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Every time there’s a mass killing, politicians direct our attention to mental illness as the primary cause. And although mental health issues are more prevalent than ever among our youth and treatment is certainly called for, statements like this ignore the fact that we can prevent young men from reaching the point they are motivated to kill others. Most of these young men have a long history of exposure to trauma. In the case of the shooter in Uvalde, Texas, he was reportedly bullied over...

Building knowledge, strategies and tools for thriving educators, families and children Arizona is in the midst of a trauma crisis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood trauma has now reached the level of a public health crisis. What’s more, Arizona ranks highest in the nation for victims who have experienced two or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). To make matters worse, certain population cohorts are two and three times more likely to have multiple...

By Karen D'Souza, Photo: Alison Yin/EdSource Today, EdSource, June 9, 2022 C alifornia has long been famous for its creativity, the engine driving everything from the entertainment industry to the tech sector. But decades of budget cuts and a laser focus on core subjects have pushed the state’s public schools to cut arts education to the bone over the years. Now, two years of trauma during a pandemic that’s stolen more than a million lives and the fresh horrors of a spate of mass shootings,...

By Geoff Dembicki, Image: Informed Citizens for the Environment, June 8, 2022 I n 1980, a report circulated to a division of one of the biggest coal-burning utilities in the US warned that “fossil fuel combustion” was rapidly warming the atmosphere and could cause a “massive extinction of plant and animal species” along with a “5 to 6-meter rise in sea level” across the world. Several years later an official at the utility co-chaired a conference where scientific researchers fretted that “as...

From Pitchfork Economics, June 7, 2022 When it comes to crafting economic policy, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, choice, and competition have reigned supreme among policymakers for decades. Sociologist Elizabeth Popp Berman says that this style of economic reasoning—prioritizing efficiency above all else—makes good ideas seem like bad policy. She walks us through how that short-sighted style of thinking took hold in DC and explains when policymakers are right to lean on purely economic...

If there's any positive news with regard to the tragic and gut-wrenching series of mass shootings that we've seen in recent decades, it is that our understanding of the factors behind them is growing better. Researchers such as Jillian Peterson and James Densley, co-founders of The Violence Project have done unprecedented and in-depth research on the myriad of factors that have led to mass shootings in the past 30+ years. The factors leading to mass shootings are extraordinarily complex and...

By Allison Stephens, 6/9/22, https://positiveexperience.org/category/blog/ Happy Pride Month! The HOPE National Resource Center is joining the national celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride. HOPE is about meeting the needs of all children and families , including those that identify as LGBTQ+. While we celebrate, we also acknowledge that children and families in the LGBTQ+ community can experience both bias and racism. These Adverse Community Experiences can make it harder for LGBTQ+ families to enjoy...

This change requires Speech Language Pathologists and Early Education Professionals and Teachers and Pediatricians and University Clinics to look at our work differently.

Resilient & Thriving Communities Week June 6-12, 2022 Boone, NC: June 8, 2022: A voluntary statewide coalition of people from local community collaboratives, interested staff from North Carolina non-profit organizations, and governmental agencies has organized and are facilitating the first ever “Resilient & Thriving Communities Week” in North Carolina, June 6-12, 2022! This special week is the result of discussions that began two years ago. A volunteer leader of a local North...

How can we help our children? By shifting the brain. I know, because it worked for me and then it worked with a successful six week pilot program with five second grade classrooms. Almost 20 years ago I stood overlooking the dark green churning waters of the San Diego bay wondering how I survived my childhood. The avalanche of tears wouldn’t stop. I was having flashbacks, nightmares and day terrors. Then the answer came. A small internal voice answered me, “I had a Polka Dot Day!” That small...

“ There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.” - Nelson Mandela “ Anything that has real and lasting value is always a gift from within.” - Franz Kafka “ Staying quiet about one’s struggles limits that person’s ability to seek proper help or treatment.” - Sarah Bregel Michael Skinner: "Brush Away Your Tears" - “BRUSH AWAY YOUR TEARS”© Michael Skinner Brush away the tears from your eyes my child The world don’t want to see you cry Brush...

By Clarissa Donnelly-DeRoven, Photo: Clarissa Donnelly-DeRoven, North Carolina Health News, May 31, 2022 Students in the Honor Opportunity Purpose and Excellence — HOPE — program start each morning by breathing. The alternative high school, nested within Tarboro High in Edgecombe County, is led by Quarry Williams, a man who’s moved up the public school food chain from bus driver to school counselor to administrator and nearly everything in between. Once the students are settled, Williams...