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Studies have documented the connection between childhood trauma, and chronic disease and mental illness later in life. Some public schools in Maine are paying more attention to the impacts these experiences can have on student success. These schools are helping students identify — and cope with — the stressors that are effecting their lives. Waterville High School teacher Sherry Brown sees her students differently than she did several years ago. That's when she first learned about "adverse...

My youngest daughter has been having trouble getting to sleep in the last couple of weeks. The bedtime gratitude bodyscan I wrote really helps. It allows her to interrupt her now-habitual thoughts and place her attention on something more soothing and calming — her body and a feeling of gratitude. It captures her imagination and provides almost instant relief and release. Many parents have told me it is providing transformative relief for their children, too. Tonight I started to describe a...

It’s well-established that a prison sentence doesn’t just impact the individual sent behind bars; it affects the family too. Now, a new study hints at yet another path through which harsh criminal justice laws, including policies that send many to prison, hurt families and kids. Children living in states that have “extensive and punitive criminal justice systems” are more likely to be placed in foster care, the study finds. Children living in states that have “broad and generous welfare...

A survey of college and university presidents conducted earlier this year suggests that campus activists are making a difference. The American Council on Education asked 567 presidents about their experience with and response to activists on campus organized around racial diversity and justice. Almost half (47 percent) of presidents at four-year institutions said that such activism was occurring on their campuses and that the dialogue about such matters had increased (41 percent). The...

The federal Department of Education said recently that it would offer to write off $7.7 billion of student debt owed by disabled individuals, taking a big step to streamline a loan forgiveness program long plagued by bureaucratic delay and inefficiency. Starting April 18, loan forgiveness letters started going out to approximately 387,000 borrowers who have been identified as totally and permanently disabled by the Social Security Administration, allowing them to sign and file a simplified...

A campaign to end solitary confinement for juveniles launched today, with supporters pledging to build on the momentum of leading-edge jurisdictions that have banned the practice. The Stop Solitary for Kids campaign will offer technical assistance, training, public education, and model policy and legislation at the local, state and federal levels, all aimed at ending the use of solitary confinement for juveniles. “We want to reach a tipping point where there is so much momentum that it...

Tonier Cain was arrested 83 times and convicted of 66 crimes. She was homeless, a drug addict, a prostitute. "She is so impactful. She is somebody who has been through (trauma) herself and has made so many changes because somebody took the time to listen to her," said Tracy Geenen, executive director of the United Way of Manitowoc County. "Her story is breathtaking." Cain will give a public presentation at 6 p.m. April 20 at the Capitol Civic Centre in downtown Manitowoc. There is no...

The first death was on the night of Jan. 9. It was a Saturday. Pele Kristiansen spent the morning at home, drinking beers and hanging out with his older brother, which wasn't so unusual. There wasn't a lot of work in town. A lot of people drank. In the afternoon, they heard someone banging on their door, yelling. "Polar bear! It's a polar bear!" On the frozen fiord a couple of miles away, they could see the bear. Hunting in the Arctic — bears and reindeer and seals and birds — is at the core...

One of the best reports I have seen about the trauma-informed movement to date appeared last night on the PBS News Hour. When you to watch the 8:50 minute video (do it!), think about how it can be used to expose policymakers to the power of this information. Combine this video about community solutions with the new James Redford 5-minute video explaining the ACE study research and you've got a good start on ACEs awareness and education. The PBS News Hour story (in partnership with Kaiser...

I was in the 2nd grade and suddenly in a new school, staying with my aunt and looking forward to my mom picking me up and taking me back home. Perpetually distracted, the only thing I can remember from that school day was the classroom teacher adamantly explaining to the class that because her name was Ms. Blue every one of us should know how to spell B-L-U-E. At the end of the school day, I watched as other children got on the school bus and stood out of the way of the flow of traffic on to...

A man pushes a lawn mower through an expanse of green. A woman scours a tall, tiled shower. A man cleans a large pool as another washes the windows of a modern looking house, framed by two palm trees. These subjects are usually in the background of the luxurious California landscapes they help maintain, but the artist Ramiro Gomez uses his brush to document their existence, memorializing them in the midst of their work. By emphasizing the hidden labor that sweeps and polishes and scrubs,...

The U.S. Education Secretary John King is frustrated by what he describes as the “ahistorical nature” of conversations today about how to integrate schools. Speaking at a Century Foundation panel on Tuesday to highlight two recent reports by the left-leaning think tank, King said that the need for “urgency” when it comes to making classrooms more socioeconomically and racially diverse is sometimes thwarted by communities who see the current lack of real integration as a fact over which they...