May 2020

I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep. I cannot let myself sleep! Larry kept exercising on the cold floor to keep himself awake. It had been three days since he’d used his prayer beads. He could not let himself fall asleep. He didn’t want another dream- he might find out that he’d been hurting someone. Hurting someone so badly that his hands were covered in blood. The morning finally came. After breakfast, he rushed through washing the dishes and ran until he was in the garden. The only place where...

Old Lady in the lighthouse, where did you go? One day I filled my pockets full of stones. I wadded slowly, into the vicious ocean storm. You were there beside me, I was never alone. Hand over hand you retrieved me from the waters deep. It was not time to relinquish, forever fall asleep. You cradled my face in your cupped warm hands. You gently rocked me, brushed my hair full of sand. Remember that little girl, who remains my foe? She still clings to me wretchedly in tow. Please old lady in...

When shelter-in-place orders first took effect in early March, I was just recovering from 3 days serious fever and chills (no tests available at that time so we'll never know if it was "a" virus or "the" virus). I went to bed on March 12th with an upset stomach and I woke up on March 15 to find that all sports games, concerts, events, and gatherings were being canceled, flights to Europe were now a no-go, coronavirus infection rates around the world were skyrocketing, and and schools and...

It has been an honor to collaborate with the wonderful and wise Elaine Miller-Karas on 5 online events since I started working at ACEs Connection a year ago. The recordings of these events are our most popular videos on YouTube, with a combined total of over a thousand views. I have now compiled them into a single playlist on our YouTube Channel. >>Click here to visit the playlist<< The videos include: 1. Building Resilient Communities - August 8, 2019 2. The Human Impact of...

By SHAYNA RUBIN | srubin@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group PUBLISHED: May 21, 2020 at 10:59 a.m. | UPDATED: May 21, 2020 at 3:20 p.m. Distance learning in the COVID-19 era has put a strain on all families, but especially those with children with special education needs. “No one was ready. Obviously, we didn’t see this coming,” said Christina Schmidt, executive vice president of the Palo Alto Council of Parent Teacher Associations. And parents, she said, can be caught unaware of how...

Teri Wellbrock sits down with Dr. Jamie Marich who describes herself as a facilitator of transformative experiences. A clinical trauma specialist, expressive artist, writer, yogini, performer, short filmmaker, Reiki master, and recovery advocate, she unites all of these elements in her mission to inspire healing in others.

The $3 Trillion Heroes Act that passed the House of Representatives on May 15 is primarily a statement of House Democrats’ priorities for the next stimulus COVID legislation and will not be the starting point for the Senate when it returns after the Memorial Day recess. The slim Republican majority in the Senate, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, questions whether a large spending bill is the right approach, saying that states and localities must demonstrate that they are spending the...

The term eating disorders conjures in the minds of many pictures of boy crazy teenagers who want to slim down for a prom dress or something only women have. However, the reality of EDs is much, much more insidious than that. Eating disorders affect millions of people of all ages and 25-40% (depending on the disorder) are men. This article is the first in a series tackling the topic of eating disorders. This piece includes; what EDs are, what causes them, who is affected, and how they are...

By Serena Gordon, CBS News, May 8, 2020 COVID-19 has directly claimed tens of thousands of U.S. lives, but conditions stemming from the novel coronavirus — rampant unemployment, isolation and an uncertain future — could lead to 75,000 deaths from drug or alcohol abuse and suicide , new research suggests. Deaths from these causes are known as "deaths of despair." And the COVID-19 pandemic may be accelerating conditions that lead to such deaths. "Deaths of despair are tied to multiple factors,...

By Taheema Ali, The Province, May 20, 2020 Our response to COVID-19 provides useful lessons for other public health crises. One such crisis has universal reach but more subtle and subversive beginnings: adverse childhood experiences or ACEs. An environment of toxic stress, such as domestic violence, severe mental illness, substance abuse, physical and emotional neglect, or food and housing insecurity, may leave long lasting physiologic scars on young brains. These invisible scars can fuel...

By Rachel Levy, Mad in America, May 20, 2020 On March 4, 2020, Rethinking Psychiatry (in Portland, Oregon) met for our monthly meeting. The topic was “Beyond the Buzzwords: What Does Trauma-informed Care Really Mean?” This subject turned out to be even more relevant, as we are now facing a global pandemic that is causing massive trauma. This was to be our last in-person meeting for the foreseeable future. We are continuing to meet online. Both our April and May meetings were held via Zoom...