Become a Certified Healing Centered Engagement™ Practitioner
Master the only evidence-based certification program that transforms how you work with young people of color—from the researcher who coined the term.
Join thousands of educators, youth workers, and change-makers who have transformed their practice through Dr. Shawn Ginwright’s groundbreaking Healing Centered Engagement™ approach. This comprehensive online certification gives you the knowledge, skills, and community to create lasting change.
- Only HCE certification program in the country
- 30+ years of research and practice
- 7,500+ practitioners certified
- 90% report improved relationships with youth
The Foundation That Changes Everything
Healing Centered Engagement™ is an asset-based, culturally-rooted approach to healing and well-being for young people of color and their adult allies that represents a paradigm shift from traditional trauma-informed approaches.
Coined by Dr. Shawn Ginwright in 2018 and grounded in over 30 years of research, HCE asks not “what happened to young people?” but “what’s right with young people? How do we build on their strengths? How do we heal together?”
This approach recognizes that healing is not just personal—it’s political, cultural, and collective. After certification, you won’t just work with young people differently—you’ll see them differently, shifting from managing behaviors to nurturing possibilities, from individual interventions to community healing, from deficit-based thinking to asset-based practice that transforms lives and communities.
Transform Your Practice, Transform Lives
Build Stronger, More Authentic Relationships
Master the skills to create genuine connections with young people that go beyond surface interactions. You’ll learn to see and celebrate the cultural wealth, resilience, and brilliance that every young person brings, moving from managing behaviors to nurturing possibilities. This shift creates trust, reduces conflict, and leads to dramatically improved engagement and outcomes in your work.
Reduce Burnout While Increasing Impact
Discover sustainable approaches that heal you while you heal others. By shifting from deficit-based thinking to strengths-based practice, you’ll rediscover your purpose and feel energized about your daily work. The healing-centered framework provides concrete strategies that work in real-world settings, giving you confidence and reducing the stress of feeling unprepared or ineffective.
Join a Transformative Professional Community
Become part of an exclusive network of 2,000+ certified practitioners across the country who share your commitment to justice and healing. Access ongoing support, advanced learning opportunities, and collaboration with like-minded professionals who understand this work. This community becomes your source for resources, mentorship, and career advancement in the growing field of healing-centered practice.
Your Journey to Healing- Centered Practice
Learning Path Overview: This comprehensive certification takes you through seven carefully designed modules that move you from understanding trauma’s impact to implementing healing-centered solutions in your daily work.
Core Skills You'll Develop:
- Facilitating healing circles and meaningful conversations
- Implementing strengths-based assessment and programming approaches
- Creating culturally responsive and anti-racist practices
- Building transformative relationships that center young people’s agency
- Designing meaning-making and aspirational activities
- Leading organizational culture change initiatives
Healing Centered Engagement™ Overview
Build your foundation by understanding how youth experience collective trauma and the concepts of social toxicity and persistent traumatic stress environments. You'll identify the limitations of trauma-informed care approaches and discover how systems thinking applies to healing-centered engagement, setting the stage for transformational practice.
Culture, Identity, and Race
Explore personal and social identity development, including intersectionality and its impact on youth development. Learn about race, othering, and the four ways racism appears in society. Discover how to define belonging, cultivate anti-racist behaviors, and heal harmed identities through culturally-grounded approaches.
Agency
Master the three types of agency and understand personal agency's role in well-being. Learn the connection between well-being and justice, differentiate procedural and distributive justice, and identify barriers to agency. Explore hope theory and social action as powerful tools for strengthening young people's sense of power and possibility.
Relationships
Discover the value of transformative relationships and learn to identify two types of relationships and their attributes. Define relational pedagogy and explore ways to cultivate appropriate student/teacher relationships. Master the elements of transformative relationships and develop skills to build authentic connections that heal.
Meaning
Understand meaning's crucial role in well-being and explore the origins of meaning-making across civilizations. Identify elements of meaning and learn how to achieve them. Recognize how capitalist culture creates barriers to accessing meaning, differentiate surface from deeper knowledge, and practice activities that help young people identify their purpose.
Aspiration
Define aspiration and its relevance to well-being, reviewing how aspirational thinking has created positive changes throughout society. Learn to identify and overcome barriers to aspirational thinking while developing techniques to create an aspirational mindset in yourself and the young people you serve.
Looking Forward
Integrate everything you've learned by reviewing all healing-centered engagement principles and discovering ways to implement your knowledge in your work environment. Explore real examples of HCE fully integrated within youth settings and understand their transformational impact on organizational culture.
See What You'll Experience
Get an inside look at our interactive learning platform and experience a sample of Dr. Ginwright’s teaching style. This 5-minute demo shows you exactly what to expect from the certification program.
Everything You Need for Transformation
Core Certification Package:
Complete Learning Experience
- 20-25 hours of self-paced online content accessible on laptops, tablets, or mobile devices
- All course content including downloadable reading materials, resources, and recordings housed in Flourish Agenda's Learning Management System
- Flexible learning - complete at your own pace, no need to finish in one sitting
- Active internet connection required
Official Certification
- Personalized certificate of completion signed by Dr. Shawn Ginwright
- One-year certification validity
- Certification maintenance available through HCE Creative Labs membership after first year
Exclusive Community Access
- Private HCE-centered learning community for ongoing connection and support
- Network with fellow practitioners who share your commitment to healing-centered work
See What People Have To Say
Your Questions Answered
About the Certification
How long does the certification take to complete?
The program includes 20-25 hours of content that you can complete at your own pace. Most participants finish within 4-8 weeks, but you have 6 months of platform access.
Is this certification accredited?
While not accredited by a traditional body, this is the only official HCE certification program created by Dr. Ginwright himself. We offer optional CEUs from San Francisco State University.
Do I need specific qualifications to enroll?
No prerequisites required. The certification is designed for anyone working with young people, from teachers to social workers to community organizers.
How is this different from trauma-informed training?
While trauma-informed approaches focus on what happened to young people, HCE focuses on healing, strengths, and collective action. It’s a more comprehensive, culturally-grounded approach.
About the Learning Experience
Is this live training or self-paced?
The core content is self-paced online learning. You also get access to monthly live community calls and events.
What technology do I need?
Just a computer, tablet, or smartphone with internet access. Our platform works on all devices.
Can I pause and resume my learning?
Absolutely. The platform saves your progress automatically, and you can start and stop whenever needed.
Will I interact with other participants?
Yes! The private Facebook community is very active, plus there are monthly virtual meetups and regional events.
About Implementation
How do I use this certification in my current role?
The program includes specific implementation guides for different settings (schools, nonprofits, social services, etc.) plus organizational assessment tools.
What if my organization doesn't support this approach?
Many practitioners start by implementing individual strategies while gradually building organizational support. The community provides guidance on change management.
Do you provide ongoing support after certification?
Yes! Community access continues for life, plus you’ll receive newsletters, resource updates, and invitations to additional training opportunities.
About Logistics
What's your refund policy?
We offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you’re not satisfied within the first 30 days, we’ll provide a full refund.
Can organizations get group discounts?
Yes! We offer special pricing for teams of 20+ people. Contact us for custom organizational packages.
Is financial assistance available?
We offer limited scholarships for individuals facing financial hardship. Email us to apply.
Begin Your Transformation Today
$650/per person
- Complete 20-25 hour certification program
- Personalized certificate from Dr. Ginwright
- 6 months platform access
- Lifetime community access
- All resources and bonus materials
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- Everything in individual package
- 6 Hours of Live Facilitated Training
- Assigned Flourish Agenda HCE Cohort Staff
- Flourish Agenda Gift Box
- Bi-weekly Check-Ins
- Intake Call with Flourish Agenda Staff
- Priority community support
Contact Us
- Everything in cohort package
- Guided implementation
- Additional Customized Live Sessions
- Ongoing organizational support