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Photo: Dr. Shawn Ginwright, Ph.D.

Dr. Ginwright is an associate professor of education and Africana Studies at San Francisco State University’s College of Ethnic Studies. He is also the founder and chief executive officer of Flourish Agenda Inc. (flourishagenda.com), a national nonprofit consulting firm working with youth of color to help them and their communities flourish. You can visit his website at .

Kennedy Center: KC: What are ways young people are affected by violence, even if they are not the direct victims?

Dr. Shawn Ginwright: Most people think of violence as an individual act, outside the context of where and why it takes place. But it can have a significant impact on the wider community and contribute to more violence. And keep in mind the forms violence can take beyond the physical. It can be the fear that comes from witnessing violence, the fear of being stopped by police, the fear of deportation for immigrants. The environment becomes a significant factor in what causes violence, and how that fosters trauma in people.

KC: How do you define trauma, and what does “trauma-informed care” entail?

Dr. Ginwright: I define trauma as anything that disrupts human flourishing, anything that is a barrier to a full and healthy development of an individual in the community. The harm they experience can then affect and shape behavior.

Trauma-informed care tries to recognize and acknowledge trauma and is now being incorporated more widely in schools and communities to help young people. It is a clinical blend that tries to recognize and acknowledge the trauma they’re experiencing. It promotes coping and restorative practices that clinical workers and practitioners can use to help those they work with regain a sense of well-being.

KC: How did you arrive at the concept of “healing-centered engagement” that you discuss in your work?

I was working with a group of young men dealing with trauma, almost all African American, and we’d gather every Wednesday night. In the third session, I was trying to get them to tell their stories. I talked about the science of trauma and its impact on the brain. They shared profound stories about homelessness, stories of their own physical abuse in their families.

One participant, Marcus, began talking about his own experience. Then he stopped abruptly and asked, “Why do we have to talk about this? I’m more than what happened to me.”

I agreed with him, but it took me by surprise. So I asked him to explain himself. He said that there are things that he likes to do but that he never got to share in the group. So he began to talk about the music he likes, how he wanted to open up a business installing car radios. He started talking about his goals and the future.

It shifted the tone of the entire group. Rather than derail the work we were doing, he had actually opened another portal for healing. It was out of this that the idea of healing-centered engagement took shape.

KC: What distinctions do you draw between trauma-informed care and “healing-centered engagement”?

Dr. Ginwright: Healing-centered engagement doesn’t discount trauma-informed care and its importance in addressing traumatic events and experiences. But trauma-informed care has limits. It tends to focus on the worst thing that happened and ignores the assets—the attributes and resources that individuals and communities possess that are sources for a positive sense of identity, well-being, and agency. It draws on a lot of the same principles found in positive psychology.

Healing-centered engagement also recognizes that violence takes place in context, and to best address it requires addressing the environment where it is taking place. It considers violence not simply as isolated acts but as collective experience, removing itself from clinical definitions to a political understanding. When I say political, I’m talking about decisions that are made by stakeholders—the power brokers in education, business, and government—decisions that affect communities for better or worse.

KC: In terms of individuals, what are paths for a young person, like the character of Will in Long Way Down, to recover or gain a sense of hope and wellbeing after a traumatic experience?

Dr. Ginwright: At some point, the focus needs to shift from what happened to someone to where they want to be. How does Will see his future? What are his aspirations? These are assets he can use to heal. Based on research, future-goal orientation is an important factor for people dealing with trauma. It guides their decision-making and has a profound impact on their overall sense of well-being.

So for Will, I’d encourage conversations and activities that are future-goal oriented. It’s not that the traumatic event is irrelevant, but looking to the future is a way to process it even as he attempts to move past it.

Secondly, I’d suggest he think about the kinds of things he can do in his sphere of influence to stop it from happening to other folks. For instance, can he create or contribute to some kind of anti-violence program in his school? It’s a matter of his developing a sense that he isn’t powerless, that he has agency, and can become the primary agent in restoring his own sense of well-being. He can help himself heal by helping heal the community.

KC: What message or questions would you like audience members, especially teens, to leave the theater thinking about?

Dr. Ginwright: I’d like them to be thinking about their own experience with violence, and how that has shaped them. Think about their own future and what they want to become. Lastly, their sense of agency. What do they care about, and what can they do in their sphere of influence?

Some Additional Points to Know: Radical Healing

In his research and writing about African American and Latino youth, Dr. Ginwright explores the idea of “radical healing”—the leveraging of individual and collective efforts to transform communities and individuals. Instead of focusing on pathologies, it concentrates on assets and building from these elements of strength.

He points to five principles that educators, community leaders, artists, and youth themselves can return to as they work to support the flourishing of their lives, families, and communities. There are:

Culture—The appreciation and understanding of a collective history, identity, and legacy.

Agency—The individual and collective ability to create and transform conditions.

Relationships—The capacity to create, sustain, and grow healthy connections with others.

Meaning—To live, learn, and lead with purpose, direction, and conviction.

Achievement—The purposeful realization of one’s desired goal.

Resources

Posted September 16, 2015.

Posted January 19, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzMT-VFEmUQ&feature=youtu.be&list=PLZR25tnLiAeTfOksV7weR3t-PyYQr2Kfb

by Shawn Ginwright, PhD. Medium. May 31, 2018. 

“6 Ways to Become a Trauma-Informed School.” National Resilience Institute. A primer on the practice. May 17, 2017.

“7 Self-Care Strategies to Help Manage Trauma, According to Experts.” Bustle.

“What is a Trauma-Informed School?” Treatment and Services Adaptation Center. For educators interested in developing greater supports for students dealing with traumatic stress.

Originally published as part of the Long Way Down performance guide content for the Kennedy Center's 2018-2019 season.

Bank of America is the Presenting Sponsor of Performances for Young Audiences.

Additional support for Long Way Down is provided by A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation; the Kimsey Endowment; The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation; Paul M. Angell Family Foundation; and the U.S. Department of Education.

Funding for Access and Accommodation Programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

Major support for educational programs at the Kennedy Center is provided by David M. Rubenstein through the Rubenstein Arts Access Program.

Kennedy Center education and related artistic programming is made possible through the generosity of the National Committee for the Performing Arts.

© 2018 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts