Community Care Team
The community care team is a small group of HDS community members comprised of staff, students, and faculty. The team’s charge is to create a heart-centered space for those in need of care when they have experienced harm and/or have caused harm. The team provides support and accompaniment to the HDS community through a restorative, two-person approach.
We offer a variety of care responses rooted in love and compassion and operationalized through a restorative justice approach. The care team creates a space for members of the HDS community to be heard and supported through listening, problem-solving, healing, accompaniment, resource referral, and/or a restorative circle approach, as appropriate. Our purpose is to contribute to the work of cultivating a sense of belonging and connection within the HDS community.
The care team launched in February 2023 as a pilot program to address HDS students’ concerns or experiences of harm in HDS classes. At this time, HDS faculty, staff, and students are all welcome to raise concerns of harm experienced within and outside of the classroom.
Read our frequently asked questions to learn more about connecting with our team or fill out the intake form. Filling out the intake form does not need to be your first step.
Please note that the community care team and this form are not for emergencies or immediate support. If this is an emergency, please call 911 or Harvard University Police Department (HUPD). If you are in need of immediate support, Harvard’s Counseling and Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Sexual Harassment/Assault Resources & Education (SHARE) both provide 24/7 support.
Community Care Team FAQ
First and foremost, we offer heart-centered listening and accompaniment to anyone who has been part of an instance of identity-based harm. We work with you to determine what you need and what your next steps forward towards repair might be. These can include:
- Support, listening, and empowerment
- Space for reflection and validation
- Facilitation of a restorative conversation between parties
- A sounding board to think through possible avenues of healing and justice
- A team that can receive feedback about campus culture and help to weave preventative measures throughout campus life
There may be instances of identity-based harm that people feel able to address directly with the other people involved, with the support of a faculty member or supervisor if appropriate. When that is not possible, or people need more support, the community care team is here as a resource. If you’re not sure whether you need our support, please reach out for an initial conversation – we are happy to help you discern.
Absolutely. Restorative justice holds that no one is disposable, and that we all need strong support in order to be able to enter into a process of accountability, repair, and healing. The community care team is poised and trained to support you whether you’ve experienced harm, caused harm, or both.
We are not a strictly confidential resource, but we are a private resource. We are committed to providing a strong container for your story and your process. We rely on the touchstone “Stories Stay, Lessons Go” in how we approach privacy and confidentiality.
We will work in partnership with each other and with you, which means we will most often work in pairs with you, and we will utilize the full team as needed for additional guidance and support. We will not share the details or particulars of your story outside of the community care team unless we are required to as a mandated reporter on a Title IX issue or concerns of harm or safety for you or others.
We can answer any questions you have about confidentiality and we want to hear about any needs you have related to privacy and confidentiality.
- Contact the community care team.
- The community care team member you contacted connects with you to engage in initial conversation about your experience.
- During this conversation, the community care team member will offer a space of support for you to be heard and to think through possible next steps.
- Next steps will vary according to your particular needs, but may include problem-solving, healing and grief work, accompaniment, resource referral, and/or a restorative circle approach, as appropriate.
- If you need ongoing support or if a restorative circle approach is needed, a second member of the community care team will be brought in. Depending on the next steps you identify together, the team will stay with you as supports or facilitators.
No. We are here to help support restorative processes and to provide accompaniment in the healing process. If, as part of your process, you desire support in initiating a University process or formal complaint related to your experience, we can help connect you to the right parties, but reaching out to us does not initiate any University-related process.
With their consent, yes. We’re available to help support you in supporting your friend, and here to help support them if they desire.
The community care team offers a way of weaving restorative justice and healing throughout our HDS community. Restorative justice is a world view rooted in indigeneity that calls us to prioritize our humanity and our relationships with each other. It is a philosophy that holds our collective humanity at the center through principles and practices, including circle practices. Restorative justice invites people to step into courage, truth-telling, love, accountability, and repair. A community that embraces this approach seeks to repair harm and also to change the culture and conditions that created the harm.
Restorative justice and restorative circles are rooted in the belief that no one is disposable, and that the circle holds us all. It’s an approach that is not punitive in seeking justice, but promotes accountability, repair, and healing.
While the community care team might be responding to harm, especially initially, our vision is to shift HDS culture through a restorative approach. In this, we see our restorative approach as part of building a container where our community’s foundation can be one of trust and connection. This is the foundation for cultural and systemic transformation.
If you have questions or would like to talk to the community care team about a concern or experiences of identity-based harm in the HDS community, please reach out to us in whatever of the following ways you prefer:
- Connect directly with any community care team member via email, phone, or in person
- Connect directly with the Office of Community and Belonging via email, phone, or in person
- Email us at careteam@hds.harvard.edu (which goes directly to Melissa Wood Bartholomew)
- Fill out the intake form on our website
If you aren’t sure where to start or who you want to talk to, we recommend connecting in person or via email, phone, or Zoom with our community care team coordinator, Melissa Wood Bartholomew.
We understand that for some, filling out this form might help you process your experience and identify needs. We also understand that for others, filling out a form might not best meet your needs.
- If you don’t know what you want or who you want to talk to, please feel free to email careteam@hds.harvard.edu (which goes directly to Melissa Wood Bartholomew); call the Office of Community and Belonging, or come by the Office of Community and Belonging.
- You are also welcome to reach out to anyone on the community care team you feel comfortable reaching out to. Any member of the community care team can talk to you about your concern.