If you’ve been with me even for just a little while you know that validation is my go-to tool for connecting, repairing relationships, helping kids (or anyone) feel emotionally safe and seen in the interaction. It truly is a communication superpower.

Healthy and positive school climates are imperative with the emergent youth mental health crisis and the tragic reports of school mass shootings. It is completely within the realm of possibility to create such a learning community, a place where kids belong and know they belong, a place that can sometimes feel like family.

We have the opportunity to learn from the adolescent standing before us about our own continued journey from adolescence to adulthood, from cocoon to flight, how to be intraconnected.