Our lab tackles issues related to creating healthy developmental ecologies for children and youth in rural Maine and beyond. Our initial partnership was with Cobscook Institute in Trescott, ME. With Cobscook’s support and working as a research-practice partnership team, we designed, implemented, and evaluated Trauma Responsive Equitable Education (TREE). TREE focuses on trauma-responsive systems change in rural schools and communities to address childhood adversity and promote whole child development.

Lab researchers are currently pursuing the following projects:

  • Student-empowered social-emotional learning (SESEL)
  • The longitudinal effects of trauma-responsive schooling on rural youth
  • The effects of trauma-responsive schooling on rural teacher burnout
  • Cross-sector collaborations to support social safety nets for rural families
  • The possibilities of community-designed, trauma-responsive approaches for rurally-located tribal schools
  • The development and use of rural research-practice partnerships to support educational change
  • Student-empowered outdoor education as trauma-responsive practice
  • Equity, diversity, and trauma-responsive practice in rural schools