April 2018

The Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality and the National Black Women’s Justice Institute are proud to announce the Trauma-Informed Learning Network for Girls of Color (The Learning Network), which will be launched in late spring. The Learning Network will provide a secure platform for school system leaders and educators to learn from experts across the country about trauma-informed approaches to girls of color and to engage in peer-to-peer learning. Registration is free and open...

What are the reasons that parents or caregivers do not fully disclose their own or their young children’s ACEs when asked to fill out an ACE screening form in their child’s pediatrician’s office? That was one of the many questions raised in a recent webinar entitled Screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences in the Pediatric Primary Care Setting: Practical Considerations and Lessons Learned . Dr. Kavitha Selvaraj, an attending physician at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s hospital...

Editor’s note: To provide a full picture of what hate speech victims experienced, we have not edited out offensive language. It was the day after the 2016 presidential election. Melissa Johnson was walking out of a Trader Joe’s in the heart of San Diego when a shiny BMW pulled up alongside her. The driver was a man in his late 30s. Dark hair. Green eyes. Her first thought: He’s kind of hot. The car slowed down. Then the man shouted at her through the open window. “Fuck you, nigger, go back...

I know that I'm preaching to the choir with this article ( Stress-related hormone cortisol lowers significantly after just 45 minutes of art creation ), but I'd like to share a personal story and along with it a some floating hopes I have in all of this trauma-informed work that we strive to do. My Brief Story I didn't always like to paint. In fact, I hated it because I was high-achieving and didn't think I was good enough to do it. One day my senior year of college, a friend of mine (let's...

Comments: I read the following Op Ed in my local paper (the Davis Enterprise) this morning about Earth Day, honoring leaders who spent their life working to end poverty, racism, militarism, ecological devastation and calls on us to join the Poor People's Campaign. The aim of the campaign is to build a fusion movement. Acknowledging the validity of the many issues and “silos” we are each committed to, they are calling people to act together to build a people-centered, transformative movement...

Sen. Tammy Duckworth gave birth to Maile Pearl on April 9, 2018. In doing so, the Democrat from Illinois became the first U.S. senator to give birth while serving in office. 10 days after giving birth, Duckworth made history again by bringing her baby onto the Senate floor. "People see that Senator Duckworth is a war veteran and a woman holding elected office," one woman wrote on Twitter . "I see a disabled mother who is holding one of the highest government positions. She is the answer...

Interview with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk by Elissa Melaragno: Elissa Melaragno: I read your entire book through the acknowledgments, and the very last acknowledgment was “to an affirmation of the life force which drives us human beings to create a meaningful life regardless of the obstacles we encounter.” What have you learned about this life force in the process of your work? Dr. Bessel van der Kolk: It comes up over and over again. I just went to visit my childhood friends in the...

The health disparities that exist for Black mothers in America are well documented. Black women are three to four times more likely to die from childbirth than their White counterparts. Yet, aside from listing “being Black” as a risk factor for maternal death, little has been done to address this alarming statistic. The inaugural Black Maternal Health Week , held from April 11–17, 2018, sought to change this through offering a forum for continued conversation. Importantly, they shed light on...

My fellow care-ers about trauma, A representative (the editor-at-large) for The Investigative Fund, Joe Conason, spoke this spring at Tucson Festival of Books. Today, this article was posted in that organization's email newsletter, and I am posting a link to it so members of this community may know about it. The ACE Study is included--as it should be--and the article is an excellent work of journalism.

Wow!!?? Advancing Parenting just got a $23,000 order for our parenting tips bumper stickers! Dr. Felitti often talks about a new kind of parenting education that will prevent adverse childhood experiences from happening in the future. This is the sort of thing he's referring to. Advancing Parenting calls it proactive, passive/public parenting education. Now all I have to do is figure out how to raise twenty-three thousand dollars! If anyone wants to make a donation every little bit will...

"Fixing our foster care crisis” was made possible through major funding from the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona and additional support from the University of Southern California Annenberg Center's Fund for Journalism on Child Well-being. They call it the “miracle question.” In Michigan’s Family Reunification Program, it’s asked of parents who’ve lost custody of their kids because of abuse or neglect and are about to be reunited as a family. If you were to wake up, and none of this...

Over recent weeks, we’ve seen a youth-led movement challenge our nation’s grim acceptance of this unacceptable status quo. This movement builds on the momentum of social movements that have been addressing violence in various forms across the country. From the March for Our Lives, which drew approximately 1.2 million people to over 450 marches across the US, to consumer boycotts of companies partnering with the National Rifle Association, to announcements like Bank of America’s decision to...