This interactive session explores how authentic family engagement can serve as a powerful path to healing, especially for communities shaped by historical, intergenerational, and systemic trauma. Grounded in trauma-informed principles and radical healing frameworks, this session invites participants to reflect on the structural barriers families face when engaging with schools and services, and how these barriers are often rooted in inequity and disconnection.
Designed with New Mexico’s cultural richness and resilient communities in mind, the session highlights how culturally sustaining practices can reimagine engagement as a tool for mental wellness, dignity, and belonging. Through real-world examples, participants will learn how to rebuild trust with families through consistent, relational, and restorative practices that center voice, agency, and care.
Attendees will leave with practical strategies and curriculum tools to support the well-being of children and caregivers and foster sustainable, healing-centered partnerships between families and institutions.