May 2021

By Jay Beckwith, Sonoma County Gazette, May 24, 2021 The isolation required by COVID-19 has been a mixed bag. It has allowed me to come to terms with trends that have emerged over the last few years. Having spent my life as an avid environmentalist and a play systems creator, the trends that concern me are those that consider how the environmental crisis impacts children. I found the National Intelligence Council's recent release: Global Trends 2040: A More Contested World, particularly...

How has the death of George Floyd impacted the state of police reform in the United States. Americans are still wrestling with ways to reform police agencies, one year later. Below you can find three different perspectives on the state of police reform in the United States as we approach the one year anniversary of this tragedy. A Year After George Floyd: Pressure to Add Police Amid Rising Crime [nytimes.com] “I don’t care how bad it gets — no one wants more cops,” Ms. Jones, 56, said last...

What Happened to You? Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain development and trauma expert, Dr. Bruce Perry, discuss the impact of trauma and adverse experiences and how healing must begin with a shift to asking, 'what happened to you?' rather than 'what’s wrong with you?' Through wide-ranging, and often deeply personal conversation, Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Perry explore how what happens to us in early childhood – both good and bad - influences the people we become. They challenge us to shift from...

In this episode of Delusional Optimism, Dr. B and Seth Creekmore speak with Gail Kennedy from PACEs Connection. Gail talks about the connection between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and positive and adverse childhood experiences (PACEs). She also discusses how PACEs Connection provides a worldwide online and community-based network with the goal of raising awareness in how ACEs can change and impact who we are as well as the positive things that happen to us. “Once you learn about...

Come to a Rally for Justice organized by The Adolescent Redemption Project (TARP) and meet others who are interested in criminal justice!

Western Youth Services is hosting various Peer-to-Peer and Network of Care Events for May and June 2021.

Enjoy this Resilience Week recap video showcasing some of the amazing contributions and celebrations throughout the week! Save the Date! Virginia's second annual Racial Truth & Reconciliation Week will be August 1-7, 2021. The week aims to implement the Racial Truth & Reconciliation Virginia mission of empowering marginalized communities in acknowledgment of truth to promote healing, reconciliation, and justice for children and families. View the Racial Truth & Reconciliation VA...

1.0 Continuing Medical Education (CME) / Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Credit Available* Wednesday, June 2, 2021 Noon - 1 p.m. Register Here Join us on June 2 at Noon for the first in a series of webinars that will explore the science of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress, presented by California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris . This webinar will: Cover the science of how ACEs and toxic stress can impact our biology. Explain how ACE screening can be used to...

Do I just assume this is something I already knew? Do I assume that something bad has happened and I need to be afraid and hide? Or do I want to be curious and explore?” When I read those questions, I couldn’t help but think of the one thing that would allow me to “be curious” when it came to overcoming my fears and embracing new encounters, new people, and new ideas: trust.

By Amanda Winn, 5/24/2021, positiveexperience.org/blog The HOPE team is growing. We are grateful to report that the past year has been an incredibly busy time for us at the HOPE National Resource Center. We’ve conducted over 50 trainings and the requests keep rolling in! Providers across sectors, from the medical community to home visiting, early childhood, juvenile justice, substance use prevention, and K-12 education, want to learn more about HOPE. We have some exciting new technical...

By Good New Network, May 14, 2021 Literacy skills have actually improved in the pandemic, with children reportedly picking up more challenging books and getting lost in fiction to combat isolation, a study from the UK has shown. With schools often closed, many more pupils began to enjoy reading again—with 56 percent of young people saying they enjoyed reading either very much (24 percent) or quite a lot (32 percent). During the first British lockdown, One of Us is Lying by Karen M McManus...

By Sara Mar, May 18, 2021 Colonization is not merely stealing land. It is a robbery of autonomy. An erasure of identity. And an oppression of culture. Native Pacific Islanders have endured centuries of colonization. In 1521, the Spanish began colonizing the island of Guam, which led to the near complete genocide of the indigenous Chamorro population. Those who did survive had their culture forcibly stripped away. The Spanish suppressed the Chamorro language and replaced the native religion...