Conference preview: Sound Connections' Inclusive Practice in Action

HC: Why were mental health and wellbeing chosen as this year's themes?

BR: We are living through a pandemic, and I've been thinking about how people are coping, specifically children, so it felt like the right way to go. One of our speakers, Lisa Cherry, focuses on trauma-inclusive practice – I realised myself during lockdown that most of us carry our trauma, and if you are not grounded and reflective, the trauma you have within you may be projected onto other people as anger or something else.

HC: How does this specifically relate to inclusive practice in education?

BR: I'm aware that there are a lot of children and adults who go through trauma, such as domestic violence and bullying in school or the workplace – and unless you understand how to recognise a suffering person, you might take, for example, a child's behaviour in class as just disruptive and not realise that they are trying to protect themselves. Or you might find that a teacher is failing in their performance because they are not open about what they're going through – they're suffering, the children are suffering; everybody's suffering. I think it's really important that people understand themselves and how they operate in the world – the good they do, and the bad – and think about addressing their own hurts. Once you start to do that and start to be reflective, some of us develop compassion and empathy and the ability to see suffering and address it with kindness.