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Restorative Justice with Youth: Step-by-Step + The Why

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Restorative Justice with Youth: Step-by-Step + The Why

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1) Pre-Intake & Readiness Checks

What to do: Meet separately with each participant (harmed party, responsible party, key supporters).
Why it matters: Ensures safety, voluntariness, and emotional readiness; prevents re-harm; clarifies expectations.
How:

Ask: “What happened from your view? What do you need to feel safe in a conversation?”

Screen for power imbalances/trauma; offer options (support person, shorter session, separate entrances).

Confirm voluntariness and that accountability is possible (e.g., youth is willing to reflect/repair).

2) Set the Frame (Purpose, Roles, Boundaries)

What to do: Explain RJ in plain language before any joint talk.
Why it matters: Shared understanding reduces anxiety, builds trust, and prevents the process from feeling like punishment.
How:

“This is about understanding what happened, how people were affected, and what repair looks like—not blame.”

Clarify facilitator role (neutral guide), time limits, and confidentiality + its limits (e.g., safety disclosures).

3) Choose the Space & Structure

What to do: Pick a neutral, comfortable location; arrange chairs in a circle; use a talking piece if helpful.
Why it matters: Environment signals psychological safety and equal voice, which increases honesty and empathy.
How:

Remove distractions, ensure tissues/water are available, have fidgets for younger youth.

Plan a 30–60 min window (younger = shorter; allow breaks).

4) Open with Grounding & Agreements

What to do: Start with a brief check-in and co-create 4–6 norms.
Why it matters: Grounding lowers stress; agreements create shared accountability and help you coach behavior in-the-moment.
How:

Check-in prompt: “One word for how you’re arriving.”

Agreements: listen without interrupting, speak from “I,” respect passes, no insults, keep it private within agreed limits.

5) Storytelling Round(s)

What to do: Invite each person to share “what happened” from their perspective.
Why it matters: Telling the story in one’s own words validates experience and surfaces facts, feelings, and context.
How:

Prompts: “What happened?” “What were you thinking/feeling then?” “What’s been hardest since?”

Use the talking piece; allow passes; paraphrase to show listening (“What I heard you say is…”).

6) Impact Mapping

What to do: Name who/what was affected and how (people, learning climate, community spaces, self-image).
Why it matters: Moves beyond rule-breaking to relational harm, which motivates meaningful repair over mere compliance.
How:

Prompts: “Who else was impacted?” “What changed for you after this?”

Facilitator can sketch a quick “impact web” on paper/board to make effects visible.

7) Needs & Accountability

What to do: Surface needs (safety, voice, dignity, closure, learning) and the responsible party’s capacity to own impact.
Why it matters: Repair is only real when it meets the needs of those harmed and includes authentic ownership of harm.
How:

For harmed party: “What do you need to feel more okay moving forward?”

For responsible party: “What are you taking responsibility for? What do you wish you’d done differently?”

8) Brainstorm Repair Options

What to do: Generate multiple ways to make things as right as possible (not just “say sorry”).
Why it matters: Choice increases buy-in; multiple options ensure repair is meaningful (to harmed) and doable (by responsible).
How:

Buckets to consider: direct apology (verbal/written), acts of service, replacement/cleanup, learning actions (restorative essays, peer education), relationship rebuilds (mediated check-ins), community contributions.

Test options: “Does this meet your need?” “Is this realistic this week?”

9) Write a Restorative Agreement

What to do: Document the plan—who will do what, by when, with what support, and how follow-up happens.
Why it matters: Clarity prevents drift; written commitments help accountability feel fair, not punitive.
How:

Include: specific actions, timelines, support adults, check-in date, what happens if something’s hard to complete.

Use youth-friendly language; keep it one page; all sign.

10) Closing & Check-Out

What to do: End with a brief reflection round and appreciation for effort.
Why it matters: Provides emotional closure, reinforces dignity, and transitions participants back to their day.
How:

Prompt: “One word about how you’re leaving” or “One thing you’re taking with you.”

Thank everyone for courage and care.

11) Follow-Up & Support

What to do: Hold the scheduled check-in; troubleshoot barriers; celebrate progress; revisit if needed.
Why it matters: Repair is a process, not an event—follow-up sustains learning, safety, and trust.
How:

Ask: “What went well? What got in the way? What help do you need to finish?”

Adjust plan; avoid shame; reinforce skills gained.

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If we're not aware of our biases, we may contribute to a cycle of systemic oppression for diverse youth. One example being the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

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If we're not aware of our biases, we may contribute to a cycle of systemic oppression for diverse youth. One example being the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

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American Kids & The School-To-Prison Pipeline

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The Effects of Unconscious Bias from the Youth Perspective

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The Effects of Unconscious Bias from the Youth Perspective

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Key Points:

Youth consistently getting in trouble - sometimes for things they didn't do

Teachers deeming student as "Disruptive in class, more so than other students"

Youth thinking "I feel like the teacher doesn't like me. Other kids do bad things but they don't get in trouble."

Labeled as defiant, lacking respect for any structure or authority. "Concerned about their behavior

Teachers being mean and student not learning anything

Zero-tolerance policies creating a school to prison pipeline

Schools contacting parents, parents also feeling angry with student. Student feeling like the world is against them.

"Everybody's always telling me I'm not worth anything, so what's the point of trying?"

Absenteeism - "I don't feel safe in my class any more"

Teachers making assumptions about students, picking on them, singling them out, making an example out of them in front of the class

"African American and Latino students are expelled at a rate three times greater than Whites"

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What is Implicit Bias? How does it show up in youth work?

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What is Implicit Bias? How does it show up in youth work?

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"Instructors can hold assumptions about students’ learning behaviors and their capability for academic success which are tied to students’ identities and/or backgrounds, and these assumptions can impede student growth..."

Recommendations

Self-Assess Implicit Biases - Instructors can review the examples above and self-reflect on their own biases. Reflective teaching offers formal and informal strategies for considering one’s own pedagogical habits. Instructors may also take an online self-assessment to identify their biases through Project Implicit(link is external) from Harvard University.

Cultivate Inclusivity - Instructors can work to develop an inclusive classroom climate and inclusive teaching practices, which can mediate potential biased attitudes, and support developing sensitivity and deepening self-awareness.

Solicit Feedback from Outside Observers -  Instructors can set up their own teaching inventory or observation protocol with a colleague or peer, or request a CTL staff member to visit their classroom, observe their student-teacher interactions, and provide feedback.

Solicit Feedback from Students - Instructors can also use feedback from students, via midterm course evaluations, end-of-term evaluations, or small group feedback sessions, to assess whether their unconscious biases manifest in their classroom interactions.

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Awareness of Implicit Biases | Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning

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Examples Instructors may assume that certain students know to seek help when they are struggling, although students at higher risk for struggling academically are often less likely to seek help and support. Instructors may assume that students from certain backgrounds or social groups have differi…

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Asset Mapping Guide - Reframing your Mindset about the Community you Work in

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Asset Mapping Guide - Reframing your Mindset about the Community you Work in

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Step 1: Sign up or continue as a guest by choosing your language preference then click "GO!"

Step 2: Read the preliminary information and at the bottom of the screen, click on the blue text that state "I wish to proceed"

Step 3: Take any of the implicit bias tests to understand what biases you may hold - you can choose tests regarding an array of identities/groups

These tests measure your biases & associations by assessing the quickness of your reactions & your responses.

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Log in or register to find out your implicit associations about race, gender, sexual orientation, and other topics!

Or, continue as a guest by selecting from our available language/nation demonstration sites:

GO!

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Log in or register to find out your implicit associations about race, gender, sexual orientation, and other topics! Or, continue as a guest by selecting from our available language/nation demonstration sites: GO!

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After taking the Implicit Association Tests....

What surprised you?

Why do you think you scored the way you did?

What will you do in response to what you have learned?

Where and when have you personally observed or experienced implicit bias?

What can you do to reduce this?

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What is a fixed and growth mindset? With examples!

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What is a fixed and growth mindset? With examples!

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Quick Video (2:19m) for Understanding Fixed vs. Growth Mindsets

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Quick Video (2:19m) for Understanding Fixed vs. Growth Mindsets

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How does a fixed/growth mindset show up for youth-development workers? Ask yourself the following:

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How does a fixed/growth mindset show up for youth-development workers? Ask yourself the following:

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Beliefs About Student Ability

Do I believe all students are capable of growth and improvement, regardless of where they start?

When a student struggles, do I think, “They’re just not good at this,” or “They haven’t mastered it yet”?

Expectations & Labels

Do I hold different expectations for students based on past performance, behavior, or background?

Have I ever labeled a student as "low," "challenging," or "gifted" in ways that affect how I treat them?

Feedback & Encouragement

Do I focus more on praising intelligence (e.g., “You’re so smart”) or effort and strategies (e.g., “You worked hard on this”)?

When giving feedback, do I emphasize what students did wrong, or do I guide them toward how they can improve?

Responses to Mistakes & Struggles

Do I see mistakes as a necessary part of learning, or as a sign of failure or lack of ability?

How do I respond when students fail—do I feel frustrated or do I use it as a teachable moment?

Approach to Teaching

Do I adjust my teaching when students don't understand, or do I assume they’re just not trying hard enough?

Am I more focused on getting through the curriculum or helping every student truly understand and grow?

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Click the link to fill out your personal identity wheel AND your social identity wheel. Then answer the following reflection questions:

How have one or more of your identities developed over the course of your life?

When was the first time you FELT a social identity?

How, when and where have you learned about your identities?

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The "I" in Identity Series: Identity Wheel Self Reflection

Use the following images to explore personal identities and social identities. Take time to use this exercise to think about how and where you explore and develop your identities. Please note that not all socially constructed identities are listed, you are welcome to reflect on more!

Reflection Questions:

How have one or more of your identities developed over the course of your life?

How, when and where have you learned about your identities?

Images adapted from Arizona State University.

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The "I" in Identity Series: Identity Wheel Self Reflection

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Use the following images to explore personal identities and social identities. Take time to use this exercise to think about how and where you explore and develop your identities. Please note that not all socially constructed identities are listed, you are welcome to reflect on more!

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As you read through the statements in this assessment, click on those that apply.

For statements that do not apply to your experiences, practice perspective taking by considering the positive, negative, and neutral consequences of that experience.

As a youth development worker, it is important to extend grace toward children who are experiencing difficult conditions or might be navigating complicated aspects of their (intersectional) identities.

If you don't understand their experiences, you must be aware of how you may be imposing your own experiences.

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Wise Feedback has 3 parts:

1. Explanation of why you're giving the feedback

2. Expression of high standards for the work

3. Assurance that you believe in the student's ability

When to give Wise Feedback:

You don’t need to do this for every piece of student work. Pick a few important assignments or classroom activities where critical feedback will be the most impactful. Then, budget time for providing that feedback into your lesson plan.

Avoid combining Wise Feedback and grades. Wise Feedback works best when you’re giving students feedback during a lesson, unit, or assignment (formative feedback), rather than at the end of the lesson, unit, or assignment (summative feedback). Providing Wise Feedback on graded work can be ineffective because students see the grade as the “real” assessment and ignore the feedback.

You can give Wise Feedback in a variety of settings and to individuals or groups of students. You can give Wise Feedback in a variety of contexts: informally in the classroom, in individual conferences with students, in written feedback, and so on. You can also try it one-on-one with students, with small groups of students who are working together, or with a whole class.

Give ambitious feedback to all students. Sometimes out of a sense of care for students who are struggling, teachers will overly praise mediocre work or only suggest easy improvements. This will not help students in the long run, and can be a manifestation of bias. Make sure you’re holding students to a high standard and that your feedback asks them to do challenging work.

Try Wise Feedback with any age, but especially consider it for adolescents. This technique can be especially appropriate for adolescents, because they are at a developmental point where they’re deciding which authority figures and institutions they can trust (Yeager, 2014). But educators shouldn’t feel limited by the age of their students, whether younger or older than adolescents. We think this feedback can benefit students of all ages.

Source

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🧭 Supervisor Support & Coaching

(questions to discuss with your staff member)

1. What strengths do you see in the staff member’s work with youth, and where have you noticed potential blind spots?

2. Have you observed or heard anything that could signal bias, misalignment with inclusion practices, or missed opportunities for connection?

3. How can you create a space where the staff member feels safe to reflect and grow without fear of judgment, but with clear expectations?

4. What specific strategies, tools, or professional learning opportunities might help this staff member become more equitable and culturally responsive?

5. What checkpoints or follow-ups can you implement to monitor growth, offer feedback, and celebrate progress over time?

🧠 Staff Self-Reflection for Growth

(questions to ask yourself)

1. Can you recall a moment when you misunderstood or misjudged a youth’s behavior or background? What might have influenced your reaction?

2. How do you think your own experiences, values, or identity shape how you view the youth you work with?

1. What was your educational experience like? How does your experience affect the way you show up for youth?

2. What resources did you have or not have growing up? How does that differ from the youth you work with?

3. What were the attitudes and mindsets of the adults around you growing up? How has that shaped your own beliefs? Did you inherent any limiting beliefs?

3. How do you react when youth do not respond the way you hope?

1. Do you model the behavior you expect, or do high emotions influence your response?

4. Are there patterns in the types of youth you tend to connect with more easily, or those you struggle to relate to? Why do you think that is?

5. Have you ever received feedback about bias, tone, or expectations? What was your response, and what did you learn from it?

6. How do you ensure all youth feel seen, heard, and valued in your presence? Are there ways you can improve?

7. Do I focus more on what students “can’t” do than on what they bring to the classroom?

8. Am I more likely to highlight student deficits in meetings or reports than successes or growth?

9. Do I believe that certain families don’t care about education, or do I question what supports they may actually need or lack access to?

10. How often do I engage families and community members as partners and leaders in their children’s success?

11. Am I creating opportunities for students to express and build on their cultural knowledge and lived experiences?

12. Do I see cultural, linguistic, or behavioral differences as problems to be fixed, or as diversity to be understood and celebrated?

13. What strengths do my students and their communities possess that I can better recognize, affirm, and integrate into my practice?

14. What assumptions do I make about students or families based on income, language, neighborhood, or background?

15. Have I ever described a student, family, or community as “at-risk,” “behind,” or “disadvantaged” without also acknowledging their assets or strengths?

16. Do I believe that some students need to be “saved” rather than empowered?

These questions are not intended to make staff members feel ashamed or guilty about how they've reacted or shown up in spaces, but instead analyze where their beliefs stem from and whether they are helpful or hurtful to the youth they are working with. Awareness helps us understand where we're at, so we can figure out how to progress forward.

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How to Help Students Without Being a Savior

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How to Help Students Without Being a Savior

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“The savior mentality is this mindset that teachers can get into that basically has us looking at students who’ve experienced trauma or who are struggling, and sort of taking on this feeling that our role is to rescue them,” Venet explains. “So rather than seeing that we might support them, it’s really more of this dynamic where You’re the one that needs to be rescued; I can do the rescuing. You’re the one that needs saving; I can save you.”

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Listen to my interview with Alex Shevrin Venet (transcript):
Sponsored by NoRedInk and The Modern Classrooms Project

This page contains Amazon Affiliate and Bookshop.org links. When you make a purchase through these links, Cult of Pedagogy gets a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. What's the difference between Amazon and Bookshop.org?

As a teacher, you probably find yourself in situations pretty often where you're made aware of a student having needs or challenges that exceed what your school typically offers them. It might be a need for extra time or attention, a shortage of school supplies, food, or clothing, a need for transportation, a need for help with organization, structure, or time management. The list of student needs in so many schools is never-ending, and your desire to help meet them is probably pretty strong, too.

But attempting to meet these needs on your own - to become a kind of "savior" to your students - can not only lead to burnout for you, it's also not ultimately that helpful to the student long-term.

Joining me to talk about this on the podcast is Alex Shevrin Venet, author of the book Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education ( Amazon | Bookshop.org). This is Alex's third time on the podcast. The first time was in April of this year, when we did an overview of trauma-informed teaching. There were two topics from her book that I thought were so important I wanted to do a deeper dive on them, so we did separate episodes for each of these. In September we talked about a concept called unconditional positive regard, a stance toward working with students that's grounded in giving them love and acceptance without making them earn it first.

Now we're going to talk about the danger of getting into a savior mentality when helping our students, how to tell if you're slipping into that kind of thinking, and how to shift toward healthier and more helpful ways of thinking about and approaching student needs.

You can listen to our conversation in the player above, read the full transcript, or read some of the key points of our conversation below.

What is the savior mentality, and why is it a problem?

"The savior mentality is this mindset that teachers can get into that basically has us looking at students who've experienced trauma or who are struggling, and sort of taking on this feeling that our role is to rescue them," Venet explains. "So rather than seeing that we might support them, it's really more of this dynamic where You're the one that needs to be rescued; I can do the rescuing. You're the one that needs saving; I can save you."

Why do teachers tend to think this way? And why is it so problematic?

"One big reason is that our whole society tells us that we should," Venet says. "You see stories about 'the hero teacher adopts their student who had nowhere else to go,' 'the hero teacher bakes homemade muffins every day for a year for their hungry student' ... these stories are elevated but they're actually not feel-good stories. They're kind of 'feel gross' stories because they really highlight the inequities that teachers should not really be responsible for. Why was the teacher the only person positioned to do that? If the teacher's the one buying food out of their own money or cooking things on the weekend, why does that kid not have food already? What are the systemic failures that are preventing the school from having food?"

Venet also sees the savior mentality as a way for teachers to avoid the unpleasant reality that they really can't "save" kids all by themselves.

"When you let go of savior mentality you start to see that you're just going to be one small piece of a student's story," she says. "The thing that happens in the movie where one hero teacher totally turns a kid's life around - it doesn't really happen like that in real life. But that's hard because when you witness a kid who's struggling, it's normal to really want to help them. And to really acknowledge and sit with the discomfort that you probably are not going to fix what is harming them, it's just really sad and hard. And so when we don't have the time or the space to kind of feel our feelings, I think it feeds into this savior mentality because it's just easier to go Yeah, I can fix it, I can save them. I can be the rescuer."

What It Looks Like: Examples of "Savior" Thinking

Even if you think you don't fit the profile of someone with a savior mentality, there's a chance you may have had at a few thoughts that bear the hallmarks of savior thinking.

"My students with trauma are broken. I feel so bad for those kids."

"The cultural narrative about trauma usually pushes us to one of two directions," Venet says, "the first direction being that people with trauma are broken. You see people experiencing trauma on TV and you see them totally subsumed by flashbacks and anger and lashing out and just in a dark place. The other narrative that you see a lot is the What doesn't kill us makes us stronger narrative, where you go through trauma and it makes you a superhero. It transforms you. But it's really much more messy than that often. People might see some elements of growth or strength come out of surviving trauma, but they also can have a lot of struggle in a lot of hard times."

Instead of pitying students, Venet encourages teachers to focus on getting to know them as whole people. "If we look at students and try to actually see them, then we're not going to just feel bad for them because we're going to know them, that they are whole and complete people, that they have skills and strengths and they're silly and funny and they also struggle. It's that actual building of relationships that's the antidote to this one, rather than feeling a sense of pity, which is going to put us in a place of maybe talking down to students, lowering our expectations, not challenging them enough."

"My students are not capable of helping themselves. I need to save them."

This kind of thinking takes agency away from students and makes it all about the teacher instead. "People have their own strengths and capabilities," Venet explains. "Another person doesn't need me to survive and heal through trauma. What they do need is maybe a community of people, and if they do need something from me, maybe that's what I can contribute to. If I'm going into that relationship thinking, I'm going to be the one to help her. I have to be this essential resource for her, I'm undermining that student's wisdom of Who's going to be the right person for me? What do I need from those around me? When am I ready to get help? "

"Teachers can provide the love students don't get at home."

"My problem with these phrases is that they make a whole lot of assumptions," Venet says, "they often are stated when people are talking about students with behavioral challenges, students who are poor, students of color, students with disabilities, or who otherwise are the targets of bias, basically. There's sort of this coded language around, oh, the students who aren't getting love at home can come to school and get love. What makes you feel like they're not getting love at home?"

There's a difference, she says, between not loving a child and not having all the necessary resources to parent them successfully.

"There are a lot of parents who love their child so much that they work multiple jobs and therefore aren't home to help them with their homework. There are parents who love their child so much that they come up with custody agreements to make sure that the child is in a stable place to live. And so maybe they don't see them as much, or maybe there's stuff around who to contact, or these things that you might see as a teacher of 'oh, the parent doesn't come to school,' or 'the parent doesn't answer their emails' or 'there seems to be conflict with these co-parents' or 'the kid doesn't have clean shirts that they wear.' These are just little things, and to extrapolate and say that family doesn't love that child is making huge leaps and bounds."

"I alone can fix them. I can be 'the one.'"

"People often repeat this idea that it just takes one caring adult to help a child survive and thrive," Venet says. "And it is true that one caring adult can make a huge difference. But I think that how people sometimes misinterpret that is that any one caring adult can turn a child's life around, or that it only should be just one person as opposed to a community. There's sort of this individualism. Whereas what the research and experience tells us about healing is that it takes a lifetime. It takes a community. People benefit from a whole web of supportive people around them."

She also warns against trying to provide the kind of care that we haven't been trained to do. Even if no one else is available, she says "I still should not take it upon myself to become a counselor or a psychologist and delve into the psyche of this student. It's not my job, it's not my role, and I might actually be doing harm if I try, because I don't know what you're supposed to do as a therapist to work through that stuff."

By positioning yourself as the only one who can save a child, you also make yourself dangerously irreplaceable. "Sometimes I ask teachers, if you got abducted by aliens tomorrow, would your school be any more trauma informed than when you were there? And if you are baking the muffins every morning, and doing a lunch group and kind of providing informal counseling for a group of students, and you are doing case coordination that really should be done by a school social worker, and then at the end of the school year you decide to move to a different school, all of those things that you are doing are just not going to happen for the next batch of students."

"My value is in how much my students respond to me."

When students don't respond positively to our attempts to help them - or even push back - it can interfere with our ability to really meet their needs, because our ego takes a hit. But Venet advises us to maintain a healthy perspective on this; ultimately, it's not about us.

"So often a person who's going through trauma might have a response to someone that truly has nothing to do with that person," she says. "If I'm placing my whole self-worth on Does this student trust me and confide in me and see me as their helper?, I'm already setting myself up for failure because there's all kinds of things that are out of my control around how they're reacting to me. If my value is about whether the student feels supported by me and healed by me and thinks I'm the best teacher ever and can come to me and confide in me, that's placing a lot on a kid who's just trying to live their life. I can't look to a student to get all of my emotional needs met.

"My mentor would often say to us that whether or not your student has a good day shouldn't determine whether you had a good day. If I had a solid plan going into the day, if I was present and responsive, if I used my tools and strategies, if I did all that I'm trained to do and used the best of my skills and capabilities, then I had a good day as a teacher, regardless of whether my students were having a hard time."

What to Do Instead

So if we see all these pressing needs, and we're not supposed to try to meet them ourselves, what is a healthier approach? Venet encourages teachers to put their energy into helping students find the resources they need, and when those resources are not available, addressing the systemic issues that create those scarcities.

"I encourage teachers to just be really loud about these gaps," she says. "Your administrator might already be aware that there is a demand that's not being met. But let them know. Every time that you want to make a referral and you feel like you can't because there's no availability, let them know. Write to your school board and let them know. Write to your state legislators and let them know. If teachers can collectively say, we need more mental health support, or we need food pantries that are more accessible, or whatever the need is, you're setting that boundary and saying 'It doesn't make sense for me to meet this.' If you have the time, if you have the energy, just take the little extra step and let people know we need this. We have to let folks know what those needs really are, the gaps that we're seeing on the ground."

Coming From a Good Place

Venet's closing message for teachers who have fallen into a savior mentality is to be gentle with themselves.

"You didn't create this dynamic," she says. "This dynamic was created for you by the gross combination of cultural narratives, underfunding of schools, scattershot policies that don't equitably meet the needs of students and teachers, and here you are in the middle of that trying to do the best you can. If you have slipped into a savior mentality because you care, don't leave this conversation thinking that you're doing something wrong. All you've been doing is trying to meet the needs of your students. What I would invite you to do is to do some critical reflection and think about, am I honoring their agency? Am I honoring their self-determination? And am I trying to make systems change so that this dynamic does not continue to repeat forever and ever?

"Caring for your students is not a bad thing. We just want to be critical about it to really support students in their self-determination."

Come back for more.
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How to Help Students Without Being a Savior

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Trying to meet big student needs on your own is ultimately not that helpful to the student. Here's how to shift your approach.

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What is Oppression? What are the 4 I's of Oppression?

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What is Oppression? What are the 4 I's of Oppression?

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American Kids & The School-To-Prison Pipeline

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Housing Segregation and Redlining in America: A Short History | Code Switch | NPR

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This page offers definitions, concepts, and further readings related to anti-racist pedagogy.

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Types & Impacts of Different Race-Related Trainings

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Types & Impacts of Different Race-Related Trainings

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From Culturally Competent to Anti-Racist---Types and Impacts of Race-Related Trainings

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6 Main Communicational Barriers:

Ethnocentrism

Stereotyping

Psychological barriers

Language barriers

Geographical distance

Conflicting values

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Cultural Barriers: Example & Communication | StudySmarter

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Cultural Barriers: ✓ Cross ✓ Types ✓ Learning ✓ Solutions ✓ Workplace ✓ Definition ✓ StudySmarter Original

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HR Tips for Effective Cross-Cultural Communication

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HR Tips for Effective Cross-Cultural Communication

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In today's diverse workplace, communication issues can take on an added dimension of complexity. Every culture has its own set of tacit assumptions and tendencies when it comes to face-to-face interactions, and trying to get your point across effectively can sometimes be difficult. Even when a language barrier doesn't exist, cross-cultural communication can be challenging. Here are our top ten tips for effective cross-cultural communication:

1. Maintain etiquette

Many cultures have specific etiquette around the way they communicate. Before you meet, research the target culture, or if time allows, do some cross cultural training. For example, many cultures expect a degree of formality at the beginning of communication between individuals. Every culture has its own specific way of indicating this formality: 'Herr' and 'Frau' in Germany, reversing family and given names in China and the use of 'san' in Japan for men and women etc. Be aware of these familiarity tokens and don't jump straight to first name terms until you receive a cue from the other person to do so.

2. Avoid slang

Not even the most educated non-native English speaker will have a comprehensive understanding of English slang, idioms and sayings. They may understand the individual words you have said, but not the context or the meaning. As a result you could end up confusing them or at worst, offending them.

3. Speak slowly

Even if English is the common language in a cross cultural situation it's not a good idea to speak at your normal conversational speed. Modulating your pace will help, as will speaking clearly and pronouncing your words properly. Break your sentences into short, definable sections and give your listener time to translate and digest your words as you go. But don't slow down too much as it might seem patronising. If the person you're speaking to is talking too quickly or their accent is making it difficult for you to understand them, don't be afraid to politely ask them to slow down too.

4. Keep it simple

In a cross cultural conversation there's no need to make it harder for both of you by using big words. Just keep it simple. Two syllable words are much easier to understand than three syllable words, and one syllable words are better than two syllable words. Say "Please do this quickly" rather than "Please do this in an efficacious manner."

5. Practice active listening

Active listening is a very effective strategy for improving cross cultural communication. Restate or summarise what the other person has said, to ensure that you have understood them correctly, and ask frequent questions. This helps build rapport and ensures that important information doesn't get missed or misunderstood.

6. Take turns to talk

Make the conversation flow more freely by taking it in turns to speak. Make a point and then listen to the other person respond. Particularly when people are speaking English as their second language it's better to talk to them in short exchanges rather than delivering a long monologue that might be difficult for them to follow.

7. Write things down

If you're not sure whether the other person has understood you properly, write it down to make sure. This can be particularly helpful when discussing large figures. For example, in the UK we write a billion as 1,000,000,000 but in the USA, it's written as 1,000,000,000,000.

8. Avoid closed questions

Don't phrase a question that needs a 'yes' or 'no' answer. In many cultures it is difficult or embarrassing to answer in the negative, so you will always get a 'yes' even if the real answer is 'no'. Ask open-ended questions that require information as a response instead.

9. Be careful with humour

Many cultures take business very seriously and believe in behaving professionally and following protocol at all times. Consequently they don't appreciate the use of humour and jokes in a business context. If you do decide to use humour make sure it will be understood and appreciated in the other culture and not cause offence. Be aware that British sarcasm usually has a negative effect abroad.

10. Be supportive

Effective cross cultural communication is about all parties feeling comfortable. In any conversation with a non-native English speaker, treat them with respect, do your best to communicate clearly and give them encouragement when they respond. This will help build their confidence and trust in you.

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Top Ten Tips for... Effective Cross-Cultural Communication

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Ever wondered how to manage cross-cultural communication? Check out our Top Ten Tips to learn how.

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Fundamentals of Cross Cultural Communication - Working in Diverse Teams

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Fundamentals of Cross Cultural Communication | Rome Business School

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It has been Marshall Langer, one of our key professors from the Master in Marketing and Sales, expert of communication and with a multinational background that illustrates us the fundamentals of effective cross-cultural communication. Nowadays, thanks as well to technologies there are always less barriers among cultures, states and of course communication. As well the […]

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One-Page Checklist

1. ☐ Pre-meetings complete; readiness & safety assessed

2. ☐ Purpose, roles, limits of confidentiality explained

3. ☐ Neutral space set; time set; materials ready

4. ☐ Check-in done; agreements posted

5. ☐ Storytelling rounds completed (with paraphrasing)

6. ☐ Impacts named (impact web)

7. ☐ Needs identified; responsibility named

8. ☐ Repair options brainstormed & tested for meaning/feasibility

9. ☐ Written agreement (who/what/when/support/follow-up)

10. ☐ Closing check-out completed

11. ☐ Follow-up date scheduled

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Skipping prep: Leads to blowups or silence → Always do pre-intake.

Rushing to apology: Can feel performative → Map impacts and needs first.

Vague agreements: “Be nicer” → Make actions concrete, time-bound, supported.

One-and-done mindset: No follow-up → Schedule a check-in when you sign the agreement.

Using RJ as punishment: Undermines trust → Emphasize choice, voice, and repair.

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Offer choice (pass, take a break, write instead of speak). Choice restores agency.

Watch for power dynamics (older vs. younger, many vs. one, adult vs. youth). Consider support people or smaller circles.

Use plain, non-judgmental language; avoid “why did you…?” (can sound accusatory). Try “What was going on for you when…?”

Normalize emotions; validate identities; be culturally responsive in how apology/reparation can look.

If new or intense harm emerges, pause and safety-plan - RJ requires safety before dialogue.

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Framing: “We’re here to understand what happened, how people were affected, and what repair looks like so we can move forward.”

De-escalation: “Let’s pause for a breath. I want each person to feel heard. We’ll come back to you in a moment.”

Accountability: “Owning impact doesn’t mean you’re a bad person; it means you’re taking care of the community you’re part of.”

Repair Test: “If we did this action, would it feel meaningful to you? What would make it more right?”