April 2017

Did the many protests against killing the Affordable Care Act — including loud demonstrations at public forums — convince moderate members of the House of Representatives to vote no? A number of left-leaning commentators, including New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait , argue they did. Newly published research provides hard data that backs up Chait’s anecdotal evidence. It finds protests can and do change lawmakers’ minds — if they are well-organized and well-behaved. “Can protesters — by who...

ABSTRACT Context: Exposure to traumatic events is common in primary care patients, yet health care professionals may be hesitant to assess and address the impact of childhood trauma in their patients. Objective: To assess patient preferences for discussing traumatic experiences and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with clinicians in underserved, predominantly Latino primary care patients. Design: Cross-sectional study. Main Outcome Measure: We evaluated patients with a questionnaire...

One of the most important and difficult aspects of recovery work is finding balance in our lives. During our traumatic experiences, our inner parts split off in an attempt to keep us safe. In doing so, they stored their childlike beliefs until they had the opportunity to heal from their past experiences. And these beliefs consider the world from a black and white perspective. It is not a balanced view. But in healing, we can find that balance. Not surprisingly, it takes time and patience to...

My name is Adam. I am a human being, a husband, a father, a pediatric palliative care physician, and an associate residency director. I have a history of depression and suicidal ideation and am a recovering alcoholic. Several years ago, I found myself sitting in a state park 45 minutes from my home, on a beautiful fall night under a canopy of ash trees, with a plan to never come home. For several months, I had been feeling abused, overworked, neglected, and underappreciated. I felt I had...

Floyd Maxey stares at the computer screen currently flickering with all the evidence of his high school career’s rocky start: a B in one class, D’s in three others — and an F. Sitting next to him in the computer lab, his mentor clicks into the page detailing the high school freshman’s current D in algebra. “How’s Ms. Ruiz’s class been going?” asks the mentor, 23-year-old Eleanor Kim. “Ms. Eleanor, I don’t like that class,” Floyd groans. “It’s hard up in there.” “You should be asking for...

When we begin to reveal to ourselves all that babies and young children need and deserve to optimally grow and be themselves, it may bring up some of the experiences of what we didn’t get and wanted.   We will discuss skills of orienting, tracking and titrating autonomic nervous system cycling, modulating therapeutic pace, and recognizing the therapeutic leading edge.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Every year at this time I’m reminded of when I began educating people about how to prevent child sexual abuse. Adults have a hard time talking about child abuse, especially child sexual abuse. That’s because not only is CSA a horrific violation of an innocent child’s trust but it’s also about sex. In our society, sex is not a topic most adults feel comfortable talking about in public. When I decided to educate adults about CSA twelve years ago,...

The Program Assistant is a two-year grant funded position, with the potential for extension, with Los Angeles Education Partnership. This position reports to the Project Director. This is currently a is a 75% position. This project is designed to support and implement a trauma-informed school environment in selected K-12 schools both within and outside of California through a partnership with Kaiser Permanente. A central component of this project’s approach to a trauma-informed school...

The Assistant Director position is a two-year grant funded position, with the potential for extension, with Los Angeles Education Partnership. This project is designed to support and implement a trauma-informed school environment in selected K-12 schools both within and outside of California through a partnership with Kaiser Permanente. A central component of this project’s approach to a trauma-informed school environment is to embed practices at each school that prioritize the wellness of...

ACEs, Adversity's Impact An intractable problem: ‘A lot of people don’t have a rainbow in their story’ From generation to generation: An epidemic of childhood trauma haunts Milwaukee Brain and Biology Twin Research Suggests How Stress Shapes the Adolescent Brain Children's Mental Health At the Intersection of Kindness and Science, Center Team Gets to Sesame Street National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day: May 4, 2017 Courts, Juvenile Justice, Corrections, and Probation ‘Sesame Street’...

On Wednesday, March 22, I had the opportunity to attend a community gathering in Marin County, CA, that was convened by their Health and Human Services Department. The event was a “Learning Lab” where ideas and innovation are explored to see if there might be a better way of caring for and working with vulnerable members of the community. The gathering — Networking Breakfast: Addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences and Building Resiliency — was located at the Marin County Office of...

At the end of a much anticipated minimum day, teachers and administrators from Thomas Page Academy (K-8) in Cotati, CA, rallied their energy and enthusiasm to learn more about how ACEs science impacts their Title I school students. The theme of the presentation was on building resilience. We discussed the science of ACEs and strategies that school staff can use to model mindfulness, and reduce the risk of teacher burnout. Teachers were particularly ready to learn more after reading an...