Bringing Hope Into the Classroom: What Human Services Professionals Can Learn
Quick Summary
- An SDSU pilot integrated the HOPE framework into a social work classroom to highlight the role of positive experiences in building resilience.
- The framework focuses on relationships, safe environments, engagement and emotional growth, showing that small classroom shifts can strengthen connection and well-being.
- The project underscores how resilience-based approaches can support human services workforce development.
How positive experiences in the classroom can reshape human services education and strengthen the workforce
Human services professionals understand the impact adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have on child, adult and family safety and stability. Less often discussed is the powerful role positive experiences and supportive relationships play in fostering resilience—something virtually every human services professional will need to build a healthy, lasting career in this challenging and vital professional. A recent pilot at San Diego State University examined what happens when those principles are intentionally embedded into higher education classrooms—specifically with future human services professionals.
Published Dec. 2025, the HOPE University Classroom Pilot Brief highlights the first classroom pilot integrating the HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) framework into an undergraduate social work cohort. Originally developed to emphasize the long-term impact of positive childhood experiences, HOPE centers on four building blocks: relationships, safe environments, engagement and emotional growth.
For those focused on human services workforce development, the brief offers practical insight into how small, intentional shifts can strengthen resilience, connection and well-being across training environments.
We encourage you to explore the full brief to learn more about how HOPE may inform the future of our work.
Instructor Shout-Out!
We would like to congratulate UC Davis Human Services instructor Shelly Paule, MSW, LCSW, whose Social Work 489 class at SDSU participated in this HOPE classroom pilot.
Shelly’s leadership reflects the values at the heart of this project—intentional relationship-building, human-centered practice and a commitment to strengthening the human services workforce. In addition to bringing HOPE into the classroom, she is a key statewide partner advancing IP-CANS and Child and Family Team practice through CPIP training, technical assistance and cross-system collaboration.
Learn More
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