Blog

Participants in the Community Conversation on Resilience and Equity in Whatcom County, WA, form a human pulse. ________________________ Teri Barila, director of the Children’s Resilience Initiative (CRI), figured few people would venture to Walla Walla to learn about brain science, self-regulation and resilience. She was wrong. A June 2016 conference, “Beyond Paper Tigers,” drew 250 people—some from as far away as Texas, New Mexico and Tennessee—to sessions on “Why Brain Science Matters,”...

As many American parents know, hiring care for young children during the workday is punishingly expensive, costing the typical family about a third of its income. Helping parents pay for that care would be expensive for society, too. Yet recent studies show that of any policy aimed to help struggling families, aid for high-quality care has the biggest economic payoff for parents and their children — and even their grandchildren. It has the biggest positive effect on women’s employment and...

Two years ago, in an instant, everything changed for my family and me. While my husband, Dave, and I were on vacation, he died suddenly from a cardiac arrhythmia. Flying home to tell my 7-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son that their father had died was the worst experience of my life. During that unimaginable trip, I turned for advice to a friend who counsels grieving children. She said that the most important thing was to tell my kids over and over how much I loved them and that they...

Kassie Benjamin-Ficken, a teacher in Minneapolis, discovered her love of math in elementary school. One of her earliest memories is begging her mother to come to school so her teachers could share how she excelled in math class. While earning average scores in reading, she was consistently above average for math—which instilled her with a sense of accomplishment. That continued into middle school, where she recalls asking her math teachers to move her into a higher grade for more advanced...

It’s been almost a year since the story of Brock Turner, the former Stanford University student who sexually assaulted an unconscious woman behind a dumpster following a fraternity party, was splashed across news headlines. And it’s been almost a year since he only got a slap on the wrist . [For more of this story, written by Jeff Back, go to https://psmag.com/the-responsibility-of-men-in-conversations-about-campus-sexual-assault-e1c6192ebbe3]

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s last book published before his assassination, he reflected on the civil rights movement and asked, “Where do we go from here? Chaos or community?” That same question resonates today, said Howard Pinderhughes , PhD, during the 2017 UCSF Last Lecture , in which he highlighted the importance of community and social justice in tackling health care challenges. Now in its sixth year, the UCSF Last Lecture has become an annual tradition in which a UCSF faculty member is...

Violence was a mainstay in George Galvis’ life from as far back as he can remember: His earliest memory, from age 3, is of witnessing his father savagely attacking his mother. So it’s no surprise that he brought what he learned at home to the streets. That ended at age 17, when he was incarcerated for multiple felonies, including attempted murder for his involvement in a drive-by shooting. Once he left prison, Galvis began a healing journey that led him to embrace his American Indian roots...

A report released today by Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality calls for specialized yoga programs to be offered widely to girls in the juvenile justice system amidst growing evidence that they can help them overcome the harmful effects of pervasive childhood trauma. The first of-its kind report – which draws on original pilot studies in Pennsylvania and Connecticut, an extensive literature review, and interviews with experts and girls around the country – finds that tailored...

Join award winning film Director, James Redford at the London premiere of the KPJR Films documentary RESILIENCE. HERE TO BUY TICKETS

The RMO for Returning Citizens, a prisoner reentry coalition in Lancaster County, PA, is leading an effort to build the foundation for a trauma-informed criminal justice system there. Our efforts to train all corrections officers and parole officers about trauma are highlighted in this article: http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/trauma-informed-training-for-lancaster-county-corrections-and-parole-officers/article_dfc9a524-292f-11e7-b008-8f12e2682c1f.html

Information is the most powerful and effective tool we have because it has the power to touch hearts, change lives and transform communities. Teri Barila has been reaching out with impact in the community of Walla Walla and the transformation is real. I attended the last few minutes of a monthly CRI meeting today where our community gathers together to share stories about the monumental strides that are being made in Walla Walla. The feelings of those in the room overtook me as I stood...

Join Echo on May 22, 2017 for a one-day training on childhood trauma for those professionals working with children and families who want a solid grounding in this cutting-edge subject. Did you know that your grandparents’ experiences can affect the way you respond to trauma today? That toxic stress makes us more sensitive to things like sound? Or that it affects learning and memory? Register to attend this fascinating review of all that current science is telling us about the number one...