It's been 3 months now since Annie and I have been dating and things are going really well. Yet, cooler heads have prevailed and the both of us are pragmatic enough to know that it's still just 3 months. Prior to the Covid 19 pandemic, the both of us were making plans to travel together in May. Needless to say, that idea sunk like a rock to the bottom of the ocean, the moment #socialdistancing hit all our feeds overnight.
In lieu of all the adversity and constant change in our world, we know that there is HOPE and there is science to back it! The Charlotte Resilience Project would like to share that science with you! For today ONLY, we are offering virtual access to the Resilience film. Simply follow the steps below: 1. Visit www.charlotteresilienceproject.com 2. Click "Watch the Film" tab 3. Complete the form to access the film 4. Join us for a post-film discussion at 6 p.m. today via ZOOM.
By Chris Mooney, Brady Dennis, and Sarah Kaplan, The Washington Post, April 8, 2020 Two weeks after her husband died alone in an intensive care unit in Fort Myers, Florida, Nicole Buchanan is quarantined at the home they shared with their 12-year-old daughter, wrestling not only with grief but with why and how the coronavirus could steal someone so young and healthy. "My husband didn't have diabetes, he didn't have asthma, he didn't have high cholesterol. He didn't have anything," Buchanan...
By Aditi Srivastav Brussells, April 10, 2020, The Post and Courier Columbia, SC My first memorable experience moving to Columbia was the 1,000-year flood. The National Guard was camped out for days in my neighborhood, and we couldn’t find a hot cup of coffee anywhere around town. Knowing very few people at the time, I felt depressed, isolated and most of all anxious for things to go back to normal. During that time, the #ColumbiaStrong hashtag emerged, which became more of a symbol of...
Drugs, Alcohol, and Coping Grief greatly affects a person’s mental and emotional health. It can trigger depression, anxiety, and irrational behavior, as well as substance abuse. People experiencing painful grief often turn to drugs and alcohol in an attempt to numb feelings of pain and hurt associated with their loss. On a short-term basis, drugs and alcohol may seem to help silence negative feelings, emotions, and thoughts, but in the long run, using addictive substances to cope with loss...
"Adverse Childhood Experiences are the single greatest public health threat facing our nation today." - Dr. Robert Block "How we respond to CV-19 situation as individuals, families and communities will set the stage for hurt or healing of humanity in decades to come." - Jo Lyn Cornelsen Holistic RN "When you study prison populations, you see a preponderance of childhood trauma and mental illness. The two go together. So what we have in prisons are the most traumatized people in our society."...
This is the week the Governor of California called off the rest of the school year. Many states are following. This is not just the year of COVID. This is the year without graduation. That means 3.7 million high school seniors in the Class of 2020 are not going to wear their caps and gowns in May and June. Let me speak to you seniors if I may. (The rest of you should stay here, too. You need to get what they are losing). You began the year with senior photos. Sports for the last time for...
I've written a 4-part series on Medium about trauma, the brain, and coping with stress related to COVID-19, incorporating core concepts of the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics. The goal is to help to normalize and validate our collective responses and offer potential ways to soothe our nervous systems and enhance our relational connection-- in a straightforward and sometimes humorous tone. Please feel free to read and share with anyone who may find it helpful: ...
By Tatiana Sanchez, San Francisco Chronicle, April 10, 2020 Hundreds of educators in San Francisco are pledging to donate part of their stimulus checks to undocumented immigrants who make up a vital part of the U.S. and regional workforce but do not qualify for federal aid under the government’s stimulus bill. United Educators of San Francisco, which represents more than 6,200 San Francisco Unified School District employees, including teachers, nurses, counselors, and psychologists, said it...
By Justin Phillips, San Francisco Chronicle, April 9, 2020 Three weeks is a lifetime during a global pandemic, and a lifetime ago I would joke with my two older brothers and a few close friends about unfounded rumors that we, as black people, were somehow immune to the coronavirus. Early reports from government agencies about new cases across the globe didn’t elaborate on the race of sick patients at the time, so in that vacuum of information, we applied humor. We aren’t laughing much these...
HERE this NOW was shocked and stunned when the Corona pandemic hit. But with a few weeks of thawing, this network of trauma-informed consultants is awakening to the new day and ready to talk about it with others. Please join Emily Daniels, founder of HERE this NOW, for the first conversation in a new series of discussions called CONVOS during COVID. Daniels' first guest will be Dr. Stephen Porges, creator of The Polyvagal Theory. Daniels and Porges will discuss the effects of prolonged...
" Be Strong In The Storm" is a poster by Diane Kaufman, MD and Amanda Sloan submitted to the UN Call for Creatives to Help Stop the Spread of COVID-19. The poster was inspired by my saying to a patient and her family, “stay strong in the storm,” and then afterwards remembering the song, “When You Walk Through a Storm,” by Rogers and Hammerstein from their musical Carousel. Little did I know when creating the poster concept that this song was already being used internationally to honor the...
With the advent of the #MeToo movement, the public has been forced to examine the horrific tragedy of women suffering at the hands of sexual predators. We have learned through marches and very public testimony of the damage women receive when their boundaries and dignity as human beings is violated. However, there is another group of people who, because of societal restraints, suffer the same fate, only in silence. That group consists of men. In a study published by Muenzenmaier, et.al. 1 ,...
“At the time of the World Trade Center terrorist attack in September 2001, I was employed as a hospice bereavement coordinator and supported those who were terminally ill and those who loved them; I also facilitated a bereavement support group and taught a master’s-level crisis intervention course at Brooklyn College in New York City. It was during the car ride back from teaching that I felt compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma. As I reflected on my feelings, I knew that I needed...
By David Woodlock, New York Daily News, April 9, 2020 Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face. Self-isolate if you are experiencing symptoms. Right now, our health-care system is — very appropriately — in emergency triage mode in the battle against COVID-19. But there is a looming crisis on the horizon if we only pay attention to the physical and ignore the emotional dimensions of this pandemic. A landmark 1997 study found that Adverse Childhood Experiences, including things like physical,...