Culturally Responsive, Evidence-Based Strategies for Traumatic Stress (CRESTS)
Placing Culture at the Center of Trauma-Informed Care
About Us
At CRESTSprogram, we are dedicated to re-educating adults who work with Black children to provide them with culturally-informed tools to minimize race-based stress due to systemic oppression. Our mission is to promote academic excellence and socio-emotional wellbeing among Black youth and other culturally marginalized children.
We provide training for parents, educators, and mental health professionals who recognize the need to place culture at the center of trauma-informed care.
We offer a communiversity of courses that all focus on culture-centered, trauma-informed care aimed to decolonize participants’ thinking to enhance their ability to serve Black children and other youth of color. Our training offers short-term workshops as well as full credentialing programs in a variety of disciplines, such as mental health and education. These courses are offered asynchronously so that individuals can enroll and begin learning at any time. Additionally, participants can work at their own pace and become trauma-informed when their busy schedules allow.
As a result of completing our credentialing programs, educators report improvement in their students’ classroom engagement, sense of belonging, peer interactions, and academic performance. Parents and mental health professionals express higher levels of competence and report increased levels of self-confidence.
Cirecie A. West-Olatunji, Ph. D.
Founder and CEO
Our Goal
The goal with all of our informed trauma care programs is to educate mental health professionals, educators, and others on the symptoms of trauma and how to care for trauma, particularly as it relates to those in the Black and other minority communities. Additionally, our culture centered approach allows us to emphasize the recognition of Black excellence in our culture. Continue reading to learn more about each of our programs, or click the button below to find on demand training videos available to you right away.
Our Programs
CRESTS-Achieve is a culture-centered, trauma-informed care credentialing program for educators, mental health professionals, and parents. This training program helps adults who work with Black children to be trauma-informed to help counter race-based trauma and continuous traumatic stress. The goal is to transform children's home and school environments to promote academic excellence and socio-emotional well-being, while shining a light on Black excellence.
CRESTS-Liberate is an Emancipatory Research credentialing program that aims to decolonize the thinking of culture centered individuals in grassroots, community-based, k-12 education, academic, and practitioner-based settings.
COMMUNITY STAKEHOLDER-SCHOLAR (CSS) MODELTM
This unique approach is embedded in this program helps learners to acquire concrete decolonized research skills to collect, analyze, and interpret data from a culture-centered perspective.
CRESTS-Pediatrics is a culture-centered credentialing program for individuals who work with young children (0-5 years) who have experienced some form of trauma. This informed trauma care training program has a special focus on race-based trauma, intergenerational trauma, and historical trauma for Black children and other children of color.
CRESTS-Theories is an informed trauma care credentialing program that introduces culture-centered counseling theories for mental health professionals to expand their knowledge of evidence-based practice, particularly when working with clients of African descent and other non-White clients. Learners will acquire knowledge of the diverse African-, Indigenous-, Latino-, and Asian-centered theories, interventions, and assessment tools.
Our logo symbolizes Black excellence and it is inspired by the West African Adinkra symbol, osrane. Literally, this symbol connotes the moon. However, the meaning of osrane is generally, “It takes the moon sometime to go around the nation.” We believe that it will take the sincere effort of committed individuals, coming together to collectively transform the lives of Black children. We must be diligent and deliberate. We must achieve.​
Our Logo
CRESTSprogram Merchandise
Support our cause, represent our culture centered organization, and enjoy some new merchandise all at the same time! From cozy blankets to life-saving first aid kits, you can support Black excellence, informed trauma care, and minority representation in style with our line of products. Take a look at what we have in stock!
