May 2018

Much research has linked mindfulness training with better physical and mental health. But few of us have the time or patience to commit to a lifelong daily practice. Good news: That may not be necessary. A new study of Scandinavian health-care professionals finds those who took a seven-week mindfulness course as a part of their schooling reported higher levels of well-being six years later. "These effects were found despite relatively low levels of adherence to formal mindfulness practice,"...

So what’s going to make you happy? Let’s get more specific: what’s going to make your brain happy? And let’s focus on things that are simple and easy to do instead of stuff like winning the lottery. Neuroscience has answers. I’ve discussed this subject before and it was so popular I decided to call an expert to get even more dead simple ways to start your brain feeling joy. Alex Korb is a postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience at UCLA and author of The Upward Spiral . So let’s get to it.

One teen arrived in the United States in 2015 seeking asylum after his father was murdered in Somalia. Another fled Afghanistan last year after the Taliban killed his father and the Islamic State group killed his brother. But instead of building new lives in the U.S., both ended up in adult detention centers based on the opinion of the same University of Texas dentist – who never met them or examined their teeth. It’s the latest example of the Department of Homeland Security failing to abide...

“Well, you look like you’re doing great,” my primary care physician cheerfully informed me. I stared at her from the examination table in disbelief. I had just told her that I wasn’t enjoying being with my children and was having trouble doing what needed to be done at work and at home. As a health journalist, I had interviewed dozens of physicians and psychologists. I knew that being unable to live one’s life was the big red flag signaling it was time to get help. I was asking for help. But...

School safety has been a major concern in Broward County Public Schools since the bloody Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. As a result of hard work of BCPS superintendent Robert Runcie (who, by the way, has recently received a “highly effective” evaluation for his outstanding performance and has been given a raise) new strategies have been implemented to ensure safety on BCPS campuses across the county. First and foremost, all BCPS students and...

Ms. Jen Alexander, experienced teacher, school counselor, author, presenter, and leader in the movement to create trauma-sensitive schools will hold her first ever Level 1 Trauma-Sensitive Schools Training this summer in scenic Cedar Falls, Iowa. Dates are Sunday, July 15 thru Tuesday, July 17, 2018 with the main training event taking place on Monday, July 16. Ms. Jen's new book for educators on the topic of creating trauma-sensitive schools will be published by Brookes in Baltimore, and...

[Note from Jill Karson: Tian Dayton specializes in addiction, trauma, and PTSD. She is a nationally renowned speaker and a prolific writer; her books include Emotional Sobriety, Trauma and Addiction, Relationship Trauma Repair Therapist Guide , and many others. I'm happy to report that Dayton plans to share her library of videos and other resources here at ACEs Connection. Look for them coming soon to the Books! Educational DVDs! Documentaries! and the Practicing Resilience for Self-Care...

Over the course of two days, thousands of supporters participated in the grand opening ceremony of the Equal Justice Initiative’s (EJI) unveiling of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration in Montgomery, AL. Individuals of all races traveled from different parts of the country, near and far, to attend the two-day truth telling celebration, pay homage to their ancestors, reconcile horrific acts against humanity and properly...

Is your subway car packed like sardines? Does your city feel like a shopping mall? Is your community, well, not all it could be? Richard Sennett has some answers. Sennett is a designer-scholar, eminent in both the built-design world and academia. Currently the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, he's advised the United Nations on urban issues for decades and worked as planner in New York, Washington, D.C., Delhi, and Beijing. Sennett's writing often revolves...

“Tully,” a movie about motherhood starring Charlize Theron that doesn’t open until Friday, is already generating a heated conversation about its portrayal of postpartum depression, a subject rarely depicted onscreen. Now Diablo Cody, the writer of the film, has addressed the controversy for the first time. “I don’t want anybody to think that I sat down and thought, ‘Oh, I’ll write a gripping and entertaining movie about something that I know nothing about,’” she said. “I would never presume...

This year, Fostering Media Connections (FMC) launched its first-ever Youth Voice nonfiction writing contest and invited current and former foster youth between the ages of 18 and 24 to submit essays. This year’s theme: “What love is.” Dozens of youth entered the contest from all over the United States. The winning essays appear in the May/June issue of Fostering Families Today (FMC’s magazine for foster parents). Following is a piece by one of our two Runners-Up, Thalia Bernal. Check back...

In the wake Parkland school shooting in February 2018, many stories focus on who to blame (more gun control, a broken mental health system, bad parenting, bad President, etc.) instead of how our mindset needs to change. Even Nikolas Cruz’s lawyer is jumping on the bandwagon as the central theme of his defense: Not Blame: A New Mindset Needed However, instead of blame, our mindset must change to ask ourselves: “What can we learn?” and “What are the solutions to prevent another shooting?” As a...