Beyond Trauma-Gazing: Healing Through Hope and Enriched Learning

I worry that a dangerous narrative has emerged as we have gone about our work in the wake of a global pandemic that shuttered schools and rocked communities. It’s a narrative all about trauma and victimhood and brokenness. It’s a narrative that is leaving too many confused about our role as educators and what our young people in K-12 education need from us right now.

It’s not that trauma isn’t real or that we as superintendents don’t have a responsibility to ensure that our students get the support they need in academics and otherwise. The pandemic only deepened that need. It’s why, in my school district of Baltimore City, we have invested in having clinical social workers in all of our schools and why we have forged partnerships with high-quality mental health providers to ensure that students who need support get it.

Yes, healing can be found in therapy, in mindfulness practices and in all of the wellness programming school and district leaders have worked to ensure our students can access through partners specializing in those areas.