Becoming a Trauma Responsive/Healing Institution

Minneapolis College is committed to becoming an anti-racist educational institution and employer. The Equity Statement and Strategic Plan center on equity and student success as integral to mission, vision, and values. Workplans for the next several years follow three models—Equity by Design, Guided Learning Pathways, and Trauma Healing. The third model, described here, focuses on building a safer, more responsive learning environment.

Trauma Healing Model

Racialized inequity, racialized injustice, and racialized traumas are ever present in our society. These traumas compound the stressors already experienced by students and employees. For the Minneapolis College learning community to thrive, it is essential that we become a trauma responsive/healing institution. 

A stable, nurturing environment promotes engaged learning and optimal performance. For students this means experiencing a system that is predictable, sensitive, and responsive. For faculty, staff, and administrators it means building a culture that promotes psychological safety in all educational spaces, thereby promoting the reflection and collaboration that lead to learning, growth, and success.

Minneapolis College is taking active steps to promote trauma responsiveness:

• Student peer-to-peer mental health mentoring
• Classroom-based materials and program connections with faculty
• Staff training on anti-racism, trauma-responsiveness, and healing
• Administrator and faculty racial trauma training
• Administrator and supervisor empathetic leadership training
• Training to expose and examine systemic barriers in higher education, facilitated by the local healing group The Ubuntu
• Healing Circles for employees, held monthly by Community Healing Collaborative partner Dr. Meagan Abel
• Individually submitted videos and posts documenting student experiences and trauma, as part of the Student Voices initiative 
• Racial trauma Duty Days training for students.

Becoming a trauma-responsive/healing institution means looking at all aspects of programming, environment, language, and values, and then engaging employees to better serve students who have experienced trauma. By building a safer, more responsive learning environment, Minneapolis College advances its mission of empowering students to make positive connections, grow, and succeed.