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I almost felt slapped in the face – a wakeup slap; not a punishment – when I read Cissy White’s groundbreaking post describing her joy in finding out her “ACE score.” Her writing about her elation at learning about the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study and questionnaire was an unintentional throw-down on her part. As I read her post I was compelled to reframe my shame, fear, and overall sense of dread about my own high ACE score. (Cissy has given me permission to use her name and to...

I read the Laura Parrott Perry thoughtful posting on forgiveness and felt a pull to add to the conversation. I see forgiveness as a process. When I am harmed and tell the one who harmed me of how I feel, if the transgressor offers up a sincere, heartfelt apology, forgiveness automatically wells up, practically unbidden. And since my father never asked for forgiveness I haven’t forgiven him – nor can I, since he’s dead. I often turn to the wisdom of Dr. Judith Lewis Herman and her book Trauma...

Thought I would share this article I came across with all of you! "Despite what many think and believe, humans are equipped with limited ways to deal with trauma. After a traumatic event, we may numb out, distract ourselves, compartmentalize our reactions, act out or intellectualize the event. There is a ‘thinking and feeling’ aspect to these defence mechanisms. There are also body-based reactions that lead us to “fight, flee, freeze or flock.” In an ideal situation, one would have a...

In each of these free 45-minute sessions, a member of the national advisory committee for Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) will share some of their expertise and engage in dialogue with you on key strategies for creating just, healthy and resilient communities. Seats are limited, but recordings will be available after each session. More information at MARC.HealthFederation.org/BrownBag

I’ve spent 15 years working inside New York’s justice system, representing teenagers and doing research inside juvenile facilities. When the New York State Legislature passed legislation to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 18, I viewed this change not as resolution of a long-standing problem within New York’s justice system, but rather as a step toward needed reforms of our state’s juvenile justice system. Advocates for raising the age of criminal responsibility believe...

Please check out my web sight. I am finding ACE awareness in many local social institutions. I am trying to link them to cross pollinate. http://aceawaresociology.weebly.com/ Hints, comments, ideas appreciated.

A few months ago Dr Felitti took the time to write me a short note saying how much he liked my blog post at Greatful Dad called The Impact of ACEs. I thought for that reason I should share it upstream...you are welcome to use to start our world knowing more about how it affects us all...even if you are a ZERO. Thank you Dr. Felitti and Dr. Anda for giving my life meaning in a way I never saw coming. It legitimized every word I had ever written about parenting! Here is my blog post: The...

“We treat people’s solutions as problems.” Vincent Felitti MD, the eminent author of the original ACE’s (Adverse Childhood Experiences) study, often makes this point when discussing how we focus on eliminating people’s desperate means of coping, without recognizing their adaptive functions. When addressing substance abuse (the most common method of tolerating overwhelming fear and pain) do we commit the same error of attempting to control the “solution” while largely ignoring the underlying...

The goal is a lofty one — to transform the city of Philadelphia. Organizers of Greater Philadelphia Trauma Training Conference are going about it one professional at a time. The event, which wraps up Friday at Thomas Jefferson University, is intended to help those in different professional fields become more aware of how to work with children who've experienced trauma. The 450 or professionals who attended Thursday's session represented the juvenile justice world, health care and education,...

A very interesting study was recently published in JAMAPsychiatry stating that brain inflammation in those with obsessive-compulsive disorder is significantly elevated (by more than 30 percent) compared to those without the disorder. [For more of this story, written by Janet Singer, go to https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2017/07/20/brain-inflammation-and-ocd/]

Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part series on college athletes struggling with mental health issues. Part two is here . Our earlier two-part series on the mental health crisis on U.S. college campuses is here. Victoria Garrick’s smiling Instagram photos of herself and friends at parties didn’t show what the University of Southern California junior was truly feeling: depression. “When it comes to college athletes, there’s a fear of admitting a weakness because you don’t want to be...

Peering into the open casket, I saw the lifeless body of my childhood friend. Although, some would argue he had been lifeless long before his death. Tommy was a drug addict for many years and had spent much time in-and-out of treatment centers and jails before his life came to a halt due to an unintentional overdose. As I stared at his now peaceful remains, I found myself highly perplexed at how this moment had transpired. Like Tommy, I too am a drug addict. I may have been into it harder...