Childhood trauma is a public health crisis that affects two-thirds of children today. As schools adopt strategies to support students who confront adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), few have considered the leadership approaches required to create a trauma-informed school. The skills required to be an effective trauma-informed instructional leader expand well beyond the traditional expectations of instructional leadership. Many argue that trauma-informed work requires a transformative leadership approach, defined by Shields (2018) as challenging the status quo, introducing new ways of thinking, and striving for deep, equitable change. Researchers and practitioners are at a pivotal moment in which they must identify best practices to prepare instructional leaders to do this critical work. However, the scholarship to date has not yet considered the reality that the majority of adults have experienced one or more ACEs themselves. Thus, this dissertation examined the ways that an instructional leader's own trauma history may influence their willingness and ability to engage in transformative, trauma-informed leadership. I interviewed thirteen instructional leaders in public schools in the United States who had encountered one or more ACEs themselves in order to understand how they approached the challenge of establishing and leading a trauma-informed school. These interviews yielded three overarching themes. First, participants acknowledged the ongoing impact of ACEs in adulthood, and they constructed narratives to help them make sense of the role trauma played in their life stories. Second, leaders' beliefs about their own trauma history and its long-term impact influenced how they sought to support trauma-affected students in their schools. Third, some--but not all--participants engaged in key transformative leadership practices that extended beyond the traditional expectations of instructional leadership and helped facilitate their efforts to create a school environment that supported trauma-affected students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]