ABSTRACT
To heal communities, it is not sufficient to address the needs of individuals within the community. Rather, broad systemic interventions are often necessary. For example, it has been argued that efforts to promote the mental health of Native Americans who have suffered a continuous community trauma must begin with recognition of their fundamental rights as a distinct population group (McLeigh, 2010). Furthermore, because communities are systems, which are parts of larger systems such as the state and the nation, and include smaller subsystems such as families, churches, and schools, any intervention in one part of the community potentially impacts other parts. Thus, a school-based intervention may start a chain reaction of effects on diverse groups, as well as the whole community.
