Showing empathy changes society. That’s the story of a small town in the state of Washington. It started at the local high school where the staff created an environment built on empathy acknowledging the presence of childhood trauma in addressing disciplinary issues. A year after the “trauma-informed care” project started the graduation rate increased by about 30 percent and suspensions decreased by almost 85 percent. Today, an electric utility provider, the police department, and other organizations in the town have all committed to raising awareness of traumatic childhood experiences and to providing internal resources to foster a safe and healthy community. Because the town understands that childhood trauma can cause adulthood struggles like lack of focus, alcoholism, drug abuse, depression, and suicide.
This town created an environment built on empathy and saw crime decrease
More of Today's Solutions
Scientists build first fully human bone marrow model to revolutionize blood d...
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a transformative leap for regenerative medicine, scientists have developed the first entirely human-engineered bone marrow system. This ...
Read More7 cold and flu season mistakes doctors want you to quit making
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM You’ve heard the warnings: cold and flu season is no joke. But despite our best intentions (and fully ...
Read MoreThree ways we can repurpose closed department stores
40 percent of US department stores have closed their doors in the past five years, but the question remains: what do we do with ...
Read MoreHubble takes beautiful image of galaxies “dancing”
The Hubble Space Telescope ventured into space over three decades ago in 1990, and has observed around 50,000 celestial bodies to date. During this ...
Read More
