February 2020

By Rebecca Wolfson, University of California San Francisco, February 18, 2020 Nadine Burke Harris, MD, California’s first surgeon general, has a bold goal: cut adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress in half within one generation. She spoke about her vision and her groundbreaking work to reduce adverse childhood experiences across the state during a speech at the UC San Francisco Parnassus Heights campus. The lecture at Cole Hall on Feb. 13 was part of Chancellor Sam Hawgood’s health...

By Lenora Thompson, PsychCentral, February 8, 2020 Misogyny: It’s a nasty topic. A yucky subject I’ve tried for four years to write about…but it just wouldn’t gel. But it’s taken me even longer, four decades to be exact, to recognize misogyny in general and how it affected my life in particular. For the purposes of this article, I’m going to define misogyny narrowly, based on how I experienced it. To me, misogyny is using a woman’s gender against her. To use her sex to define her as foolish...

By Neha Chaudhary, The Washington Post, February 3, 2020 A woman walked into an emergency room with her 13-year-old son, her lips pursed. He was there for a psychiatric evaluation for suicidal thoughts that he had voiced to his school counselor. After my evaluation of her son, I sat down with her to talk. She didn’t look pleased. “I hope you’re here to tell me you’re discharging him,” she said. “We have to get to soccer practice in an hour.” What I was about to tell her was the opposite.

Hi Team, I just wanted to share a series of webinars that I co-hosted with Aperture Education. Having worked with hundreds of schools for SEL implementation and program support for many years, many contexts, and with many wonderful educators, it has become clear that ACEs/trauma awareness has become essential, foundational information to cover. This webinar series touches on the tips of a few large 'ice bergs', so please keep that in mind. The process of becoming truly trauma informed is a...

This month we have been discussing complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD/ c-PTSD/ Complex PTSD) and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). So far, we have explored the definitions of both, and some of the long-term consequences to the lives of children who survive their devastating effects into adulthood. Today, we are going to examine the many mental health disorders which are directly related to both ACEs and CPTSD. Some of the research we will be discussing is cutting edge and...

What does it mean to be trauma-informed and resilience-oriented? In the years since STAR began our learning and teaching journey (in response to a call to respond to September 11, 2001 in the US), many more voices and programs have emerged to build awareness and action plans for building resilience and addressing trauma in individuals, organizations and communities. Both clinical and cultural perspectives on trauma and resilience have begun to inform our lives in myriad ways. The impacts of...

What if you had developed a cure for the most painful and costly public health problem in America, you had proven that it worked, and you were offering it for free, but could not reach those who need it most because no one wants to talk about the problem? Tragically, this is my reality and the truth about human nature. It is easier to suffer in silence than acknowledge the painful things that happen to us. Over 20 years ago, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Kaiser...

By Terri Janos, Technology Networks, February 15, 2020 In individuals with functional neurological disorder (FND), the brain generally appears structurally normal on clinical MRI scans but functions incorrectly (akin to a computer software crashing), resulting in patients experiencing symptoms including limb weakness, tremor, gait abnormalities and non-epileptic seizures. In some cases, childhood maltreatment may have been a contributing factor, yet links between risk factors such as...

By Michelle Miller and Vidya Singh, CBS News, February 15, 2020 It might look like an average city in the Middle East, but Market Street is the center of commerce in one of the world's largest refugee camps – the Zaatari camp in Jordan. That is where nearly 80,000 Syrians displaced by civil war are now living. "None of us should ever be okay with calling this normal. But it's become an accepted reality for a lot of people," said Mike Niconchuk, who has been doing humanitarian work in the...

From Cork News-Live, February 17, 2020 IT is “simply unacceptable” that children across Ireland are experiencing homelessness, a Cork principal has said, expressing her anger and upset at the situation. Nickie Egan, principal of North Presentation Primary School on Gerald Griffin St, has encouraged her staff to become more aware of the difficulties facing homeless students, and those experiencing other issues, in a bid to aid their development. There were 9,731 homeless people in Ireland in...

By Dahlia Lithwick, SLATE, February 13, 2020 I am honored to be invited to speak with you today on the issue of sexual harassment and misconduct in the federal judiciary. I am here in my individual capacity and my views do not represent those of any entity or publication. I am here in several capacities; as a former 9th Circuit law clerk, and a journalist who has covered several stories of harassment and abuse both in the judiciary and in the law clerk pipeline that begins in law school. I...

By Lucia Osborne-Crowley, ABC News, February 17, 2020 A few years ago, Peter Levine was on his way to a friend's 60th birthday party. It was a clear winter's day in southern California. As he stood on the side of the road, he was hit at high speed by a teenaged driver. He held his breath and waited for help. Somehow, he was wrenched out of the rubble and into an ambulance. The paramedics tried to sedate him. No, he whispered firmly. [ Please click here to read more .]