When we operate from the understanding that trauma is a common human experience, everyone benefits. Assuming the presence of trauma means we work from a place of compassion that honors the many ways it shapes us and our interactions with one another. It also opens the door for acknowledging our strengths in navigating these challenges and embracing the hope and possibility in our inherent resilience.
This Special Collection explores how to build and sustain trauma-informed, asset-based environments for children and youth with an emphasis on promoting the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH), or the conditions in the places where children and youth are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and grow. Being trauma-informed is about nurturing welcoming, safe, and healthy environments where youth are. That’s why this collection organizes resources and tools with those environments in mind: at home, in the community, in healthcare, at school, in our systems designed to help, and in the workplace.