This concept paper provides an overview and introduction of the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims; it discuses trauma experienced by boys and men of color, including adverse childhood experiences, health disparities, mental health issues, the Restorative Integral Support (RIS) Model, and the Holistic Healing Framework.
This document is a concept paper that presents literature illustrating a gap in evidence-based interventions for boys and men of color (BMOC) and calls for the consideration of the cultural and ecological factors that are unique to the target population. The concept paper presents the Holistic Healing Framework as a way to address that gap. The paper evolved from findings of the National Listening Tour of the National Resource Center for Reaching Victims (NRC), and addresses implementation of the Restorative Integral Support (RIS) model to house the Holistic Healing Framework. As it presents the Holist Hearing Framework, it describes a framework for the holistic approach to healing and offers a theoretical perspective on why it should be applied in victim service provision. The paper provides background about the NRC; a discussion of BMOC living in urban poverty and the traumas that they tend to face throughout life, cycles of violence, incarceration, and health-related challenges; it also provides an in-depth discussion of the RIS Model, which was applied in the research and development of the Holistic Healing Framework. In the last section, the concept paper discusses the Holistic Healing Framework, its focus on the needs of BMOC, and how it allows service providers to develop a broad understanding of life experiences of boys and men of color.