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Have you ever been saved by an animal? Today I want to share how I was saved by a siamese cat and the value of animals to alleviate Childhood Toxic Stress when physical escape from trauma is not an option. From Appreciation and Love For 21 years I’ve shared my life with a sweet little squirrel of a Siamese (I like to call her), my Savannah. She is nearing the end now and there is no easy way to say good-bye. Because of my intense feelings around animals since childhood where the only relief...

David Ross walks the halls of the University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Center dressed in scrubs. He waits for victims of stabbings, shootings, and assaults to recover from their injuries—and then makes his move. As those patients are stabilized and begin to feel better, Ross approaches. He begins somewhat informally, speaking to them like a friend, a guy the victim might bump into on the street. "When they are the most vulnerable, it's the best time to get them into service," said Ross, a...

At the after-school coaching programs run by the Orange Duffel Bag Initiative, the staff never shines a spotlight on the fact that many of their participants are homeless. Rather, they wait for a teenager or young adult to open up. Often the moment comes when the participants draw their chairs into a circle after a day of trust-building exercises. They talk about experiencing homeless, the foster care system or deep poverty. The OBDI organizers know their backgrounds. Counselors, school...

Kindergarten teacher Erica Nunemaker ripped down the clip chart she used for behavior management in her classroom. Children moved their clip up for good behavior and down for bad behavior. Nunemaker realized the same students were moving down every day. The clip was a public display of the student’s failure, and children weren’t learning how to fix their behavior. “I’ve noticed that a lot of times we discipline them and tell them that’s not right ... but then we don’t give them a solution to...

A new study of police stops and arrests in the United States confirms what some have argued for a while: Police are not that much more likely to injure or kill African Americans once they’ve made a stop or arrested someone, but they’re much more likely to stop and arrest African Americans in the first place. If the result isn’t surprising—and at this point, it really shouldn’t be—the means by which Ted Miller and his colleagues at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation reached...

Two people died in a mass shooting in Florida this week , after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history happened at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando just 43 days ago, which itself was the 15th mass shooting in Florida this year. The frequency of mass shootings, while horrifying, obscures the banality of everyday gun violence in the U.S. Specifically, that far more people are killed in gun suicides and accidents than in homicides. Guns are primarily suicide machines. There were 21,334 firearm...

For individuals entering the criminal justice system, the experience of incarceration can lead to disconnection from supportive relationships, weakened self-esteem, and additional trauma and violence. Those with behavioral health conditions have a particularly difficult time in jail and prison – not only do these environments impede recovery, they can make life even more challenging after release. Many justice systems, including police, corrections, and courts work closely with behavioral...

The 2900 block of Webster Avenue in the Hill District doesn’t look like it’s suffering. Most of the properties are in decent shape, and day in and day out, it’s fairly quiet. Rhonda Lockett, a lifelong resident except for a stint in Washington, D.C., said most of her neighbors go to church and many are educated and employed. Yet 75 percent of the block — 36 households — have agreed to open their doors and their lives to community organizers, medical and behavioral health professionals and to...

I begin this channel to talk about maternal health & provide access to dialogs, conversations and education to people around the world. Motherhood is not perfect! Taking care of a human is hard! If you would like to contribute to the channel with a video. Please contact me here or visit our Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Jawresearch/ ) page to leave a voicemail message! Wishing you wellness in life & business Jaw;)

COMPARING THE LIVES OF CHILDREN IN G20 COUNTRIES Children born in 2016, the Chinese year of the monkey, are said to be playful, clever and curious. A wonderful combination for any child. Yet, the lives and opportunities for these children depend critically on the choices made by our political and economic leaders .And, a key forum for this leadership is the G20. As the host nation for this year’s G20, China has put prosperity for all on the agenda. The Chinese President has said the...

When Joan was an undergraduate, in the 1970s, she asked her boyfriend why one of his roommates was finishing up a Ph.D. while another, in the same department, still had several years left. “Barbara’s rigid,” her boyfriend said. His other roommate, Karen, had slept with her advisor, but Barbara refused to sleep with hers. Chuckling with approval, the boyfriend recounted how Karen had asked to use his waterbed, and left a pair of sexy underwear scrunched in his sheets. Today, this kind of quid...

Last year, my previous employer threw a very thoughtful, generous appreciation dinner for our creative leadership team. The dinner was scheduled for 6:30pm on a weeknight. I’m a single mom living in downtown Boston, which meant that I’d have to arrange for a sitter from about 6pm-midnight at $20/hour. Add in some Tasty Burger for my son and the sitter, her tip and Uber home, and this appreciation dinner was going to end up costing me about $200. So when I received the invite, I couldn’t just...