Increasing Readiness for Cultural Responsiveness and Trauma-Informed Practice

Abstract

For years, the most prominent approaches to addressing youth trauma have been heavily influenced by whiteness and hegemonic systems of dominance. Rather than universal designs meant to address the needs of “all” children, it is imperative that trauma-informed practices be more culturally responsive. A major challenge, however, is that educators may be at various starting places when it comes to understanding and enacting culturally responsive practices that are also trauma-informed. In short, educators need learning opportunities that can increase their level of readiness—their attitudes and self-reported beliefs about their capacity—to implement culturally responsive, trauma-informed practices. The chapter has two overarching goals: (1) to contextualize trauma-informed practices within a culturally responsive framework and (2) to provide practical strategies and insights for promoting educators' readiness to engage in culturally responsive, trauma-informed professional learning.