ABSTRACT
Exposure to violence, racism, poverty, and other chronic adversities during early childhood can negatively impact the healthy developmental trajectory for children. Early adverse experiences can lead to difficulties with attention, relationships, emotional regulation, neurodevelopmental disruption, and psychological sequelae that can impede children’s learning and ability to function in the classroom. While there has been an increased emphasis on developing trauma-informed schools, the existing frameworks have failed to take a comprehensive approach accounting for the intersection of trauma exposure, identity, racism, and historical inequities that exist within American school settings. A transformative social justice paradigm shift focused on holistic, empowering, adaptive, reflective, and diversity-informed (T-HEARD) systems of care is needed. This chapter will describe the T-HEARD framework and how to apply it in education settings. Specific strategies educators can use to address childhood mental health that are aligned with T-HEARD systems of care will be shared.
