April 2019

While the impact of maltreatment on a child and their family is devastating, child maltreatment also has serious effects far beyond those for the victim. Maltreatment results in ongoing costs to taxpayers, institutions, businesses, and society at large. Local communities bear the brunt of these costs in the form of medical, educational, and judicial costs, though more tragic signs are seen in homelessness, addiction, and teen pregnancy. To create a concrete understanding of the widespread...

I recently delivered a TEDx Talk revealing my high ACEs score of nine and how I found out about the ACEs movement by accident. Last July, I attended a screening of "Resilience" thinking it would be a movie about how a powerful coping mechanism can help children cope with toxic stress. Instead, imagine my shock, as I watched clinicians explain that my ACEs score could result in a shortened lifespan by 20 years! Dazed and afraid, I threw myself into researching the findings of the ACEs...

FREE MASTER CLASS FOR EDUCATORS: "The Top 10 Truths Every Teacher Needs to Know About Trauma" This 60-minute Master Class is an opportunity for teachers to take their FIRST STEP into becoming "trauma-informed." Learn how trauma impacts your students' brains, bodies and behavior, and the approaches that can make your job easier and less overwhelming! TUESDAY, May 7th @1pm (PST) - ONLINE Certificate of Attendance available for attendees Link for Deets: https://www.traumacamp.com/masterclass...

"Data shows that more than half of all U.S. children have experienced some kind of trauma in the form of abuse, neglect, violence, or challenging household circumstances—and 35 percent of children have experienced more than one type of traumatic event, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)." "“Being a teacher is a stressful enough job, but teachers are now responsible for a lot more things than just providing education,” says LeAnn Keck, a manager at Trauma Smart...

By A. Hosack , P. Berman, & K. Hecht I really want those ice cream bars. I wonder what I could put back on the shelf so I could afford them. The Carsons’ have been thinking a head till when Claire graduates from school and will be living with Davy in her own apartment . They have opened a bank account for Claire and put money for food and clothing into her account every month; they take this money from the stipend they get from Child Protective Services for caring for Claire and Davy.

Less than one hour of brain training with neurofeedback leads to a strengthening of neural connections and communication among brain areas. This is the main finding of a new study conducted at D’Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), published today in Neuroimage. According to the authors, the study may pave the way for the optimization and development of therapeutic approaches against stroke and Parkinson’s, for example. “We knew that the brain has an amazing ability to adapt...

Traumatic stress feels awful. The body tenses and succumbs to many other physiological changes leading to digestive problems and headaches, for example. Furthermore, children overwhelmed by emotions can’t engage positively in learning as curiosity in the outside world is a byproduct of a calm nervous system, not one that’s in a state of high alert.

RADICAL GRACE – WHAT I LET GOD SEE AND ACCEPT IN ME ALSO BECOMES WHAT I CAN SEE AND ACCEPT IN MYSELF. AND EVEN MORE, IT BECOMES THAT WHEREBY I SEE EVERYTHING ELSE. ~ RICHARD ROHR For the past three months, I’ve been driving through various parts of Florida witnessing events and gatherings of communities committed to creating safe, loving, trauma informed, and trauma healing spaces. On Friday February 22nd, I was in Tarpon Springs, attending the monthly gathering of Robin Saeger’s...

If you are a resident of Meadville, PA, you may have noticed some new faces walking through your neighborhood. Equipped with nothing more than a binder and a smile, our trio has been knocking on doors since November. Maybe you have already spoken with us, maybe you haven’t. Either way, your first thought was probably what do they want? First, rest assured we aren’t selling anything. We have no Omaha Steaks to offer, nor do we promise any discounts on your electric bill. For some of you, this...

My best friend in kindergarten, Eddie Linton, did not live in one of the spacious houses on the hill in the Boston suburb where I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, Belmont, which is best known for its stellar schools and abundance of Harvard professors. Eddie, who is black, lived instead in a brownstone in the South End of Boston, alongside his two American-born sisters, plus grandparents and aunts and godparents from Barbados, the country where his parents were born. Every morning, Eddie...

Standing sometimes waist-deep in seawater on the shores of the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh, they work to find bricks, dig them out of the sludge and cart them to the side of the road to sell. The job is new, a result of devastating storm surges a little more than a decade ago. In 2007, and then again in 2009, cyclones battered the coastline just south of Kuakata, destroying homes and structures and drowning entire villages. The storms submerged forests of mangroves and left 99 local...

“Collaborating for Successful Reentry: A Practical Guide to Support Justice-Involved Young People Returning to the Community” from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice is a resource to help practitioners reform how youth reenter society and connect with their community. Traditionally, the justice system has used remedies that require youth to go to several classes, complete community service and have frequent meetings with different case managers. This system of reentry can be...