Redefine Success
School Safety Begins with Belonging
Piper Phillips Caswell
Several years ago, a former student returned to visit PHILLIPS.
He was 26 years old. Like many of the young people we serve, he had faced significant challenges during his school years. There had been difficult days, emotional crises, setbacks, and moments when success seemed far from certain.
As he walked through the building, he spotted an administrator and teacher who had worked closely with him through some of his hardest moments. The sight of them stopped him in his tracks.
He began to cry.
Then, through tears, he turned to me and said, "They didn't give up on me."
Of all the outcomes schools hope to achieve, that moment captured something profound. He wasn't talking about a behavior plan. He wasn't talking about a disciplinary policy. He wasn't talking about academic instruction.
He was talking about relationships.
A New York Times article, “A Violent Education,” raises important questions about how schools respond when students are in crisis. Those questions deserve thoughtful examination. But as educators and policymakers continue discussing school safety, I believe we should spend equal time asking another question:
What creates the conditions that make crises less likely to occur in the first place?
At PHILLIPS, we have spent nearly 60 years serving students with complex behavioral health and wellness needs. More than 10,000 students and their families have come through our programs, many after struggling in traditional educational environments.
Their experiences have taught us something that may sound simple but is often overlooked.
School safety is built long before a crisis occurs.
It is built through trust.
It is built through belonging.
It is built through acceptance.
It is built through relationships that help students feel known, valued, respected, and connected.
Many of the students we serve arrive expecting adults to focus on what is wrong with them. They have often experienced failure, exclusion, disciplinary action, or repeated messages that they do not fit within traditional systems.
Our responsibility is to create something different.
We work to create environments where students know they are accepted, where their strengths are recognized, and where hope is intentionally cultivated. We use a positive approach and practice asset framing, focusing on students' potential rather than defining them by their challenges.
We celebrate small victories because growth often occurs one step at a time. We recognize that progress is rarely linear. Most importantly, we strive to communicate a simple message every day:
You belong here.
And we will not give up on you.
That commitment extends to all of our staff. All PHILLIPS employees are trained in de-escalation and the Right Response approach, which emphasizes respect, preferred relationships, emotional regulation, and interventions that reduce rather than intensify conflict.
When crises occur—and they do occur in every school community—we do not view those moments solely as disciplinary events. We view them as opportunities for learning, growth, problem-solving, and understanding.
That does not mean there is an absence of accountability. Consequences remain an important part of helping young people learn and grow. But accountability is most effective when delivered within a framework of dignity, support, and relationship.
After nearly six decades of serving students with significant behavioral health challenges, we have learned an important lesson:
Our students do not become successful because we found a way to control them. They become successful because we found a way to understand them.
Understanding students requires teamwork. Teachers, clinicians, behavior specialists, administrators, families, and community partners all contribute to a student's success. At PHILLIPS, parents are not observers in the process; they are partners.
We have also learned that positive relationships with law enforcement can strengthen communities. We have been fortunate to work alongside local police officers who understand our intervention philosophy and who invest time in building authentic relationships with students. Officers from youth services divisions regularly visit our campuses, participate in activities, and engage with students in ways that foster trust and mutual respect.
These relationships reinforce—not replace—the work of educators and behavioral health professionals.
What makes schools safe is not a single policy, program, or intervention.
Safety emerges from a culture where students feel respected. It grows when adults are trained to respond effectively to challenges. It develops when families are welcomed as partners. It flourishes when young people know there are adults who will continue showing up for them, especially on their most difficult days.
Building that culture requires patience.
It requires consistency.
It requires flexibility.
It requires perseverance.
Most of all, it requires a belief that every student has value, regardless of how difficult their circumstances may be.
The young man who returned to visit PHILLIPS years after leaving our program reminded me of something important. Of all the lessons he learned during his time with us, the one that stayed with him was not tied to a curriculum or a consequence.
It was the knowledge that someone believed in him when he struggled.
That someone stayed.
That someone cared.
That someone did not give up.
As schools across the country continue searching for ways to create safe learning environments, we should remember that lasting safety is not built primarily through what we do during moments of crisis.
It is built through the relationships we create before those moments ever occur.
For 59 years, PHILLIPS has witnessed what becomes possible when schools lead with acceptance, understanding, and hope. Safe schools are ultimately built on a simple but powerful foundation: helping every student know that they matter and that no matter how difficult the journey becomes, we will not give up on them.
Piper Phillips Caswell is the President & CEO of PHILLIPS Programs and SpringForward Ventures
