ResiliencyA Whole School Approach

April 22, 2013

Peter C. Murrell, Jr., PhDRachel Carlson, MAT

Jessica Strauss, MPhil, MSW

ACTS Spring

Symposium

Video: Jeff Duncan-Andrade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CwS60ykM8s

Approaches to Trauma

We have many approaches to trauma.

We also have systematic ways of engaging children and youth holistically.

What we don’t have – mobilization of community capacity for the cultivation of well being and development.

Core Focus

Building Resilience in Children and Youth

andBuilding Resiliency in

Schools, Familiesand Communities

How should we mobilize to best

serve Baltimore’s children and youth?

Resilience“the rose in the concrete...”

• Resilience is the construct referring to those capacities that undergird individuals draw on to thrive, survive, and engage in optimal performance and develop, despite the stress and adverse conditions.

Resiliency“cultivation in the concrete”

Resiliency, in our framework, is the maintenance and continuous development of the practices and experiences that foster resilience.

Resiliency refers to resilience in action (“agency”) which is built into, and built from, the social environment in which kids learn, grow, develop and interact.

Glen Richardson’s Three Waves

• First Wave: Resilient Qualities

• Second Wave: The Resiliency Process

• Third Wave: Cultivating Resilience

Resilient children are made, not born…

Children become resilient as a result of the patterns of stress and of nurturing they experience early on in life… (p. 38)

- Perry and Szalavitz

Our Work in the Third Wave

Critical Distinction Between Resilience and Resiliency

• A distinction between being and doing• A distinction between the state of an

individual and that individual-in-action, individual-in-context.

• Cultivation of agency and ethical identity as a core of agency.

• Situated development of social identity and ethical agency.

Comprehensive Framework

• Importance of cultural practices of a new common culture in schools;

• Need to cultivate among adults the capacity to enter into a developmental alliance with children and youth;

• Acting on what we know in a concerted, comprehensive cultivating community

• Create solidarity (not merely sympathy) with underserved children and families;

• Account for social context at all levels.

Why respond to complex trauma with whole- school resilient culture?

• Prevalence of trauma• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study

– impact of trauma on physical health• learning, social-emotional and attachment• National Task Force on the Education of

African-American Males• What do we make of these findings?

Maslow:A Foundational Perspective

Strong approaches must consider…• Ecological Systems Theory • Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems (PVEST)

Making Sense as a Cultural Practice (Murrell, 2007)

“the arrogance of not knowing what it is that they do not know, yet they speak as if they know what all of us need to know…” – ‘peculiar arrogance’ (Asane, 1987)

• Understanding schools as culturally and racially myopic spaces

• Critical Race Theory – Unintentional racism --> microaggressions– Racialized social practices that inscribe trauma

• Poverty, class, ethnicity, race -- intersectionality

Community Schools: Process of whole-school development

• Collective studyo Features/sources of trauma and stresso Sources of resilience for children, adults

Collaborative analysis and planningo Share vision and focus of worko Prioritize and develop partnerships

Continuous reflection and oversight Share leadership Share accountability

Four features of intervention

Individual and collective capacity by focusing on:• Identity

o Who am I in this environment? Awareness of self and others; social-emotional learning; cultural legacies.

• Connectednesso What are my positive relationships? Social skills, conflict resolution; building

networks of practical and spiritual resources.

• Communicationo How do I communicate with others? Literacy, listening skills, arts and

expression

• Agencyo What change can I make on my own and what change can we accomplish

together? Advocacy, organizing, collaborating

What changes?

• Common Practiceso Daily activities in classrooms, hallways, cafeteria,

fields, streets, homes: e.g. relaxation time, “daily rap,” customs, conventions

o How we treat one another, speak, behave Programmatic interventions

Arts and self-expressive programs Grief groups, mental health services Peer mediation, student activism/civic leadership

Changes we expect to see

Students doing better Improved indicators of school climate Improved student personal, social and

academic engagement Parents as co-educators Students as community leaders Long-term improvements in safety,

attendance, promotion, graduation

What do you think?

Inspired by… Intrigued by… Concerned by… Suggestions?

o Specific sources of trauma, generalized impact of community stress, school-specific stress

o Indicators of success

Our Panel

• Dr. Adanna J. Johnson-EvansAssistant Professor of PsychologyLoyola University Maryland

• Jarrod BolteInterim Executive Director of Teaching and Learning Baltimore City Public Schools

• Atman SmithCo-Founder, Holistic Life Foundation, Inc.

Contact Us:Peter MurrellPMurrell@acts-alliance.orgRachel CarlsonRCarlson@acts-alliance.orgJessica StraussJStrauss@acts-alliance.org

Alliance for CommunityTeachers and Schools

Thank you for your interest.