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About

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Individuals working with Black children and other youth of color often find that their traditional training program lack sufficient coverage of evidence-based interventions that focus on children’s cultural background and socio-political realities. As a result, Eurocentric-based training can be ineffective and even make matters worse.  In the summer of 2020, Dr. Cirecie West-Olatunji created CRESTSprogram for scholars, practitioners, parents, community organizers, and students so that they have the opportunity and information to learn about the historical context of oppression and its impact on Black people and other communities of color.

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Utilizing an online learning platform, learners can easily navigate through the curriculum, engage with other participants to share their successes, and engage in peer-to-peer learning. Also, our platform allows for self-assessment and problem-based learning to earn professional learning badges. All you need is access to the internet.

 

Learning how to decolonize your thinking is as easy as 1-2-3. Just log on, select the training that you want to receive, purchase, and begin! You can start and pause at any time, receive support from the CRESTSprogram team, communicate with other learners, and much, much more.

Guiding Principles

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Systematic oppression and structural racism have been a core aspect of daily living for members of Black, Latino, and Native American Indian communities and shape their psychological dispositions toward education and schooling.

The American education system has been used as a key vector for systematic oppression and structural racism. Even the most well-intentioned individuals will continue the traumatization of Black, Latinx, and Native American Indian Children. Structural racism is so well woven into educational system that it has become hard to detect.

Therefore, it is imperative that educators, clinicians, parents, and community leaders actively and aggressively and collaboratively work to excise structural racism from the educational and home settings in order to promote emotional well being, academic achievement, and empowerment, amongst children of color.

Children and families and resilient in the face of oppression. Educators and clinicians need to tap into the cultural forms of resistance that promote coping and self-actualization. Many of the behaviors that are typically labeled as maladaptive are often healthy responses to intentional or inadvertent acts of terrorism and, therefore, these behaviors should be used as important feedback that should be changed in the educational or home setting instead of pathology.

It is important not to adjust your expectations for what the child can achieve (benign racism). Rather, change or innovate, use different strategies and tools. Children, despite numerous traumatic events, can still have high levels of achievement, neither genetics nor intensive/chronic trauma exposure are acceptable excused for lowering expectations about their possibilities. Still aim for excellence.

CRESTS-Achieve for Educators & Parents

(4 Modules)

CRESTS-Achieve for Mental Health Clinicians

(5 Modules)

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