This video was produced by YouthREX.

HERE’S HOW THE CREATORS DESCRIBE THIS VIDEO:

Healing is not only personal — it’s communal. For many, wellbeing is rooted in connection, care, and collective responsibility.

In this powerful and interactive session, participants were introduced to Ubuntu – an African worldview rooted in collective care, interdependence, and sacred relationality.

Moving beyond individualistic models of healing, this event centred the wisdom that ‘a person is a person through other people’ and explored what that means in the context of youth work and community wellbeing.

This Teach-In also featured the H.A.R.M.O.N.Y. Framework – a culturally-grounded, justice-oriented approach to healing that addresses relational trauma, systemic harm, and community restoration.

Together, we explored key principles and practical tools for creating trauma-responsive and psychologically and culturally safer spaces for youth. Topics included:

• The relevance of Ubuntu in youth work.
• Contrasting Western trauma frameworks like ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) with Resmaa Menakem’s HIPP (Historical, Intergenerational, Persistent, Institutional, and Personal) theory.
• How the H.A.R.M.O.N.Y. Framework fosters dignity, belonging, and collective healing.
• Shifting from individualistic models to building ‘villages of care’.
• Approaches to healing as shared responsibility and community transformation.

This Teach-In was designed for youth workers, educators, mental health professionals, and community builders engaging with — or open to — exploring healing as a practice of justice, solidarity, and liberation.

Our guest facilitator was Shayla S. Dube (she/we), MSW, RCSW-S, a board-approved clinical social worker, two-time York University alumna (BSW, MSW), and founder of Wellness Empowered Community Services and Sabuntu Intercultural Society.

Download the Teach-In slides shared by Shayla.