THE FINDINGS

It was clear that there was a tremendous exchange of useful knowledge during these planning meetings: clinicians and social workers reported they were more intentional in how they thought about the use of music and visuals with clients and teaching artists understood more about the sources of student behaviors and were deliberate in their use of language and activities to de-escalate potentially negative situations. As the group shared perspectives and began to align the language they would use to articulate a shared community vision for the collaborative work of aligning arts education and traumainformed practices, they were at times overwhelmed. They saw the benefits of integrating arts education teaching practices with trauma-informed care, but their next steps would depend upon their target audience or audiences. The “proof-of-concept” had been demonstrated in their working group, but their enthusiasm for expanding the impact of their work meant having to make decisions about how to proceed, including the optimal number of sessions, the number of participants, and, most importantly, their concerns about whom to recruit to help cultivate and promote this work.

“This is heart-to-heart work. We have all grown closer - personally, professionally, and as a community. In Newark, we are not