Shifting from Trauma-Informed to Healing-Centered Engagement: A Case Study at Chicago State University

The conversation around supporting college students has evolved significantly over the past decades, moving from deficit-based approaches to more holistic, healing-centered engagement strategies. A recent initiative at Chicago State University’s RISE Academy, led by Director Dr. Kenneth M. Nole and Coordinator Joy Thomas, in collaboration with Praxis, demonstrates how healing-centered engagement can be effectively implemented in higher education settings. This partnership between Praxis and Chicago State University represents an innovative approach to implementing healing-centered practices in higher education, combining Praxis’s expertise in healing-centered engagement with RISE Academy’s deep commitment to scholar success.

This five-session series exemplifies the shift from trauma-informed care to healing-centered engagement, emphasizing collective healing and strength-based approaches. The program’s design reflects the four key elements of healing-centered engagement: political awareness, cultural grounding, asset-driven strategies, and provider support.

Session One focused on Conflict Resolution, moving beyond traditional mediation approaches to explore how communication patterns reflect deeper systemic challenges. Through role-play exercises and non-violent communication practice, scholars developed tools that acknowledged both individual and collective experiences of conflict.

The Navigating Transitions session exemplified the healing-centered principle that “people are not harmed in a vacuum.” Through structured peer interviews and reflective worksheets, scholars explored transitions not as isolated challenges but as shared experiences that connect to broader institutional and social contexts.

Session Three addressed Wellness & Self-Care through a healing-centered lens. Rather than treating wellness as merely the absence of stress, scholars engaged with custom-designed wellness wheels and journaling activities that connected individual well-being to collective healing. This approach echoes the document’s emphasis on “fostering the possibility of well-being” rather than merely treating symptoms.

The Identity & Belonging session particularly emphasized cultural grounding and the restoration of identity — key components of healing-centered engagement. Scholars explored how their personal narratives connected to broader cultural and community experiences through identity mapping exercises and collective reflection.

The final session on Social Capital demonstrated how healing-centered engagement can be explicitly political rather than purely clinical. Scholars examined how networks and relationships contribute to individual and collective well-being while considering how systemic barriers might impact access to social capital.

This work, made possible through Dr. Nole and Joy Thomas’s leadership, exemplifies “Ubuntu” — the understanding that humanness is found through interdependence and collective engagement. Their approach to developmental relationships models the type of healing-centered engagement that contemporary research suggests is most effective.

The RISE Academy series moves beyond traditional trauma-informed approaches by:

• Centering cultural and collective experiences
• Focusing on assets rather than deficits
• Connecting individual healing to systemic change
• Building capacity for both personal and collective advocacy

This initiative, born from the collaboration between Praxis and Chicago State University’s RISE Academy, demonstrates how healing-centered engagement can be operationalized in higher education settings. It offers a model for other institutions seeking to move beyond trauma-informed care toward more holistic, culturally grounded approaches to student support.

Hopefully, other institutions can learn from Chicago State’s approach to support their students’ well-being and growth.