January 2023

By Nicholas Kristoff, Photo: Giles Clarke/The New York Times, The New York Times, January 11, 2022 Here in the Kibera slum, life sometimes seems a free-for-all. Residents steal electricity by tapping into overhead lines, children walk barefoot through alleys trickling with sewage, and people occasionally must dodge “flying toilets” — plastic bags that residents use as toilets and then dispose of by hurling them in one direction or another. Yet this is an uplifting slum. Against all odds,...

By Robert Goldman, Photo: Unsplash, Psychology Today, January 17, 2022 When a crime occurs, it sets in motion potential tragic consequences that are often unseen by the American justice system. However, this "benign neglect" may lead to traumatic consequences for the victims and the community. Trauma is a deeply distressing or disturbing event that has long-lasting effects on an individual's mental, emotional, and physical well-being. A single event, such as a car accident or a natural...

By Bill McKibben, Photo: Dominique Berbain/Getty, The New Yorker, January 19, 2022 Shortly after the New Year, the Washington Post ran a story with a headline that would have seemed inexplicable, even runic, to most readers just a few years ago: “The world’s torrid future is etched in the crippled kidneys of Nepali workers.” But we’re growing used to the idea that the climate crisis, in Naomi Klein’s phrase, “changes everything,” so why not the internal organs of Nepalis? Remarkable...

A trauma-informed approach to care acknowledges that health care organizations and care teams need a complete picture of a patient’s life situation — past and present — to provide effective services with a healing orientation. Trauma-informed practices hold the potential to improve patient engagement, treatment adherence, and health outcomes, as well as provider and staff wellness. Join this webinar on February 28, 2-3:30 pm ET to learn how Denver Health, a large health system in Colorado,...

In some indigenous African tribes, scarification is part of human identity. From a Western pathogenic lens, perhaps we see a distorted image that is ugly, uncomfortable and as the representation of a pointless, primitive process that inflicts unnecessary pain on our people. We, however, proudly wear our badge of honor that signals to the world that we belong, have succeeded in our rites of passage, and that we are resilient. Observing the striations on a pregnant woman's beautiful belly,...

48-HOUR HISTORICAL TRAUMA SPECIALIST CERTIFICATION in collaboration with THE INTERNATIONAL HISTORICAL TRAUMA ASSOCIATION We are the only entity offering a comprehensive, 48-hour Historical Trauma Specialist Certification Program. The Program is broken into 6 levels and is built on a foundation of BIPOC cultures and neurobiology. It is taught from a multicultural perspective, injecting traditions and ideology from various cultures from around the world. In this inclusive study we rely on the...

Hi everyone! I thought I'd share a less than five-minute video about why I wrote my new book "It's Not About Food, Drugs, or Alcohol: It's About Healing Complex PTSD." In it, I share the key symptoms that I had struggled with for decades that I had no idea were due to unhealed trauma. The photo I've shared in this post illustrates what healed, and unhealed Complex PTSD looks like. Tragically, this image captures just part of the devastation that complex PTSD leaves in its wake. The good news...

Special Early Head Start/Head Start Offer TSI has a limited offer for new Early Head Start/Head Start projects in 2023. To learn more, join the upcoming special webinar entitled “ Implementing Trauma-Informed Care in Early Head Start/Head Start Programs ” on Thursday, February 2, 2023, 1:00-2:00 ET. Learn more and Register for the Webinar https://www.traumaticstressinstitute.org/

Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics and University Professor at Columbia University, is the co-chair of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT). The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. It happened again. Thousands of supporters of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the country’s government buildings on January 8 in protest of their newly sworn-in president . The riots...

Free Webinar on Building Positive Relationships with Children Who Have Experienced Trauma. Starts on March 28, 2023. Follows the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and teaches TF-CBT (Trauma Focused - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) Skills. Perfect for caregivers, teachers, social workers, anyone who works with children!

“People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you make them feel.” – Maya Angelou Finding hope, let alone holding hope as a thread through life these days, can seem like a tough task for so many. Trauma survivors often struggle to find or hold hope in their lives. It’s understandable when so much pain has been endured in life — when you have not been able to trust anyone to do the relational job they were supposed to. It’s so very hard...

Change in the most basic form means to become or make something different. Changes happen for everyone, whether they are small or large. They can be detours on the road due to construction, your favorite coffee shop closing, your child going to school, a relationship beginning or ending, or any transition in life . I think we can all agree that change can be hard ! And it’s especially hard for trauma survivors (and since the COVID pandemic, many believe we have all experienced some trauma...