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Announcing upcoming courses for educators! Join Trauma-informed Education or Supporting Marginalized Students this summer!

16 Strong Project is excited to be recruiting for our third Youth Advocacy Board! We are looking for youth ages 14-24 who are passionate about mental health education, want to learn more about ACEs, and who are ready to inspire change in their communities.

Maddy R. had a tough childhood, being in foster care, living with various relatives and the ensuing trauma and anxiety that left her feeling lost. “Striving for academic success was the only thing that kept me alive for many years and Learn4Life sort of became my way out,” she explained. “I got the one-on-one time and patience that I needed and deserved. I had to learn that it was okay to ask for help.” Now, Maddy is helping current students learn that important life skill. After graduating...

Of the approximately 74 million youth under age 18 in the US, two-thirds have experienced a potentially traumatic event by age 16 . Traumatic experiences can impact a child's ability to learn and have lasting adverse effects on mental and physical well being. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated an already urgent need for more trauma-informed support for students and their families. Recognizing the need for schools to better identify and support students who have experienced traumatic events,...

June is Pride Month in the United States, commemorating the Stonewall riots which began on June 28, 1969. According to research by Public Broadcasting Service writer Beatrice Alvarez , the riots marked a turning point in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual and queer (LGBTQ) movement for civil rights. "The riot began when a group of people at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, were being harassed by police officers. The harassment by police wasn't new to the bar's patrons, but...

Thousands of parents, pediatricians, social workers, educators, community advocates, kids, judges, police, district attorneys know exactly what led to Salvador Rolando Ramos running into a school and slaughtering 19 kids and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas. And what could have derailed his path, as well as the path of all other recent mass shooters. To people educated about the consequences of too many childhood adversities and too few positive experiences, what happened in Uvalde is not a...

Are you ready to transform your school to become a trauma-informed and healing-centered environment? Join us for the PACEsConnection virtual Trauma-Informed School Leadership Institute. This institute is specifically tailored for school leaders and leadership teams who want to understand the HOW of trauma-informed schools. Speakers will include current and former building leaders engaged in the work as well as other national experts supporting schools through this transformation process.

With the end of the academic year in sight, an overwhelming number of educators are planning to close the book on their teaching career. Much of this stems from post-pandemic classroom behavioral challenges with students and ongoing staffing shortages that have created an excessive workload for teachers . Many educators who have 25 years or more under their belt are opting to retire, but even less seasoned ones are walking away and choosing a different career path. Back in February, the...

By Turnaround For Children, May 2022 Again this week we have been faced with a horrific reminder that the schools we send our children to each day, the schools where the educators and support staff we depend on show up every morning, are not safe. The impact will spread far beyond the immediate communities where they occurred. Students, educators, families, and entire school communities across the country are feeling the stress and fear. Moving forward is not going to be easy, and we won’t...

By Linda Jacobson, Image: Courtesy of Staci Boehlke, The 74, May 16, 2022 O n a rainy Monday before winter break, the hallways at Fruit Valley Elementary School in Vancouver, Washington, were unusually quiet. The pandemic had cut enrollment nearly in half, but that didn’t deter Staci Boehlke, who runs the school’s resource center. She welcomed police officers into the colorful, light-filled space as they dropped off bags of donated toys. She spoke with a parent whose landlord sent a warning...

Staggering numbers of children have been subjected to adverse life experiences, leaving a lasting impact on our youngest members of society. This trauma often presents itself in outward behaviors. As numbers continue to increase, our education system has the ability to utilize early intervention to combat this trauma and build resiliency. TWI, The Wordsmith Initiative, is looking for one rural Virginia or North Carolina school district to pilot a whole-child, trauma-sensitive program . Our...

From San Diego County Office of Education, May 16, 2022 There was a series of horrific mass shootings across our country this weekend that our young people may be talking, wondering, and worrying about. The tragic shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, is sadly the latest in a number of horrifying murders. In this case, the shooter targeted the Black community after posting a racist and antisemitic manifesto. Our students want and need to talk about what they see, remember, and...