Healing Centered Restorative Engagement

Healing Centered Restorative Engagement (HCRE)  creates healing systems prepared to respond to trauma, toxic stress, and harm. 

The underlying premise of HCRE approaches is that experiences of trauma and toxic stress are multifaceted and occur throughout the social-ecological system (individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, policy/ societal). Individuals and families are not unique in experiencing adversity from high-stress environments, communities and organizations respond too.  If left unaddressed, harm can be compounded throughout the life-course of individuals and systems. 

To create healing, human service systems need to be prepared to disrupt vicious stress cycles. HCRE provides an inclusive, non-prescriptive, approach that combines best practices from several models including: (1) the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration trauma-informed care approaches, (2) Dr. Shawn Ginwright's Healing Centered Engagement, (3) Dr. Gina Abrams's strategies to preventative and community Restorative Practices, and (4) Dr. Sandra Bloom's approaches for responding to organizational and workforce trauma, The Sanctuary Model. 

Refocusing human service systems on healing can disrupt vicious stress cycles. This is done by:

• Realizing, recognizing, responding, and resisting trauma, toxic stress, and harm. 

• Moving from simply responding to trauma to preventing trauma from occurring.

• Building capacity for accountability, restoring relationship, and building community.

• Identifying and supporting strengths, resiliencies, and protective factors that are core to healing. 

• Fostering post-traumatic growth in all programs and processes.

• Starting with ourselves so we are never doing TO for FOR, but WITH, always.