Culturally Responsive Social and Emotional Learning
Wisdom Projects is a regional leader in culturally responsive Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) that is deeply integrated with trauma-informed care.
Rather than SEL being just an add-on within our teaching and engagement with youth and adults, we aim to affirm and empower marginalized, low-income community members-of-color who are often shamed and blamed if they do not demonstrate executive functioning and the five "competencies" of SEL. These five competencies are
- self-awareness;
- self-management;
- social awareness;
- relationship skills, and
- responsible decision-making.
Rather than only being competent, we wish for community members to be cunning and creative as they understand these elements as ongoing, everyday experiences of self-care and community care that form the bedrock of a peaceful, productive life course.
When we affirm and empower, we highlight the importance of a "can do" attitude and in our structured learning. We always prioritize focused, attentive engagement.
In our trauma-informed approach, we foster healthy understandings of emotions by encouraging community members to view their feelings as connective rather than protective on a spectrum of emotional experience (see the handout below for an overview of connective to protective emotions).
How can each emotion be managed and channelled in a healthy, productive, and non-destructive manner? That is the question we continually encourage community members to ask and answer. Even anger can be "used," as the poet and activist Audre Lorde argued from a Black feminist perspective in her remarks about racism, provided we do not let the direct, full experience of emotion curtail us from growth and repair.
