April 2018

Darla Moore came from humble roots. She grew up in Lake City, S.C., an agricultural community with a population of 6,675. After college, she moved to New York, where she achieved tremendous success in finance. She was the first woman on the cover of Fortune magazine. And with Condoleezza Rice, the former secretary of state, she became one of the first two female members of Augusta National Golf Club. About 10 years ago, Ms. Moore began spending more time in Lake City, where her grandparents...

When she was growing up, Rachel Bailey was taught that only rich, self-indulgent White people suffered from mental health issues. Black people were supposed to be tougher. Although she remembers struggling with what was later diagnosed as bipolar disorder since she was 4 years old, it wasn’t until age 34 that she began to seek treatment, checking herself into a psychiatric ward after a severe mental breakdown. “People of other races, especially White people, they get to be crazy and have...

Young children (under age 7) are exposed at high rates to potentially traumatic events such as abuse, violence, and loss of a loved one. Over half of all victims of child abuse in the U.S. are under age six. 1 Despite this, young children who are victims of trauma receive trauma-focused behavioral health treatments at much lower rates than older children. Since 2008, of the more than 10,000 children in Connecticut that have received effective trauma treatments, only 800 of these children...

ST. LOUIS — This past week, President Trump and House Republicans took initial steps to cut back the social safety net. Both have argued that such spending is counterproductive and wasteful, and that eligibility must be tightened for programs including food stamps and Medicaid. Mr. Trump and House Republicans have also asserted that welfare benefits are far too generous, and work requirements much too lax. Yet as is so often the case, the reality is much different from what the political...

Dear Teacher I remember you and I would imagine you remember me well. I am your student. We have shared space for many years yet have never come to know one another. Although I have known you over twenty years and spent more time with you than even my closest friends and family, our relationship has remained transactional, tense, contentious and at times violent. We have cursed, threatened and insulted each other, I have thrown chairs and spat at you and you have restrained me multiple...

A year after the Santa Fe City Council adopted in February 2017 a resolution strengthening its welcoming and non-discrimination policies toward immigrants, the federal government launched a series of audits demanding verification from local small businesses that their employees were eligible to work in the country. In response to this blitz, advocates and city officials held a press conference in early March calling out an attempt to disrupt business, wreak havoc, and create a culture of...

We are delighted that CAREgivers film is being used to promote public and professional awareness regarding the subject of vicarious trauma and staff wellness; AND we are now beginning to see early steps toward organizational change and the potential for new policies that can promote staff resilience. Several exciting things are happening: firstly, public television broadcasts and screenings of CAREgivers film around that country are opening up important conversations about staff exposures to...

We are the heroes of our journey Transformed, by the alchemy of faith, suffering, and resilience

This week, BCR networks from across the country will come together to share lessons learned in building resilience in the face of community adversity with one another and with the nation’s lawmakers. This meeting takes place in Washington, DC – a city with one of the highest opioid death rates in the country where, like in other American urban areas, it’s African American deaths due to opioids that are spiking most steeply. Violent crime is down but homicides increase.

Note: Since the March 11 airing of Oprah's segment on trauma on 60 Minutes, articles continue such as this April 12 one by Susan Heavey posted on the website of the Association of Health Care Journalists, Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. Have you seen others? Please post on ACEs Connection if you have. New efforts to address children’s health with an increased awareness of potential trauma in their lives gained fresh attention recently, boosted by a big media name – Oprah...

Real estate entrepreneur Marjy Stagmeier is the anti-slumlord, a conscientious capitalist, an investor who genuinely cares. Among the rolling hills and dense pine canopies east of Atlanta’s I-285 bypass, down the street from a halal meat market, two Buddhist temples and Good Times Country Cookin’, sits the Willow Branch Apartment Homes. The complex is tucked behind a flapping “Welcome” flag, which is emblematic of Clarkston, a small but famously global suburb that has been coined “Ellis...

The annual TED conference wraps up Saturday. It kicked off in Vancouver this week with a collection of short talks from this year's TED Fellows — a group of "rising stars" from across disciplines and around the world. They talks have become must-see sessions for those in the know, as they feature people doing cutting edge work that hasn't yet broken out. One theme that quickly emerged from this year's crop of Fellows: fighting systemic racism in the United States. Two TED Fellows, artist...