Politically expedient approaches to difficult knowledge about sexual violence have included educational practices that create conditions for 'safe' spaces, such as announcing content in advance, trigger warnings and other pedagogical practices that make care allowable and smooth out the sharp edges of violence that can knowingly invoke trauma.…

This conceptual paper introduces the Mindful Interactions (MI) tool designed to enable university teaching academics to promote student mental health and in so doing, impact positively on academic outcomes. The MI tool is comprised of three elements: "understandings" to provide theoretical guidance which inform pedagogy,…

This paper suggests that cultivating an aesthetics of attention in education can be a valuable affective tool for combatting the kind of numbness often associated with the resilience of racism. The notion of "attention" broadens the frame of analysis of racial violence by taking into consideration the affective and aesthetic dimensions…

This article details the challenges and possibilities of assigning first year students writing assignments that require engagement with emotions and memories during the COVID-19 pandemic (Fall 2021). Using one first year writing class as a case study, the author describes the challenges that arose in writing conferences. Noting the rise in mental…

Student mental health needs continue to rise across the United States and many students and families rely on schools to provide services to meet these needs. Yet, an overwhelming number of available frameworks and approaches to school mental health (SMH) and overlapping terminology surrounding SMH supports like trauma-informed (TI) approaches,…

Music learning can invoke moments of vulnerability. Vulnerability is a key component of coherent self-concept development in adolescence, which is crucial not only for learning, but also for positive, long-term mental health outcomes in adulthood. Utilizing a lens of psychological development, we consider the relationship between the vulnerability…

"Middle School Today" is clustered into major themes: adolescent development and identity, the adolescent learner, curriculum and instruction, and the contemporary middle school. The book describes the components related to adolescent development starting with simple principles from psychology regarding the physical, cognitive, and…

This book centers immigrant children's school experiences as recounted and interpreted by their mothers, exposing how racialization, exclusion, and proximity to Whiteness shape their realities in Canadian schools. Drawing from Afro-Caribbean, Ghanaian, Indian, Afghan, and Chinese communities, mothers emerge as critical knowledge holders, sharing…

Student absenteeism profoundly impacts academic achievement, emotional well-being, and social development. The root causes of absenteeism are diverse, encompassing personal struggles, family responsibilities, social pressures, and unengaging or unsupportive school environments. Addressing these challenges requires a multifaceted approach,…

The integration of somatic approaches in art therapy can counter the trauma of microaggressions. By adopting a power-from-within stance, art therapists can facilitate sessions for clients to affirm their LGBTQIA+ identities while resisting the impact of discrimination. This article, co-written by an art therapist and client, provides lived…

This article brings together interdisciplinary perspectives from three artist-scholars. More specifically, we examine the impact of performances of listening and care in works addressing connections to personal identity, trauma, and violence and the anxieties that these can provoke in our roles as artists, researchers, and pedagogues. We ask: how…

This article thinks through a practice-as-research exploration of facilitating active listening to the testimonies of female victims/survivors in Colombia, bridging a theoretical gap between applied theatre and performance studies by extending understanding of theatre's impact in contexts of transitional justice beyond visibility to an affective…

This report describes and synthesizes implementation determinants and strategies to promote uptake and sustained implementation of comprehensive school mental health and trauma-sensitive practices in schools. The present synthesis of studies and reports emphasizes use of relevant and efficient practices with empirical support at the state,…

Narrative, first-person accounts of a collective, traumatic event preserve the authenticity of the experience and defend against inaccurate retrospective idealizations. Such artifacts allow us time to process the event, extract the lessons it has for us, and to bring these lessons to bear on our practices. I offer my own narrative here, as a…

The need for research to advance scientific understanding must be balanced with ensuring the rights and wellbeing of participants are safeguarded, with some research topics posing more ethical quandaries for researchers than others. Moral injury is one such topic. Exposure to potentially morally injurious experiences can lead to significant…