December 2017

These days, we as a society are talking and writing a lot about deaths related to addiction , and the drugs that fuel them . But we've been glacially slow to deal with this human tragedy because, I would suggest, of deep-seated, long-standing and widespread prejudice against addicts. Writers like physician Gabor Maté and British journalist Johan Hari have advanced cogent and essentially unassailable arguments for a better, more rational and humane – and effective – approach to drug...

Children of Carol Craig 's generation were commonly exposed to toxic stress – and that, she argues in her new book Hiding In Plain Sight, is a root cause of Scotland ’s ill health, drug and alcohol problems. Here, she examines the prevalence of emotional abuse in Scottish culture when she was growing up ... and how the effects are written in our national language SCOTS pride themselves on the country’s humour and music so it’s fitting that Billy Connolly is one of the nation’s favourite...

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is ending a high-profile program that used computer data mining to identify children at risk for serious injury or death after the agency's top official called the technology unreliable. "We are not doing the predictive analytics because it didn't seem to be predicting much," DCFS Director Beverly "B.J." Walker told the Tribune. The $366,000 Rapid Safety Feedback program was central to reforms promised by Walker's predecessor, George...

This story was produced in collaboration with Climate Central . David Ewing wears a bright white dust mask, his face behind it puffy and red, as he sits on a stone bench in downtown Santa Barbara, California. A fine layer of ash covers the pavement at his feet, dirty residue from wildfires ravaging the region. "When I woke up yesterday I couldn't breathe," says Ewing, who is homeless and has been diagnosed with cancer. He spent the previous night sleeping behind a Saks department store.

Let me ask you a question; take your time in answering it. Would you be willing to take health care away from a thousand children with the bad luck to have been born into low-income families so that you could give millions of extra dollars to just one wealthy heir? You might think that this question is silly, hypothetical and has an obvious answer. But it’s not at all hypothetical, and the answer apparently isn’t obvious. For it’s a literal description of the choice Republicans in Congress...

Rick Alleva is a field specialist at the University of New Hampshire and co-author of a curriculum called “ Courage to Care ,” which promotes empathy for middle schoolers. He has been researching and promoting positive youth development and the use of mindful learning as well as social and emotional learning (SEML) for many years. After graduating from Tufts University with a degree in psychology, he traveled cross-country, coming across many teenage runaways. That later heightened his...

*** I had planned on writing part 2 of my post today. I value keeping true to my word and it’s rare that I can’t be held to it. Today is one of those rare occasions. An “I am…” statement I caught myself making is the reason I’m going to steer off course a bit. Next Friday I’ll post Part 2 with a link to Part 1.*** Last Friday, I wrote my 1st blog post on ACES connection. I’ve written a couple articles here and there but last week was my 1st official “blog” post. The topic was something I...

Please join us for a three -part learning series hosted by the California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity ( 4CAkids.org ) and ACEs Connection Network ( acesconnection.com ). Stay tuned for details on signing up for the webinars. We'll hear from states that are making great strides towards adopting trauma-informed policies and practices. Three-Part Learning Series: Webinar 1: National Landscape and State Level Efforts to Address Childhood Adversity Date: January 10th, 10AM PST...

My area of focus is infant and very early childhood trauma. The name of my non-profit is the "Early Trauma Institute." I would like for you to read my book Healing the Wound That Won't Heal: the Reality of Trauma . The cover photo is myself as a baby a few weeks before I watched my father die on the floor in front of my crib in a pool of blood. He had extreme PTSD from WWII and I was left alone with him every day while my mother worked. The mission statement of my non-profit is: "The mission...

"We are here because our communities have been resisting for forever... If they’re going to talk about intergenerational legacies, and if they’re going to talk about epigenetics, let’s have the entire conversation."

Morgan's note: This great article has a story about the Goldbergs and the Franks (as in Anne Frank, whose diary is widely read, and her family), and how the daughter of Hilde Goldberg seeks to share her family story as a way to find her voice, be liberated, and move forward. Read the rest of the article here . Morgan Vien, Practicing Resilience for Self-Care and Healing

Following a blog published on ACESConnection about my encounter with Harvey Weinstein, The Hollywood Reporter interviewed me for their 2017 Women in Entertainment issue. I didn't want to supply salacious details to the already much chewed over picture we have of the habitual, historical abuse. I wanted to take control of the narrative and use this opportunity to talk about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the patterns set up by this kind of toxic stress in later life. It is so...