June 2020

A LETTER TO A.M.E.R.I.C.A We have been marching in peace for far too long. We have been protesting for our right to be human for far too long. We have lost our sense of freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness since we were forcefully moved from our home (Africa) to a foreign laboratory land and utilized as guinea pigs. To see how many times we can bleed, shaped, and controlled. To see how many teardrops it takes us to drown. AMERICA: An A bnormal place for brown and black skins to...

How many times have we heard of people who were raped or otherwise violated being accused in their attacker’s trial of not fighting or running away? The survivor, instead of receiving sympathy and justice, is instead bombarded inside the court and out with shame and blame. This article will examine the phenomenon of freezing during trauma and how the polyvagal theory explains this lack of the ability to escape. The Neuroscience of Fear If more judges and juries were aware of the complicated...

Join us as we delve into the paradigm-shifting ethos of trauma-informed care with renowned expert Dr. Megan Gerber. Dr. Gerber is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and serves as Medical Director of Women’s Health for VA Boston where she directs the Women’s Health Fellowship. Dr. Gerber edited the textbook, “Trauma-informed Health Care Approaches: A Guide for Primary Care.” We discuss the framework for trauma-informed universal precautions, as well as bas

By Liora Engel-Smith and Melba Newsome, North Carolina Health News, June 8, 2020 Braxton Winston became a symbol of the Charlotte resistance during the September 2016 protests over the police killing of Keith Lamont Scott when he stripped off his shirt to use as a mask against tear gas and stood face face-to-face with police, clenched fist raised in defiance. Winston has since been elected to the City Council twice but his activism and advocacy have not dimmed. Winston went to Charlotte’s...

By Jim Hickman, California Health Report, June 8, 2020 We need to invest in the safety-net institutions that serve and support our most vulnerable now and during times of crisis. COVID-19 is decimating our fragile, unfunded and outdated safety net, and the vital links between families and their local economic, health and social supports. The pandemic has made “underlying conditions” the new code phrase for the social and health inequities disproportionately impacting black and brown...

By Simone Weichselbaum and Nicole Lewis, The Marshall Project, June 9, 2020 Minneapolis city council members made an historic pledge over the weekend when they vowed to dismantle the local police department and shift money to community-based strategies. The pledge to develop a new system of public safety— supported by a veto-proof majority — follows weeks of protests across the country in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. Officials in other cities, including New York and Los...

By Laura Packard Tucker, Amy Dworsky, and Molly (Mayer) Van Drunen, Chapin Hall at The University of Chicago, June 2020 The Youth Transitions Partnership (YTP) blends service coordination, intensive case management, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to help transition age youth in foster care in Alameda County, CA engage with support systems and improve their outcomes. YTP was funded by the Children’s Bureau Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH) grant program. This brief describes the...

By David Sirota, Too Much Information, June 9, 2020 After a weekend of police violence and protests, Washington Republicans spent Monday pretending to have a fainting spell over the phrase “defund the police.” “There won’t be defunding,” said a pearl clutching President Trump, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy similarly faked outrage over protesters pushing public officials to reevaluate the nation’s bloated $115 billion police budget .

In the recently released final report the Education and Workforce Committee have recommended that teachers can use "force" on their students. They recommended that a definition of "physical force" be inserted into clause 95 (p.5) . The definition of force they have provided reads, " force in relation to a student, directed toward the body of a student so as to move, or prevent, restrict, or subdue the movement of, the student's body or any part of the student's body against the student's...

Hello Dear Community, Here is the link to the youtube video shared during our monthly meeting. Thank you for attending, we are looking forward to having you next month! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrHIQIO_bdQ

[Editor's note: Dr. Harise Stein at Stanford University edits a web site — abuseresearch.info — that focuses on the health effects of abuse, and includes research articles on ACEs science. Every month, she's posting the summaries of the abstracts and links to research articles that address only the science of ACEs. Thank you, Harise!! -- Jane Stevens] Tang R, Howe LD, Suderman M, et. al. Adverse childhood experiences, DNA methylation age acceleration, and cortisol in UK children. Clin...