The disturbing neural imprints from adverse childhood experiences need not be a life sentence. Imagery is an extremely helpful tool to modify the circuitry of the brain, utilizing the principle of neuroplasticity. Imagery strengthens and stabilizes the brain, while laying down alternative neural pathways.
Change is long overdue for this massive maternal health chasm of wholistic health disparities, transcending physical, behavioral, and psychosocial health, and particularly for women of color (WOC)
It has escaped no one’s attention that there is a major military conflict going on in Eastern Europe between Russia and Ukraine. Turn on the Evening News, listen to the radio, or scroll through your social media news feed, and you'll see evidence of gross atrocities, senseless violence and doomsayers suggesting that this is the start of a world war. In the midst of all of this, how do you guard against fear and anxiety and protect your own mental health as well as that of your children? I...
I participated as a UNA-USA delegate, in the UN’s 66th Commission on the Status of Women. As I listened to plenaries, was part of side events, and engaged with co-delegates, there was the consistent theme of all that is needed. Our global lack of true logic and connection was on display, from stories of child trafficking by marriage, through stories and data on disparities, prejudice, environmental impact, so on. And while I’ll focus on how we address the lack by the Connect All approach, I...
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK – Oklahoma lawmakers are set to bring awareness to ACEs, known as Adverse Childhood Experiences and PACEs, Positive and Compensatory Experiences. Both the House and Senate have simple resolutions naming April 7 th ACEs and PACEs Awareness Day in Oklahoma. In the House, the resolution's primary sponsor is Rep. Carol Bush with many co-sponsors. In the Senate, co-sponsors are Sen. Brenda Stanley and Sen. Carri Hicks. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are potentially...
On March 1, 2022, an anguished voice begins, “My name is Marianna. My house is destroyed. My office is being shelled. I have barely escaped with my life.” She’s shakily accessing a video call from her location in Ukraine, but her image doesn’t appear on the screen, only her voice can be heard. “I will never be the same again,” she says to the Ukranian and international teachers, parents, grandparents, community members, and trauma specialists on the screen. “I will never experience happiness...
Engage with Dr. Alauna and Pastor Clinkscales for an intimate encounter on a personal journey of enlightenment through life-altering teachings that will help you heal mentally and emotionally - once you are FREE mentally, you are FREE INDEED! Business owners, business professionals, educators, faith leader or anyone seeking clarity and peace of mind in order regain balance in their life, this summit is for you. We all are wounded healers; you can't encourage wholeness if, you, first aren't...
By Andrea Michelson, Photo: Crystal Cox/Business Insider, April 7, 2022 Even as certain indicators of the pandemic, like hospital admissions and mask requirements, have declined or disappeared, the mental toll of the pandemic continues to pose a public health crisis. People from nearly every age group and profession — children , parents , college students , and frontline workers — have struggled with their mental health over the past two-plus years. Those with preexisting physical and/or...
By Marc Devokaitis, Photo: Donna Schulman/Macaulay Library, All About Birds, April 4, 2022 In December, the New York City Council passed two new laws that will reduce nighttime illumination in the glimmering Big Apple skyline, helping migrating birds navigate around and through the city that never sleeps. One new law focuses specifically on decreasing light pollution during peak migration times. It directs city-owned and city-occupied buildings to turn off nonessential outdoor lighting...
By Arthur C. Brooks, Illustration: Jan Buchczik, The Atlantic, April 7, 2022 What is the point of arguing with someone who disagrees with you? Presumably, you would like them to change their mind. But that’s easier said than done: Research shows that changing minds, especially changing beliefs that are tied strongly to people’s identity, is extremely difficult. As one scholar put it, this personal attachment to beliefs encourages “competitive personal contests rather than collaborative...
By Amy Westervelt, Drilled, April 5, 2022 Every few years the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases an assessment, which consists of several reports prepared by three working groups. Working Group I focuses on the scientific evidence for climate change; Working Group II on the impacts, adaptation and vulnerabilities; and Working Group III on mitigation, what we can do about it (and what's stopping us). The 2018 IPCC report got a LOT of media attention, more than any...
By Anya Kamenetz, Photo: Andreea Campeanu/Getty Images, National Public Radio, April 5, 2022 It's Tuesday morning and Hanna Kudrinova's 5th grade English class is signed on to Google Meet. Kudrinova starts like a lot of teachers everywhere, with a check-in. She asks the students to turn on their cameras and show a thumbs up if they're happy, thumbs down if they are sad, and sideways if they are feeling so-so. Today, Maksym Radzievsky, a boy with a round face and a striped shirt who seemingly...
Recently Jameelah Hanif, Ingrid Cockhren, and Mathew Portell discussed parenting education and how it relates to the promotion of positive child experiences and the prevention of adverse childhood experiences. Parenting education is important, and here’s a useful simile. Trauma caused by unsupportive and harmful parenting is like a powerful tsunami threatening the coast, whereas conventional parenting education is like one man with a shovel trying to stop the flooding. Conventional parenting...
Mistakes Research shows that children with a growth mindset – the belief that intelligence is not fixed and that they can work hard and practice to improve – understand mistakes as opportunities to learn. In your visits, you can try taking a simple mistake – like closing the computer when you still need it, or dropping a bandage on the floor – and model for children how they can grow from that experience. You may say something like, “Whoops, now I know to keep it on the table next time” or...
Website and Toolkit Now Live Gain new guidance and tools for communicating about childhood adversity. Visit BuildingBetterChildhoods.Org Social Current and Prevent Child Abuse America teamed up to develop new tools to help us all build the public understanding and political will needed to prevent and address childhood adversity. Grounded in recent research from the FrameWorks Institute, the tools are designed for communicating with media, funders, policymakers, and the general public.