This weekend a very exciting package arrived at my doorstep. I have been waiting for this package since November, when I had the chance to listen Knowledge to Power Catalysts’ friend and collaborator, Stephanie Malia Krauss, read me a draft of the introduction to her new book, Whole Child, Whole Life: 10 Ways to Help Kids Live, Learn, & Thrive.
Stephanie’s first book, Making It focused on the future – on how we can prepare kids today for a tomorrow that we can’t yet envision. In Whole Child, Whole Life, she focuses on the right now – on the challenges our young people are currently facing with mental health, on the opportunities that surround them, and on how we can support young people’s well-being every day.
One of the things I am most excited about as I dig into Whole Child, Whole Life is that it aligns so directly to one of the things the KP Catalysts team talks and thinks about regularly – the importance of all adults, in all settings, for all learners. Whole Child, Whole Life is for teachers. It’s for school staff who work outside of the classroom. It’s for afterschool professionals and community-based organization teams. It’s for those working with youth in faith-based settings. And it’s for parents…One book to unite them all.
Whole Child, Whole Life is for teachers. It’s for school staff who work outside of the classroom. It’s for afterschool professionals and community-based organization teams. It’s for those working with youth in faith-based settings. And it’s for parents.
Maybe that sounds a little to epic (or maybe I’m just too much of a geek and felt the need to allude to Lord of the Rings), but I cannot underemphasize how powerful I find it that cross-sector, cross-systems teams can pick up the same book, get the same messages, and leverage the same powerful tools, tips, and resources. If we are truly aiming for wholeness – as Stephanie calls for us to do – don’t we need all of the adults young people come into contact with aligned, using shared language, and leverage shared strategies?
Over the course of the next months, you’ll see a series of pieces from our team about Whole Child, Whole Life including a Q&A Interview with Stephanie, a piece from our Communications Specialist on what the book meant to her as a parent, and more on how to leverage the book in your professional work with young people. We would love for you to read along with us and chime in with questions for Stephanie, things that stand out to you, and ways you are leveraging the book.
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