My name's Emily Dunk and I'm a Behavior Intervention Specialist with the CrossCOST Program in Seattle, WA. But before I tell you more about our program, I'm going to start this blog post the same way many of our program meetings start off - by talking about good food and drinks 😊

​I like to think that CrossCOST is like the waiter in this story. Not knowing where to start in asking for what you need is frustrating. Whether it's about learning vocabulary that is highly specific to other fields or being so close to a problem that it's almost impossible to step back to see solutions, most of us just need a little extra support sometimes. Without the waiter’s patience and curiosity, I would be stuck thinking that there isn’t a wine out there for me, or maybe worse, continue to pay for and order wines that I don't enjoy!  We strive to provide that same patience and curiosity to the schools we partner with to consult around behavioral, clinical, and school systems needs to coordinate the right kind of support. 

​Acknowledging that the school could really benefit from centering self-care first, and also wanting to meet the initial request, we decided to do both!  Our MTSS of Self-Care training not only taught the model of tiered intervention, associated language of MTSS, and the basics of behavioral intervention, but did so through the lens of staff wellness.  We provided a framework for thinking about self-care as a tiered model of support, giving tools to each staff member for recognizing their behaviors through their escalation of burnout, and identifying interventions at each tier. Staff reported feeling better equipped to care for themselves, and in doing so, increased their understanding of how to support their students through escalation too.

Sometimes it feels like progress comes at the expense of our own wellness. Often, it feels like working to shift systems to be more equitable, inclusive, and healing centered competes with a school’s academic and results-based goals. We're here to flip that narrative. By centering Unconditional Education (UE), we not only help schools meet their goals, but balance offering support with challenging existing systems. This allows us to impact lasting change within our school communities.  We like to call this process, “sprinkling the UE fairy dust.” ​

So what is CrossCOST? In formal terms, we are a team of behavioral, clinical, and school-systems minded specialists who coordinate services to support schools with UE as our philosophy of change.  And in informal terms, we’re just your friendly neighborhood waiters. So, what’ll it be? A glass of red or white? 😉

One guiding text has been Resmaa Menakem’s My Grandmother’s Hands, which invites readers to take a voyage through the historical perpetuation of racialized trauma, diving into the history of white body supremacy and its impact. Menakem evokes his readers to acknowledge, understand and heal from the somatic effects of this racialized trauma. He recognizes the role of these somatic responses in one's ability to protect themselves from historical and ongoing harm and suggests that this kind of perpetual harm and the associated somatic impact require a different type of healing than may be traditionally applied in mental health work. The reading explores the somatic responses racialized trauma can have on both the “black-body”, “white-body” and also presents an array of healing practices. The book provides a balance of both theory and practice, asking the reader to slow down, reflect, and engage in specific healing practices at the end of each chapter.

Menakem realizes racialized trauma stems from white supremacy that is deeply embedded in American society. More importantly, Menakem teaches readers trauma is simply an irrational reaction that can be passed intergenerationally and subsequently causes a fight, flee or freeze response that can show up in (and often hinder) everyday interactions. In understanding the somatic effects of racialized trauma Menakem teaches readers how to navigate white supremacy to reach healing while acknowledging healing practices are often painful and challenging.

Sometimes people are accustomed to overriding their feelings and pain to get by day to day, until something/someone challenges them to think differently and seek change. It is only by doing the healing work that we can learn to relate and move differently together in the world.  I would recommend My Grandmother’s Hands to anyone who is looking to heal from what can appear to be a somatic-conditioned lifestyle. My experience with this book’s practices brought serenity and a new level of understanding to responses of intergenerational trauma.