May 2021

By Samuel J. Heyman, Service to America Medals, May 2021 Each year, more than 20,000 foster children in the U.S. are sent into the world on their own when they turn 18. Within four years, nearly a quarter of them experience homelessness, often setting the stage for a lifetime of personal and financial struggle. Ryan Jones of the Department of Housing and Urban Development was struck by the urgency and depth of the problem in 2019 as he listened to former foster care youth from Ohio describe...

By Derenda Schubert, Renee Moseley, Lindsay Magnuson & Sarah Feldman, Stanford Social Innovation Review, May 3, 2021 On any given day in the United States, about 400,000 children are in foster care, living with and cared for by people who aren’t their biological parents. Many have suffered abuse, neglect, and other serious traumas, which frequent moves and separation from siblings can compound. While most of these children eventually return to their nuclear families, about 70,000 won’t.

By JS Lee, Health, May 19, 2021 A coworker once looked at me earnestly and asked, "How are you so 'together'? How do you have it all figured out already?" I was an art director with a beautiful office in my mid-20s. I smiled and sheepishly shrugged—but the truth was, my life was a mess. Learning to fake it is something I had mastered young; it's how I survived as an adopted child in an all-white family. I was the only Asian and adopted person in a family of seven kids. The New England towns...

This group has been a tremendous resource throughout the pandemic. Megan Sweet and I are the Co-Hosts of The Awakening Educator podcast. We have 40 episodes recorded, including an interview this interview with Dr. Bruce Perry, The Impact of Trauma on Learning . The thoughtful engagements and posts in this group inform our belief that you will find our podcast engaging, informative and hopefully joyful. We explore policy, practice and stories from the field. Please listen, rate and if you...

The ARTIC (Attitudes Related to Trauma-Informed Care) Scale is the most widely used and cited psychometrically validated measure of trauma-informed care. To-date, there has been an estimated 50,000 administrations of the ARTIC worldwide that include more than 90 studies launched using the Online ARTIC , the automated online platform for the ARTIC. The ARTIC scales measures staff attitudes toward trauma-informed care. Globally there are signs of COVID-19 recovery, though we have a long way to...

COVID 19 has done much more than inconvenience people, it has a much darker and dangerous side. A disturbing consequence of the isolation and loneliness sparked by stay-at-home policies, that problem is the rising current of depression. While depression is treatable, the sheer numbers of people who may be feeling its effects are staggering. This article will focus on depression during the COVID 19 pandemic and how you can avoid becoming a statistic. What is Major Depressive Disorder? Every...

Last week Governor Newsom released the May Revision of his proposed state budget which includes an investment of $20 billion to make public schools gateways of equity and opportunity , with 20% of those funds —$4 billion dollars—dedicated to transforming California’s behavioral health system into a world-class, innovative, and prevention-focused system for Californians age 0-25. For young people, their families, allies and advocates, the proposal represents an unprecedented opportunity to...

Nathanael Zurbruegg: from an incurable chronic illness and medical prognosis 'He shouldn’t be able to walk, talk, amount to anything and be dead six times by now' to an entrepreneur, award-winning global inspirational speaker and victorious mindset mentor.

Breaking the Cycle illustrates our capacity for breaking our current Cycle of Competitive Detachment and returning to the pattern of 95% of our human history: a healthy, peaceful Cycle of Cooperative Companionship. Breaking the Cycle is based on the multi-award-winning book, Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture and Wisdom, by Darcia Narvaez, PhD.

We at PACEs Connection are particularly interested in the interplay between positive and adverse childhood experiences. Here’s some of the relevant research:

By Loren McCullough, 5/19/21, positiveexperience.org/blog Last month, Jane Stevens, founder and publisher of PACES Connection introduced us to the Hope Research Center at The University of Oklahoma. We had a fascinating hour-long call with director Chan Hellman and his team. It turns out that hope itself promotes resilience and well-being, and that their work on the cognitive process of hope aligns so well with our work on HOPE – Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences. In order to share...

BREATHE WITH ME AT GUNN HIGH SCHOOL On April 22-24, the global art project Breathe with Me came to Gunn! Over 500 Gunn students, staff, parents, and Barron Park community members came together to “paint their breath” on a 350-foot long canvas behind the Gunn soccer field. The project was a celebration of life, wellness, community, and the thing that unites us all -- breathing. A short film was made about the Gunn installation, photos were taken, and student journalists Melody Xu , Akhil...