June 2020

By Joaquin Palomino, San Francisco Chronicle, June 12, 2020 Phelicia Jones was devastated five years ago as she watched a video of five police officers shooting a young black man more than 20 times in San Francisco’s Bayview district after he refused to drop a knife. The 2015 killing of Mario Woods sparked protests across the Bay Area and reforms within the Police Department. Jones and others hoped to see real shifts in police conduct in San Francisco, but by at least one important measure,...

By Ari Eastman, May 23, 2020, The Thought Catalog. I reopened some wounds last night. I mean, not literally. Though I guess that wouldn’t be atypical. I do have a tendency to pick at scabs. I’ve scratched things off until they bleed. I’ve pushed the tweezers a little too far. I’ve never been good at knowing when to stop. Last night, I dug up repressed memories. I took a shovel to all my layers of defense mechanisms and didn’t stop until I hit bone. I stopped making jokes. I looked at the...

Like many of you, I have experienced the events of the past weeks with a profound sense of anguish. My heart goes out to the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. My heart breaks at the incomprehensible number who have been harmed by racist violence and by the inaction that has allowed those harms to take place. As a doctor and a policymaker, I often hear the question “what it is about black and brown people” that makes us more vulnerable to the virus? That question...

By Saul Levin, American Psychiatric Association, June 10, 2020 The public health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on virtually all facets of our daily lives, especially health care. While the ultimate effects of COVID-19 on both individuals and populations are unclear, we know we will have to navigate the impact of the pandemic on the behavioral health system. The rates of depression, suicide, and substance use are expected to surge as communities continue...

By Aidin Vaziri, San Francisco Chronicle, June 10, 2020 Debbie Madhok is an emergency and intensive care unit physician at San Francisco General Hospital in the city’s Mission District, one of the neighborhoods hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. As stay-at-home orders went into effect and case numbers started rising in the city, she started keeping daily journals on her iPhone, documenting thoughts and observations culled from her shifts treating coronavirus and ICU patients. Her...

The team at Resilient Strategies share their perspectives on trauma and resilience under conditions of oppression, and how to heal. Link to full podcast is within this blog post.

We Are The Medicine: An Online Festival for Real Human Connection Everyone is welcome! Invite your loved ones, whether they’re far away or you’re cooped up in quarantine together. We can’t wait to connect with all of you. STARTING TODAY June 12th at 4 PM

Stress is a normal part of life that no one can fully escape. However, when stress becomes toxic, it can affect our lives in drastic fashions that may change our life’s outcome. Adverse childhood experiences tie into toxic stress and both can cause considerable harm to both children and again when these kids grow to become adults. This article will explore the connection between toxic stress, ACEs, and how understanding them through the polyvagal theory can help us to find ways to defeat...

Our son is Luke. This is written by our daughter-in-law Trish for her husband LUKE. I have been sitting and thinking of the right thing to say or whether to not say anything at all, which is probably the best route. It’s just not in my nature to always stay quiet, just as so many are voicing their opinions because they feel frustrated, angry and mostly alone, especially given what we have gone through with covid. I think it’s important for people to know that on the other side of my husbands...

From The New Jersey Department of Children and Families, June 9, 2020 The New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF) today announced that Dave Ellis has been named as Executive on Loan to the State of New Jersey, functioning as the first Executive Director for the Office of Resilience within DCF. Ellis will share his expertise with the state and coordinate statewide efforts to prevent, protect against, and heal from the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). ACEs are...

By Laurel Mellin, Medical Xpress, June 10, 2020 Let's face it: We're all under stress right now. The uncertainty and constant health threats surrounding the coronavirus pandemic have upended our lives. We may need two vaccines: one to protect us from the coronavirus and another from the toxic effects of too much stress . Could we train our brains to prevent this stress from becoming lodged in our brains, so we can bounce back faster from stress—and even collect a kernel of wisdom from the...

By Joseph Neff and Beth Schwartzapfel, The Marshall Project, June 11, 2020 When Andrew Ramseur walked into the Iredell County, North Carolina, courtroom for his murder trial in 2010, the rows behind the defense table were cordoned off with police tape. His family, who are black, were “forced to sit in the proverbial ‘back of the bus,’” according to court papers, while the victims’ white family was seated in front, directly behind the prosecution table. During jury selection, prosecutors...