February 2021

By Katie Ellington, Richland Source, February 10, 2021 More than 2,000 Richland County students are enrolled in fully online learning programs as a result of the pandemic, but many of them are struggling to keep up with their peers. Richland County's learning pod program is seeking to provide online students the support they need to get back on track. “Youth and parents are struggling to meet the requirements of their children’s education remotely,” Judge Steve McKinley of the Richland...

There are a number of long-term physical and mental health consequences when it comes to trauma, especially early childhood trauma. Some of these problems include things like depression, anxiety, self-harm, addiction, obesity and more. That said, there are institutions like luxury rehabs , programs like cognitive behavioral therapy, and social groups involved to help people improve their situation. While some of these fixes seem like obvious solutions, some of the lingering problems...

Hi education disrupters! Beginning today we will be meeting every 2nd and 4th Thursday at a NEW TIME, 4pm PST. We are going to try this new time through April in the hopes of allowing more teachers and administrators to attend so please share! Each week our discussion will explore the following: How do we create physical and psychological safety, especially in the face of so much uncertainty? What strategies can we use to create a culture of collective care? How do we implement peer support...

In this installment of A Better Normal community discussion, ACEs Connection's Race & Equity workgroup reconvenes and discusses ACEs Connection’s internal processes to address racism, racial trauma and civil unrest. In this discussion, we will highlight the five ways ACEs initiatives, including our own, get DEI wrong. Discussions will include racial trauma, historical trauma, healing centered practices and effective DEI strategies. In addition to our internal processes, ACEs Connection...

Becoming Trauma-Informed "As we come together facing this global pandemic, we are all experiencing heightened levels of stress which could be viewed as a collective trauma. The purpose of this toolkit is to build a better understanding of what trauma is and how trauma affects the thoughts, actions and behaviours of people affected by it so that we can come together in solidarity and hope. As we come together facing this global pandemic, we are all experiencing heightened levels of stress...

https://youtu.be/oq0174uvzkI

I just wanted to share a recent podcast interview. Those of you who have followed me know I'm all about promoting the need to "Make Parenting Education A National Priority". All of us want to see ACEs significantly reduced moving forward. In fact, Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris has set the goal of 50% reduction within 20 years. I do not see a pathway for this to happen unless we make parenting and child development education a priority in all of our high schools. In this podcast interview I share...

Loren McCullough, 2/11/21, positiveexperience.org/blog In our last blog post , we introduced the Black History Month series we’ll be running on the HOPE blog, to highlight and honor the work of Black individuals in the fields of public health, education, and child welfare. Today, we reflect on Ruby Bridges and the harmful effects of racism against Black girls in education. In next week’s post, we will be releasing a new resource that walks you through four questions you can ask to begin...

There is some confusion about the differences and similarities between PTSD and CPTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) sound alike but although they have some similar symptoms, they are completely different disorders. In this article, we shall examine together the differences and similarities of these two life-changing diagnoses. What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? Post-traumatic stress disorder develops when a person experiences...

By Jessica Grose, The New York Times, February 4, 2021 In early September, as the school year inched closer, a group of mothers in New Jersey decided they would gather in a park, at a safe social distance, and scream their lungs out. For months, as the pandemic disrupted work and home life, these moms, like so many parents, had been stretched thin — acting as caregivers, teachers and earners at once. They were breaking. As are mothers all over the United States. By now, you have read the...

By Darius Stovall, The Modesto Bee, February 10, 2021 “You are not depressed” is a sentence that I have heard in my family a lot. As an African American man, the word “depression” was colored as dirty, better yet heresy. Mental health was not viewed as something that I needed to be a successful Black man. I needed God, good test scores, and connections to people who could put me in places I couldn’t get into by myself. Black culture and mental health have always been as separate as the East...

By Rajni Dronamraju and Debbie I. Chang, San Francisco Chronicle, February 9, 2021 Almost everyone, to some extent, has suffered from the isolation, uncertainty, or emotional and economic effects of the pandemic. But for some kids and families — particularly those who are low-income and part of communities of color — the scars of the pandemic threaten to last a lifetime. In the short term, the Bay Area’s most vulnerable children are at greater risk for exposure to domestic violence,...