August 2019

By Jared Weber, USA Today, July 18, 2019 It was soon after Jasmine Alcala gave birth to her son, Benjamin, that her mind flooded with thoughts of catastrophe. For Alcala, now 38, tragedy lurked everywhere. At her Long Beach, California, home, which she rarely left while caring for her newborn, she feared a home invasion. Behind the wheel, her heart raced at the possibility of a fatal car accident. At the grocery store, she fretted over the potential of armed robbery. And nothing was as...

By Louise Godbold, Pacific Standard, August 1, 2019 It is now almost two years since I added my voice to the brave women reporting the sexual violence of Harvey Weinstein. (Weinstein has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct.) In that time, I have had the privilege of getting to know many silence breakers—not only women targeted by Weinstein, but also those coming forward about Bill Cosby, James Toback, Dustin Hoffman, Donald Trump, and R. Kelly. Women (and some men) come to me because...

By Lilo H. Stainton, NJ Spotlight, July 30, 2019 Children who grow up with poverty, violence, racism, parental divorce, incarceration or drug abuse — or suffer other multiple adverse experiences as youngsters — are seven times more likely to develop alcoholism as adults, four times more likely to become juvenile offenders, and three times more likely to repeat a grade, when compared with kids who did not face these traumas. They also have higher incidences of asthma, obesity and cancer as...

By Jason Moon, New Hampshire Public Radio, July 31, 2019 New research from the drug court program in Nashua shows a majority of people in the program have suffered from a significant number of childhood traumas. Studies have previously shown that Adverse Childhood Experiences or ACEs can predispose people for a whole host of negative outcomes later in life -- from anxiety and depression to cancer and diabetes. Researchers can give individuals an ACE score based on yes or no answers to 10...

By P. Berman & A. Hosack, & K. Hecht Is he really trying to protect Claire? Can we trust anything he says? Now, on top of everything else, he is involved with drug dealers. Mr. Carson was brooding, feeling helpless and angry. Claire had just finished reading out loud Larry’s letter urging her not to write him again. She had been gently crying throughout. Mr. Carson was trying to dissect everything Larry had said. Was he finally being honest with Claire about just how much trouble he...

Check out my talk on "Preventing relational trauma and healing emotional pain: the role of communities" at the Shared Agendas event on Community Justice & Offending in Ballymun, Dublin back in April. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=AK52QnHKGiU

By Miriam Jennifer Maclean, Scott Anthony Sims, Melissa O'Donnell, BMJ Journals, July 29, 2019 It is established that children who experience child abuse and neglect are at an increased risk of poorer mental health outcomes. The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child states that chronic stress to which maltreated children may be exposed, in the absence of consistent and supportive relationships with adult caregivers, has negative impacts on children’s developing brain.

By Kimberly Miyazawa, Ascend, The Aspen Institute, July 2019 Committed to helping families create an intergenerational cycle of opportunity, LIFT, a national nonprofit that connects parents with trained coaches who help them achieve career and financial goals, implements a two-generation (2Gen) strategy. Their partnership with AppleTree, a recognized leader in evidence-based early childhood education, demonstrates LIFT’s commitment to staying laser-focused on the needs of its members – the...

By Paul M. Sherer, DirectRelief, July 29, 2019 As he sat on the exam table in a Dallas clinic, the five-year old boy’s face was completely blank. He wouldn’t speak a word or even turn his gaze to the doctor. In more than 30 years of practicing pediatrics, Dr. Farooq Habib had never seen a child so traumatized. The boy and his father had migrated from violence-wracked Honduras. But instead of finding security in the United States, the child was taken away from his father by immigration...