Transforming Higher Education: Building Trauma-Informed Communities for Healing and Intergenerational Wellbeing

**Abstract** We argue in the following essay that higher education institutions have ignored the impact of trauma and intergenerational trauma on students and colleagues, particularly those from racialized and marginalized backgrounds, and that this constitutes a form of institutional betrayal. The term "trauma-informed teaching and learning" has only recently entered mainstream higher education discourse, despite the fact that many of the students we serve come to our institution having experienced significant psychological trauma. The lack of intentional and explicit prioritization of students' wellbeing is a form of betrayal, as we know that trauma can have a significant impact on mental health and by extension, academic success. The essay begins by describing the recent attention given to the topic of trauma in higher education, and makes the case for developing a healing-aimed, equity-minded, trauma-informed framework in higher education programs, as an urgent and moral imperative for institutions.