Educators are often uninformed about childhood trauma and on how to reach students with traumatic childhood experiences. This can lead to personality conflicts, classroom mismanagement, school attendance refusal, and worse. We as educators must take responsibility to learn best practices and adjust the learning environment to best reach our students - not the other way around. No sane person chooses the field of social work-there’s always pain behind the passion for the profession. TJ Rumler grew up on the mean streets of Greenville, SC, seeing first-hand the impacts of poverty, addiction, racism, and gentrification across the socioeconomic spectrum.
Two weeks after 9/11, he enlisted in the US Army. Deploying to Iraq allowed TJ to experience how difficult combat is on soldiers and their families, as well as many failures along the journey towards successful treatment of PTSD and moral injury. With encouragement from friends and family,
TJ left a successful sales career and went back to complete a Master’s Degree in Social Work. Since entering the social work field, he has served fellow Veterans, chronically homeless individuals, individuals with HIV/AIDS, children with extreme behavioral and mental health conditions, and currently serves the students and families of Greenville County through his role with Greenville County Schools.
When his social work cape is in the closet, TJ enjoys writing, cycling, hot yoga, traveling, and chasing great concerts. He believes in the saying, “life is short-buy the tickets.” This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx