The Los Angeles Unified School District is experiencing a new wave of unaccompanied minor immigrants coming to its schools--some with mental health issues related to their past lives and their trek into the U.S. The district has a bevy of programs intended to help those students with their trauma, their home relationships, and their legal status.

This article describes the Attachment Vitamins program, a trauma-informed parent group intervention for families with young children. Attachment Vitamins is a relational psychoeducational intervention based on the principles of Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP). Its goal is to repair the impact of chronic stress and trauma through strengthening the…

This article examines how the pre-migratory experiences of 90 Bhutanese, Burmese, and Iraqi refugee youth shape their aspirations, needs and capabilities as they transition to postsecondary education and work in the American urban context. It further explores how their schooling experiences in precarious urban school districts influence their…

In this dissertation project I explored the Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) construct at San Diego City College (SDCC) and San Diego State University (SDSU), and as a result of the research I took action to train at SDSU as a marriage and family therapist specialized in serving San Diego regional K-16 public education systems. The in-depth…

In this essay, authors Lawson, Caringi, Gottfried, Bride, and Hydon introduce the concept of trauma literacy, connecting it to students' trauma and educators' secondary traumatic stress (STS). Interactions with traumatized students is one cause of STS; others derive from other traumatic encounters in schools and communities. Undesirable effects of…

This paper examines early school leaving from the perspective of parents of early school leavers in an inner-city local authority housing estate in the Republic of Ireland living with the challenges of significant marginalisation. While the vast majority of post-primary pupils now sit a Leaving Certificate examination, and improvements in school…

In this article, we develop a genealogy of international education studies' tenets of culture shock and skills deficit. To trace their emergence, we map the discursive shifts which underpinned cultural anthropology's involvement in the administration of US colonial, domestic, and international affairs respectively in the early 1900s and 1950s.…

The large number of newly arrived people from other countries, particularly children and youth, represents a major challenge for schools and school systems in the EU-28. The present study, conducted in Germany, investigated this situation using the critical incident technique. Critical incidents were collected in group discussions with teachers…

This essay addresses two types of disasters that can affect early childhood classrooms, which deserve more attention during teacher preparation. The first includes such natural phenomena as earthquakes and hurricanes, as well man-made events, such as fires and, incredibly, school shootings. They are almost always unexpected and happen in real…

How can creating a simple stick figure comic help us tell -- and deeply listen to -- true stories of social injustice and practice anti-oppression strategies? More specifically, how can creating a series of stick-figure comics help learners enhance their understanding of the Indigenous Peoples' testimonies in the Truth and Reconciliation Report…

Poverty and trauma impact student brain development, health, and behavior. The stressors of poverty (lack of nutritious food, unstable housing, etc.) and traumatic events can put students in a "fight" or "flight" mode. Operating from such places prevents students from accessing higher-order thinking and negatively impacts…

If students and teachers do not feel safe, it is difficult for learning to occur. But how safe do they really feel? And what do teachers think would improve that sense of safety? Is it another security camera, an additional active shooter drill? A social-emotional learning program? Resources for student mental health? What are schools doing now to…

The present qualitative narrative inquiry explored Black women's experiences with sexual assault in higher education, focusing specifically on where they found support and their perceptions of campus and community connectedness. The theoretical frameworks used in this study include Black feminist theory, campus connectedness, and community…

The purpose of the present study was to explore the lived experiences and psychological dynamics of current and formerly homeless adults on the island of Oahu, ages 18 to 55 years old. There are four key findings in this study. First, analysis of the data revealed some key psychological dynamics: addiction issues, mental health issues, childhood…

Adolescents with intellectual disability are at significant risk for developing concomitant mental health and behavior problems. Youth who experience "dual diagnosis" face great challenges, and require interventions that will promote their autonomy, self-determination, and adaptive functioning. In this article, we devote attention to…