What are healing-centered schools?
Healing-centered schools are holistic learning environments that have undergone a whole-school culture shift co-created through the valued input of all students, parents and caregivers, and staff. Healing-centered schools recognize that social-emotional well-being is a necessary ingredient for learning, so they have worked as a community to remove punitive, harmful practices and to implement trauma-responsive, restorative, and anti-racist and culturally-responsive practices. Healing-centered schools also recognize that students, parents and caregivers, and staff are critical partners in creating a supportive school environment and center them in decision-making and school change.
Healing-centered schools recognize that schools have historically been and often continue to be sites of trauma for students. Rooted in the work of Dr. Shawn Ginwright, the healing-centered approach views trauma not as an isolated, individual experience, but as a systemic reality rooted in structures of oppression. The healing-centered approach offers a holistic response to trauma by educating the school community about the impact of trauma, investing in the leadership of impacted community members to lead change, and implementing practices that support students’ strengths and growth.
Learn more about healing-centered schools:
- Learn How to Become a Healing-Centered School
- Read the Community Roadmap to Bring Healing-Centered Schools to the Bronx
Why does New York City need healing-centered schools?
The stress and trauma that New York City students have endured during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis underscores the need for healing-centered schools. Every New York City student has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. A recent study from the United Hospital Fund found that 4,200 of New York State’s approximately 4 million children experienced a parental or caregiver death due to COVID-19 during March and July 2020. Of these deaths, 57 percent were in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens. Black and Latinx children have been disproportionately affected, experiencing parent and caregiver deaths at twice the rate of their white and Asian peers.
But the need for healing-centered schools predates the COVID-19 crisis. One in four children in classrooms nationwide has experienced some form of childhood trauma, including interpersonal traumas like abuse or parental separation and systemic traumas like poverty or persistent exposure to racism. Childhood trauma impacts learning, development, and social-emotional skills. Staff, who support our students, may experience vicarious trauma as a result. When schools don’t know how to support students with trauma, they risk making these problems worse. Unprepared schools may respond punitively to behavior that needs support or neglect a student’s academic needs. But schools that use healing-centered practices can help reverse the effects of trauma, boost academic engagement, and promote social-emotional well-being.
What steps has the New York City Department of Education taken to implement healing-centered schools?
The New York City Department of Education has taken early steps in support of healing-centered schools. The City rolled out free training for all staff on trauma-responsive educational practices from the University of Chicago’s TREP Project. The City has also launched a Family & Community Wellness Collective to support the short-term leadership of 947 parents who want to learn more about healing-centered practices and bring those practices into their schools.
All said, community members are still calling on the City to remove punitive, harmful practices from schools, invest in the long-term leadership of students and parents, and give schools the resources and time they need to engage in healing-centered change.
What We Have Done?
Healing-Centered Schools Task Force
The Healing-Centered Schools Task Force launched in June 2021 in response to decades of educational inequity and childhood trauma impacting New York City’s students—injustices exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Task Force unites students, educators, parents, community groups, mental health providers, elected officials, and NYC Department of Education leadership to study how the City can implement healing-centered educational practices during the 2021-22 school year. The Task Force will issue recommendations in July 2021 describing steps the City must take over the next year to remove harmful practices from public schools and build structures that support staff wellness, parent involvement, and student growth and healing.
The Task Force is co-chaired by the Office of the Public Advocate and the Healing-Centered Schools Working Group, a coalition of community members fighting for educational equity in the Bronx and citywide. The Task Force prioritizes the leadership and decision-making power of community members most impacted by the need for healing-centered schools. Click here to learn more about the Task Force.
Contact - Get Involved!
Want to get involved in bringing healing-centered practices to your school, district, and/or community? Are you a student, parent or caregiver, educator, mental health provider, or community advocate who is passionate about bringing trauma-responsive, culturally-responsive, and restorative practices to our schools?
Get involved in efforts to create equitable and supportive environments for all students, and share feedback about the change YOU want to see during the 2021-22 school year.
About the Healing-Centered Schools Working Group
The Healing-Centered Schools Working Group is a coalition of parents, students, educators, advocates, and mental health providers that formed in 2018 to advocate for schools that are safe and supportive spaces for all students, particularly students who have experienced childhood trauma or who are harmed by punitive practices in our schools. To learn more about the Working Group, visit them on Twitter and Instagram.