#15 A New Paradigm: Healing Centered Engagement, with Shawn Ginwright

In this episode of R&D Unplugged, we explore together with Prof. Shawn Ginwright how institutions can better support young people who have experienced harm. While trauma-informed care is a vital framework, he shows why it can be incomplete - often creating blind spots that limit healing. Blending research with personal stories, Dr. Ginwright highlights how racial and social inequality compound trauma and why a new vision is needed. He introduces Healing Centered Engagement, an approach that expands beyond trauma-informed care by shifting systems from harm, discipline, and punishment toward restoration, hope, and well-being. This episode invites educators, practitioners, and policymakers to reimagine institutions as spaces not just of intervention, but of renewal - where resilience, joy, and thriving become possible.