Clarity of goals. Efficacy of strategies. Elevated success.
A 2017 University of Chicago study estimates that 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQIA+. The 2021 National Survey on LGBTW Youth Mental Health finds that homeless queer youth are two to four times as likely to suffer depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.
A 2008 study from British Colombia found that if a school had a Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA), suicide risk for LGBTQ+ youth was 50% lower—and 50% lower for heterosexual boys as well.
Forming a GSA is an act of suicide prevention.
All organizations should have a DEI task force. And, the task force deserves to know what problem they are trying to solve. Without precision and clarity, an organization that begins the work of addressing systemic racism without first looking at their data is probably wasting time.
Trauma Informed Care, skills and practices, will be more important than ever upon return to classrooms this fall. During this workshop teachers/staff will reflect upon the emotional toll of the past year as well as identify emotional triggers, learn emotional regulation skills, and understand the importance of co-regulation between student and teacher.
Yes, form a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. Of course, lead book studies and share articles. Develop surveys and such. These are all long-term strategies that might possibly support antiracism work in your workspace. Just know that they are insufficient.
Emotional self-care is grounded in trusting myself as I navigate a daily barrage of unsupported opinions, biases, and prejudices that deny the truth of how I walk through life. Trusting my instincts is a struggle when the stories all around me become louder and more dominant that the story of my being. Immersion in the communities that affirm my experiences and understandings support me in ways that would be impossible in any other form.
This piece is for white caring professionals and white leaders of caring organizations who do not experience systemic racism, and for their BIPOC colleagues whose advocacy is routinely unheard.
by Timothy (Tim) Grivois-Shah, Ed.D. The most successful behavioral supports in schools typically involve 1) frequent doses of positive feedback & prompting, and 2) strong relationships with a trusted mentor. Check-in, Check-out (CICO) is a common framework for behavioral support, and when it works, students of any age know that someone they respect both wantsContinue reading “Support youth in becoming who they want to be, not how we want them to behave.”
Often, we talk about justice as something that we’ll work on when the rest of the work gets done. These articles remind me that our students can’t (and won’t) wait for justice. And, many caring professionals are making progress when and where they can. It’s time for all of us to do the same.
The most important member of any team designing any intervention or service will always be the person the plan is supposed to benefit. Instead of assuming to know how best to help someone, find out sure.
If, by helping my partner schools approach student discipline through a PBIS framework, I was creating a system where a small group of people established behavioral expectations without involving the entire school community and without centralizing the voices of students and families of color, then there was no way that I could say with integrity that the values I was helping schools teach and enforce school-wide at all represented the value system to which every student subscribe