The BRIDGE Lab Foundation

At The B.R.I.D.G.E., we Build Resilience through Inclusively Designed Guidance and Education. We don’t “fix” communities; we collaborate with them to identify problems and solutions. Our group-based SEL curriculum pulls from Systems and Polyvagal Theories, Cognitive-Behavioral and Narrative Therapies, and Somatics. We created this program to end systemic oppression in education through the lens of mental health. Students currently living through adversity and trauma do not receive the resources and support they need to succeed. Counselors, when available, are forced to serve an impossible number of students. Instead, affected students are typically funneled through the punitive School-to-Prison Pipeline, which disproportionately targets minority youth and students of lower socio-economic backgrounds. A cohesive treatment plan for trauma must equip students with the skills to handle future adversity, while also engaging the adult populations that surround and support students (i.e., teachers and caregivers).