeps the score so that’s why people with PTSD have nightmares. They are reliving tragic events of past.” So what does this mean in the context of leadership and pharmacy education? Whereas individuals with PTSD experience flashbacks, she said, leaders have what she calls flash forward.
“It’s the terror surrounding issues that are about to happen. Researchers from the University of Colorado realized that these highlight the same part of the amygdala [as PTSD flashbacks]. When you are terrified about the board, or admission rates are low, or worries about what if the institution doesn’t get accredited….it triggers the same part of the alarm system,” she said. “You don’t feel psychologically safe. The difference is working from an elevated emotion versus a limited emotion. With limited emotion, things keep adding up and it feels like too much. You become less giving, less innovative, less secure because you are so overwhelmed. Someone who is doing something they love and have a supportive staff—that’s elevated emotion. Ninety-nine percent of leaders, especially academic CEOs, are working from limited emotion. Pharmacy is going through a lot right now.”
Revisiting the System
Sairany believes that to provide trauma-informed care, pharmacy schools need to focus on changing the curriculum so students gain an appreciation for psychological safety. The current system creates an overwhelming workload and sets up unrealistic metrics and demands. The goal is to create working environments that allow people to feel safe bringing their whole human selves to the table. “When you feel like you can show up and you’re not going to be reprimanded because you have a flaw. We all have flaws. The metrics are just not possible,” she noted. Building supportive campus environments that empower learners means taking a new approach to the curriculum.
“ADHD rates among American children are at an all-time high, largely driven by the immense stress parents face due to societal demands and workforce pressures,” she continued. “When parents are stressed, their children often absorb that anxiety, leading to behavioral issues that educators are left to manage. The real question is: How do we cope in such an environment? With one in two Americans experiencing anxiety or depression, should we be medicating half the population, or is it time to critically examine the hustle culture that’s disrupting everyone’s nervous system?”
“Approaching students with compassion is essential. Why not offer them the attunement and sense of community they so desperately need? Schools must embrace this approach.”