April 2022

Becky Haas (L) receives the "Friend of Children" award from Jill Stott of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth. Becky Haas, whose work in child safety led to her learning about the 1998 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study in 2014 – and her ultimately embracing and teaching the science as a career – was recently honored by the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth (TCCY) with the “Friend of Children” award. In giving the award to Haas, Jill Stott, Northeast Regional...

By Maurice Chammah, Photo: Filmrise, The Marshall Project, February 24, 2022 The detective handed Melissa Lucio a plastic doll and asked her to spank it. “Do it real hard,” he said. Lucio had already spent five hours that night, in February 2007, answering questions about the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah Alvarez. She initially said Mariah had fallen down a staircase outside the family’s apartment in Harlingen, Texas, a small city near the Mexico border. But Mariah had bruises,...

By Henry Gass, Photo: Melanie Stetson/Christian Science Monitor, Christian Science Monitor, April 7, 2022 I rene Bennalley steps out into the fierce afternoon sunlight wearing jeans and a maroon sweater, her long gray hair knotted in a braid. Brandishing a long white stick as her crook, she picks her way across her parched desert farm toward the sheep pen. Answering their bleats with firm instructions in Navajo, she shepherds them out onto the dry, dusty range. She doesn’t know exactly how...

By Talya Meyers, Photo: Friends of Refugees, Direct Relief, April 6, 2022 T he women began arriving from Afghanistan in October of 2021, spending time sequestered on a military base before being resettled in Clarkston, Georgia. “It was scary for those who were there…and then they evacuated, and they were in camps for months,” said Muzhda Oriakhil, a community liaison and new community engagement manager at Friends of Refugees, a Clarkston-based NGO that offers support to refugees resettling...

In response to the current war in Ukraine, the Trauma-informed Design Society and Cowart Trauma Informed Partnership are pleased to announce a new resource for responding to collective trauma. Grounded in the knowledge that we can interrupt the possible negative effects of trauma, the pamphlet is available in three languages and provides an overview of resilience and how we can help develop a sense of safety that will lower the stress levels of survivors.

The disturbing neural imprints from adverse childhood experiences need not be a life sentence. Imagery is an extremely helpful tool to modify the circuitry of the brain, utilizing the principle of neuroplasticity. Imagery strengthens and stabilizes the brain, while laying down alternative neural pathways.

Change is long overdue for this massive maternal health chasm of wholistic health disparities, transcending physical, behavioral, and psychosocial health, and particularly for women of color (WOC)

It has escaped no one’s attention that there is a major military conflict going on in Eastern Europe between Russia and Ukraine. Turn on the Evening News, listen to the radio, or scroll through your social media news feed, and you'll see evidence of gross atrocities, senseless violence and doomsayers suggesting that this is the start of a world war. In the midst of all of this, how do you guard against fear and anxiety and protect your own mental health as well as that of your children? I...

I participated as a UNA-USA delegate, in the UN’s 66th Commission on the Status of Women. As I listened to plenaries, was part of side events, and engaged with co-delegates, there was the consistent theme of all that is needed. Our global lack of true logic and connection was on display, from stories of child trafficking by marriage, through stories and data on disparities, prejudice, environmental impact, so on. And while I’ll focus on how we address the lack by the Connect All approach, I...

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Oklahoma lawmakers are set to bring awareness to ACEs, known as Adverse Childhood Experiences and PACEs, Positive and Compensatory Experiences. Both the House and Senate have simple resolutions naming April 7 th ACEs and PACEs Awareness Day in Oklahoma. In the House, the resolution's primary sponsor is Rep. Carol Bush with many co-sponsors. In the Senate, co-sponsors are Sen. Brenda Stanley and Sen. Carri Hicks. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are potentially...

On March 1, 2022, an anguished voice begins, “My name is Marianna. My house is destroyed. My office is being shelled. I have barely escaped with my life.” She’s shakily accessing a video call from her location in Ukraine, but her image doesn’t appear on the screen, only her voice can be heard. “I will never be the same again,” she says to the Ukranian and international teachers, parents, grandparents, community members, and trauma specialists on the screen. “I will never experience happiness...

Engage with Dr. Alauna and Pastor Clinkscales for an intimate encounter on a personal journey of enlightenment through life-altering teachings that will help you heal mentally and emotionally - once you are FREE mentally, you are FREE INDEED! Business owners, business professionals, educators, faith leader or anyone seeking clarity and peace of mind in order regain balance in their life, this summit is for you. We all are wounded healers; you can't encourage wholeness if, you, first aren't...