About The MONARCH Model

So much more than just a one-time professional development training

Read The History

The MONARCH intervention was developed through a long-term collaboration between a school principal and three academic researchers, and was rigorously tested with primarily BIPOC middle and high school students in a Metro Detroit second-chance academy. The interdisciplinary development team brought expertise in mental health, trauma, school practice and policy, educational equity, and research.

The intervention originated in the vision of Dr. Beverly Baroni, a principal with backgrounds in clinical and school social work, whose experiences working with students and educators led her to seek alternatives to exclusionary, power-and-control approaches to discipline. Beginning around 2013, she initiated schoolwide professional development focused on childhood trauma and trauma theory while reforming disciplinary practices to better support students and staff.

To strengthen and evaluate this work, Dr. Baroni partnered with faculty from Wayne State University—Dr. Angelique Day, Dr. Cheryl Somers, and then-doctoral student Dr. Shantel Crosby—to develop, implement, and refine what became the original MONARCH intervention, named after the school's mascot (i.e., the monarch butterfly), symbolizing growth and transformation. The intervention's name also carries a dual meaning through its acronym: Multifaceted approach Offering New beginnings Aimed at Recovery, Change, and Hope. Over more than five years, the team collaborated to improve school culture and outcomes for both students and school personnel, laying the foundation for the MONARCH model as a research-informed, whole-school, practice-based intervention.

In 2023, drawing on a decade of research, lessons learned, and emerging scholarship, Drs. Crosby and Somers fully redesigned the intervention training curriculum to train and support implementation of the MONARCH model across 12 middle and high schools in a large urban school district. Dr. Day served as lead evaluator, overseeing data collection across the partnering school sites.

Dr. Baroni’s vision and contributions continue to make an impact, as she enjoys retirement and spending time with loved ones.

Backed by more than 10 years of school-based research

Read the Research

The Basics of the MONARCH Model

Across the U.S. out-of-school suspension is still the most commonly recognized method of addressing conduct infractions at the middle and high school levels. A wide body of research has demonstrated how this has disproportionately impacted students of color, special education students, and youth involved in the foster care and juvenile justice systems.

Trauma-informed teaching equips educators to support ALL students, and especially those with histories of trauma, by addressing how trauma affects brain development, behavior, and learning, and integrating systems that utilize students' greatest strengths. Yet many educators receive limited preparation in these areas. Teachers working with trauma-exposed students report that:

School staff are rarely trained in their college curricula or in post-degree professional development to understand how to effectively work with trauma-exposed youth
They have uncertainty about their roles when working with trauma-exposed students
There are significant challenges associated with meeting student classroom needs
They need more skills, information, and support

Additionally, research indicates that trauma-informed teaching requires far more than one-time professional development. Meaningful and effective implementation depends on ongoing training on childhood trauma, the fostering of safe and welcoming environments, the cultivation of trusting relationships, access to trauma-informed tools and services, and the adaptation of policies and procedures to align with a trauma-informed perspective (see the Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Resource Center). The MONARCH model uses trauma research, brain science, occupational therapy theory, restorative practice, and implementation science to transform school culture, improve school discipline, and promote school equity.

The Monarch model is a three-tiered, whole-school approach comprised of:

Professional Development via a Train-the-Trainer (TTT) model, using the 7-module, MONARCH curriculum to build in-house expertise on trauma-informed practice
The MONARCH Room intervention (MR) - A non-punitive, multi-sensory room, facilitated by trauma-informed professionals, and available all day for short-term student use.
Trauma-Informed Social and Emotional Learning consultation and coaching to increase capacity for sustainable change

"There’s a staff who sits in there [in the Monarch Room], Ms. X, and I talk to her frequently because she’s...like I have a trust built up with her...you can just go in there....sit....remove yourself from the situation so you can think clearly without the people in your face or like feeling like you’re crowded in.”

The MONARCH model is intended to be an alternative to traditional school discipline practices. As a trauma-informed intervention, it was not designed to react to students and their behaviors, but instead it was developed to work with the students as they deal with the impact of trauma on their lives. While the whole-school model is designed to change overarching philosophy about understanding and interacting with youth, the MR itself provides a safe, calm environment for students to self-regulate their behavior and emotions through the use of a variety of multisensory tools and interventions, guided by structures built into the training. The long-term goal is that, over time, students are empowered to utilize self-regulation skills independently so they can get back to learning.

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