This blog was born a few weeks ago. I was sitting at my dining table responding to emails from my readers, wonderful women like you, which often include a comment like, “Dr. Romm, thank you for all you do,” followed by, “I...
The Christian Post reports today that "Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who allegedly ambushed and killed two New York police officers before killing himself Saturday, had a "very troubled childhood," had been arrested 20 times for petty crimes and was violent and...
We all know that exercise can make us fitter and reduce our risk for illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. But just how, from start to finish, a run or a bike ride might translate into a healthier life has remained baffling. Now...
I love mnemonics! They help me remember things and more importantly they are a tool which helps me communicate complex ideas to others. A new publication, SAMHSA's Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma Informed Approach, includes...
On December 17, 2014, over 20 people met from across the Washington, DC metro area to begin a dialogue on how to move towards creating trauma informed communities. The event was co-sponsored by the STAR Center , a national technical assistance...
New research suggests it is just as toxic as sexual abuse. As recent reports regarding actor Stephen Collins remind us, accusations of child sexual abuse reliably produce a reaction of intense horror. But a new study suggests...
Dear Friends of the Trauma Center at JRI, It has been almost 10 years since The Trauma Center moved its home to Justice Resource Institute and what a beautiful marriage it has been! The complementary missions, talents, and resources have...
Don’t miss a great year-end piece in the New York Times “Fixes” series, which looks at solutions to social problems and why they work. Tina Rosenberg features the need to target the “social determinants” to improve...
The type of parenting children receive at an early age may have a long-term effect on their social skills and school success, a new study indicates. The study included 243 people from poor families in Minnesota who were followed from birth until age...
Years of efforts to reduce the racial disparities in health care have so far failed to eliminate them. But progress is being made in the western United States, due largely to efforts by managed care plans to identify patients who were missing...
S OLITARY confinement can be psychologically damaging for any inmate, but it is especially perverse when it is used to discipline children and teenagers. At juvenile detention centers and adult prisons and jails across the country, minors are...
We know more today than ever before about what makes young people tick. The field of juvenile justice has benefited from a wealth of serious research on adolescent development and brain science, in part thanks to the groundbreaking scholarship...
Sesame Workshop, the people behind "Sesame Street" (yes, that "Sesame Street!") got a group of young filmmakers who also have had a parent in prison together and asked them to talk about kids of incarcerated parents and...
The study is the first to link abuse of pregnant women with emotional and behavioral trauma symptoms in their children within the first year of life. Symptoms include nightmares, startling easily, being bothered by loud noises and bright...
Smokers trying to quit often light up a cigarette to deal with stress. Now an interdisciplinary team of Yale researchers has shown that guanfacine, a medication approved for treating hypertension that reduces stress and enhances cognition,...