“Showing the Good and Bad Together”: A Participatory Exploration of Strengths and School-Based Trauma with Black Elementary Youth

Current conceptualizations of trauma-informed practice in urban education spaces fail to center the strengths of Black youth, nor do they interrogate the role of schools in causing trauma. In partnership with an elementary-aged participatory Student Advisory Board, this article explores the both/and of strengths and school-based trauma for these Black youth. Through narrative analysis coupled with student art and poetry, findings highlight the normative nature of Black brilliance (Gholson et al., 2012). Situating strengths and school-based trauma together promotes a more comprehensive view of trauma, especially as it relates to liberatory trauma-informed educational practice in urban contexts.