Childhood trauma presents complex challenges that require innovative, community-driven solutions. This presentation highlights the collaboration between The Center for Healing and Justice through Sport (CHJS) and Hoops 4 Health, a First Nations-led organisation with over 25 years of experience serving NT, WA and SA communities. Hoops 4 Health works across sectors, including community engagement, education, youth justice, and adult prisons, achieving remarkable results by using sport and culture to foster healing and positive behavioural change.

CHJS integrates neuroscience-backed research, showing that sport—an activity that has brought humans joy for millennia—has both physiological and psychological healing effects. Partnering with the Neurosequential Network (NM) and its field-leading Neurosequential Model, CHJS has developed trauma-informed, healing-centred programs that equip coaches and others in sport with simple, brain-based skills proven to have a therapeutic impact on young people. These programs help coaches, program directors, and sports practitioners create environments that promote healing through key elements such as relationships, movement, and resilience-building activities.

Through a dynamic partnership with Hoops 4 Health, these healing-centred principles are integrated into culturally responsive programming. Hoops 4 Health’s deep engagement with First Nations communities—particularly within youth justice and adult prison settings—demonstrates how sport can be a powerful force for building positive relationships, critical skills in regulation and resilience, reducing recidivism, and promoting long-term healing for individuals affected by trauma.

This presentation will share real-world examples from our joint programs, illustrating how trauma-informed sport supports individual recovery while addressing systemic challenges in underserved communities. By highlighting the work of CHJS and Hoops 4 Health, we aim to inspire practitioners, educators, and policymakers to see sport as a vital tool for healing and social change, equipping coaches and sports practitioners with the tools and knowledge they need to support all young people everywhere.

https://www.hoops4health.org/impact-and-strategy
https://chjs.org/resources/read-nothing-heals-like-sport-a-new-playbook-for-coaches/