TPC Journal-Vol 9- Issue 1

38 The Professional Counselor | Volume 9, Issue 1 Cholewa and West-Olatunji (2008) have framed the academic performance divide that separates out some African American children as cultural discontinuity, highlighting a preference for Eurocentric ways of communicating, relating, and behaving in American schools. Cholewa and West-Olatunji asserted that those whose cultural background does not align with this preferred European style often find themselves marginalized in school environments, which can affect their access to academic instruction. Morris and Perry (2016) furthered this discussion by highlighting the existence of higher suspension rates of African American students and identifying the negative impact that this disparity has on African American students’ academic performance. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Benner and Wang (2014) concluded that segregation of students into schools in certain areas based on race and socioeconomics resulted in lower academic performance. Although researchers have not explicitly investigated the impact of cultural trauma as a complex construct on the academic performance of African American youth, the aforementioned studies indicate considerable support for the influence of various components of cultural trauma on academic performance, such as the pressure to change one’s communication style to fit a preferred Eurocentric model or the experience of being confined to a school environment with limited resources. Just as the external factors of cultural trauma and the related stressors caused by cultural trauma have perpetuated achievement divides between African American students and other groups, we propose that intentional, external interventions are needed to mitigate the effects of cultural trauma. Interventions in Response to Cultural and Historical Trauma Culturally sensitive curricula and character-building programs have been designed to stimulate learning and positive self-image in students of color (Vontress et al., 2007). Jarjoura (2013) adamantly maintained that such programs must be relational and address exposure to various types of traumatic experience. Jaycox (2004) created the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS) program as a model for working in inner-city school settings with children and adolescents of ethnically diverse backgrounds who exhibited symptoms of post-traumatic stress. The overall objective of CBITS is to reduce behavioral problems and optimize social and academic performance in students with trauma histories. Successful utilization of CBITS with Native American school children has been documented by Morsette et al. (2009). Honoring Children, Mending the Circle (HC-MC) is a structured program designed to address traumatic symptomatology in Native American children through a blending of evidence-based, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy and culturally appropriate indigenous practices (BigFoot & Schmidt, 2010). BigFoot and Schmidt (2010) sought to provide an intervention in HC-MC that addressed both the high rates of exposure to traumatic events as well as the pervasive cultural, historical, and intergenerational trauma experienced by Native American children and youth, commonly referred to by BraveHeart and DeBruyn (1998) and Whitbeck et al. (2004) as historical trauma. With the specific needs of African American children in mind, the Celebrating the Strengths of Black Youth (CSBY) program was developed as a strengths-based, small-group approach to building positive racial identity and nurturing self-esteem among African American children. CSBY focuses on teaching students skills to handle the typical challenges that Black students face related to race (Okeke-Adeyanju et al., 2014). President Barack Obama (2014) initiated My Brother’s Keeper as a mentorship program for boys of color to provide a space for accountability, guidance, and support, recognizing the need for culturally relevant approaches to help boys of color transcend barriers created by external stressors and internalized racism. Educators in various parts of the United States have designed schools and curricula around these same mentorship ideals, such as Urban Preparatory High School in Chicago (King, 2011) or Gesu School in Philadelphia (Thorne, 2015). At the core of their mission is a recognition of the need to diminish the “cultural gap” that exists between those who educate children, and the children and their