May 2020

By Town-Crier Editor, The Town-Crier, May 12, 2020 The Palm Health Foundation and Palm Beach County Parks & Recreation are presenting a free one-hour online Mindfulness Meditation Workshop led by meditation practitioner and longtime Wellington resident Jill Merrell. The virtual event is in support of May’s Mental Health Awareness and Trauma Informed Care Month and provides to assist residents in finding calm and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. The event will be a live Zoom...

From Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, May 2020 If you're concerned about how to pay your mortgage or rent due to the coronavirus national emergency, read on for information on what to do now, and what your options are for mortgage and rent payment relief. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) , and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are working together to help homeowners and renters during the coronavirus pandemic.

By State of Childhood Obesity, May 13, 2020 The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is one of the nation’s largest federal nutrition programs, serving approximately 6.3 million people, including about half of all infants born in the United States. WIC helps low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age 5 achieve and maintain a healthy weight by providing healthy foods and nutrition education; promoting...

By PolicyLink, May 2020 A Common-Sense, Street-Smart Recovery From Hurricane Katrina to the 2008 financial collapse, we have seen how recovery efforts that do not deliberately solve for issues facing low-income communities and communities of color only serve to reinforce existing disparities. As we navigate our way through the COVID-19 crisis, we need a Common-Sense, Street-Smart Recovery to build an inclusive economy and equitable nation that works for all. To realize the promise of equity,...

As a pediatrician and mom of four, I have been following the growing area of research in pediatric mental health over the last few years, including the study of adverse childhood experiences. Given the current information overload, I wanted to share the single biggest way we can help kids through this time without causing long-term consequences. Think for a minute about a boxer’s glove. The function of the glove is to provide padding for the hand. It is a shock absorber. When a hand with a...

By Carol A. Lambert, Psychology Today, May 12, 2020 In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, May as “Mental Health Awareness Month, is a great reminder to pay attention —perhaps, more than ever—to our mental health. Along with the deadly threat to our physical health, the coronavirus has brought unimaginable changes and losses. In times of natural disasters, of which this pandemic is one, the psychological impact of stress , anxiety, and trauma responses are inevitable. Given the impact of...

By Georgian Presidency of the Council of Europe, May 12, 2020 Every year, thousands of children across Council of Europe member states are involved in judicial proceedings. Whether a victim of crime or in conflict with the law, they are often vulnerable and in need of protection: in other words, they need justice systems to be “child-friendly”. Promoting child-friendly restorative justice and exchanging best practices in this area has been one of the priorities of the Georgian Presidency of...

By Alison Abbot, Nature, May 12, 2020 Marteza Hasani fled Afghanistan in 2005 when he was six years old. During the war there, he found the beheaded body of his father, who had been killed by the Taliban, in front of his family home. That was the first of many unimaginable traumas he faced before arriving in Germany as a refugee in 2015. “I couldn’t get the image of my father out of my head,” he says. Hasani is one of more than 100 refugees who have taken part in a study to examine how...

From ACEs Aware, May 13, 2020 This webinar will focus on building understanding and identifying primary care and telehealth strategies and tools to address the secondary health effects of the COVID-19 emergency. Widespread stress and anxiety regarding COVID-19, compounded by the economic distress due to lost wages, employment and financial assets; mass school closures; and necessary physical distancing measures can result in an increase of stress-related health conditions. These secondary...

By Darrell Steinberg, Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2020 When she was in her late 70s, my late grandmother Henrietta became an unofficial mental health provider. Often housebound because of physical ailments, Grandma needed a volunteer effort she could do from her living room, so she became involved with the Jewish Family Services agency, calling half a dozen seniors every week. The people she was assigned needed a sympathetic ear, and she’d talk for hours with them — about family, memories and...

The Hampton Roads Trauma-Informed Community Network (HRTICN) is one of over 20+ community networks championing resilience in their community during this time. These networks raise awareness, conduct trainings, create and implement trauma-informed practices across an array of sectors, including schools, faith communities, courts, community services, and more. Audravette Jackson serves as the Hampton Roads Trauma-Informed Community Network coordinator, and the Children’s Hospital of King’s...

Currently, all communities face unprecedented times, and in the Winchester Area, this is no different. As a newly formed trauma-informed community network, network leader and Councilwoman Tina Culbreath-Stevens leads the charge in advocating for trauma-informed approaches for educators, policymakers, healthcare workers, and more to ensure their community understands the impact of trauma on children and families. Their goal is to implement wraparound services to foster resilience across...