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Why Trauma-Informed Education is Necessary for All Students
It is no secret that children arriving to Chicago after a long and frequently painful migratory experience enter the school system with varying degrees of trauma they need to work through before they can be practically ready to learn anything.
For this reason, we needed to make trauma-informed care a central focus of our work in 2024. We focused on addressing the needs of CPS asylum-seeking students and their parents. We also served the needs of American citizen students in CPS who are facing a variety of hardships of their own.
We created and hosted workshops designed to provide families with tools to navigate the emotional and psychological challenges stemming from displacement. Our goal for these sessions was to create safe spaces where parents and children could begin to process their experiences and learn strategies to rebuild their sense of stability. Based on the feedback we received from participants, our goal was achieved…and then some.
Many of the participants shared that they met someone they did not know at the meeting who had become part of their support network.
Work like this is important for its ability to foster healing and resilience. By equipping families with practical coping mechanisms, we empowered them to confront their challenges with confidence and self-compassion. For those in attendance, our workshops reinforced the importance of addressing trauma as a community effort, where schools, families, and support organizations come together to nurture emotional well-being.
