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By Brooke Migdon, Photo: Unsplash, The Hill, February 7, 2022 Two Missouri groups are teaming up to deliver copies of challenged books to parents and students in the state free of charge. The initiative comes as books across the country — pertaining mostly to race, gender identity and sexual orientation — are challenged for being what some consider sexually explicit or inappropriate for young readers. The Banned Book Program , launched by the nonprofit In Purpose Educational Services (IPES)...

By Mary Ann Wolf and Elizabeth DeKonty, Photo: Pexels, EdNC, February 7, 2022 As we continue our focus on the whole child and student mental health, it is important for us to consider how a child’s experiences affect their brain and their behavior. When I think back to teaching two decades ago, the research about Adverse Childhood Experiences had not yet come out. I remember some of the behavioral challenges, in particular, about my students; and I often wonder about how I may have been able...

By Albinson Linares, Photo: Texas Children's Hospital, NBC News, February 8, 2022 María Elena Bottazzi doesn't forget where she comes from. Her face softens as she, in the midst of complex scientific terms, speaks of Honduras as if she had left Tegucigalpa, its capital, yesterday. “It never crossed my mind to look for a job at a multinational" company, she said with a broad smile in a video interview with Noticias Telemundo. "I am Central American and doing nonprofit projects is my way of...

Please join us today at noon for our WCCI Wednesday Conversation. We will be talking with Helen Joy George, advocate for mental wellness, motivational speaker, writer, and photographer. Helen Joy is the closing speaker for this year's 2022 WCCI Conference and today we will have the distinct pleasure of spending an hour with her. We will hear about her story, the people and events that changed her life, and how she maintains wellness. She is a person of deep strength, insight, and wisdom and...

If you're a Virginia resident or know someone who is, we have quite a few opportunities for educators, organizations, and community leaders to attend our virtual conference FOR FREE! Due to funding available through your state, registration waivers are available for Virginians who work with children and want to learn more about trauma-informed, resilience-building strategies. The virtual portion of our conference takes place live February 24-25, 2022 and all virtual content will be available...

How much gas is in your tank at the beginning of your day? Are you 100% charged and ready to go, or feeling depleted and wishing you could pull the covers over your head and catch a few more Zzz’s? The last few years of constant change, leading through fear, worry, and lack of staff has been taxing on our energy. Many of us feel drained. We know we can’t continue at this pace, yet we push through tasks and deadlines, and at the end of the day, we bring our leftovers to the people we love the...

Betsy Polatin is a professor of the Alexander Technique at Boston University College of Fine Arts, and on the faculty of The Opera Institute. Having taught worldwide for over thirty years, Betsy is a specialist in working with actors, musicians and other performers. As Betsy teaches students from all different professions to use themselves to their utmost potential, she also integrates the Breathing Coordination principles developed by Carl Stough ground-breaking breathing specialist.

James R. Doty, M.D. is the founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University of which His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the founding benefactor. Dr. Doty works with a variety of scientists from a number of disciplines examining the neural bases for compassion and altruism. He is also a professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford University School of Medicine.

By The HOPE Team, 2/8/22, https://positiveexperience.org/category/blog/ Register for the 2022 HOPE Summit – Growing HOPE before February 11 th for our early bird discount! Growing HOPE is a one-day virtual conference that will be interactive and give you clear ways to add the HOPE Framework into your day to day work and organization. We will be offering a wide variety of workshops during the afternoon, and you can attend three of them. The workshops will cover HOPE in direct services,...

By Devin Dwyer and Sarah Herndon, Image: Screen shot from ABC News video, ABC News, February 7, 2022 Groundbreaking research by several top American medical centers has identified a COVID pandemic spike in cases of so-called "broken heart syndrome," a potentially deadly stress-induced heart condition that doctors say is disproportionately impacting women. "My heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest," said Mary Kay Abramson, 63, of Brookeville, Maryland, who was diagnosed with the...

By Terry Gross, Photo: mjrodafotografia/Getty Images, February 1, 2022 When her husband left her after more than 25 years together, science writer Florence Williams says her body felt like it had been plugged into a faulty electrical socket. "I can almost describe it like a brain injury," she says. "I wasn't sleeping at all. I felt really agitated." Williams wanted to understand her physical reaction to the breakup, so she began speaking to scientists in the U.S. and England about the...

This is the third of three stunning illustrations showing how PACEs (positive and adverse childhood experiences) affected the family of Cendie Stanford, graphic artist and founder of the nonprofit ACEs Matter. This one looks at her positive childhood experiences. The day before her 16th birthday, Cendie Stanford’s older brother was shot and killed by a young man who, just two years earlier, had been her boyfriend. “I was heartbroken that two people I loved were out of my life forever,” says...