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By David Waters, Daily Memphian, February 9, 2020 A landmark Memphis clinical trial of neurofeedback therapy shows promising results for adolescents struggling to overcome chronic childhood trauma. In the 2019 trial, scientists measured, recorded and trained the brain waves of nearly three dozen adolescents at Compass Intervention Center in southeast Memphis. The non-invasive therapy, which has been used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in war veterans, was used to treat developmental...

From Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, University of Texas, February 2020 Note: An additional RFP for the Mental Health Peer Policy Fellow Program is being released simultaneously with this RFP. Eligible organizations are allowed to submit proposals for one or both of these policy fellow grants. The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health invites eligible organizations in Texas to respond to this request for proposals (RFP) to fund policy fellow positions. The goal of this program is to promote...

Understand that as ACAs, ever the good little, loyal soldiers, we spent our childhoods trying to manage the unmanageable disease of addiction. That means we were trying to manage a drug addict, but they still more or less look like Dad or Mom. So we don’t know that this isn’t normal; we don’t see the illness. Our parent simply keeps acting in strange and frightening or “fun” or smarmy ways. But we keep thinking it’s our parent, and our parent keeps using our name and wearing the same clothes...

The Importance of Practicing Self-Care When You’re Recovering from Addiction When you’re recovering from addiction , self-care is vital to your physical, mental, and emotional health—and to the success of your continued sobriety. In fact, the Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine says that practicing good self-care during recovery is key to developing coping skills and preventing relapse from happening. The more time you spend caring for yourself and paying close attention to your mind and...

By Marynia Kolak, Jay Bhatt, Yoon Hong Park, et al., January 29, 2020 Key Points Question How do social determinants of health vary across multiple dimensions and geographic space? Findings In this cross-sectional study of 71 901 census tracts with approximately 312 million persons across the continental United States, multivariate social determinants of health measures were reduced to 4 indices reflecting advantage, isolation, opportunity, and mixed immigrant cohesion and accessibility and...

By Kavitha Cardoza, National Public Radio, February 6, 2020 What can you do if you're a teacher, a neighbor, a churchgoer, a coach ... and you suspect a child is being impacted by a parent's addiction? Maybe you're thinking, "I'd love to help but it's not my business." Or "I want to reach out but I don't know much about addiction." Remember that episode of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, where he tells children to "look for the helpers"? You can be that helper simply by being present for the...

I have always believed rules are made to be broken -- not all rules, not all the time. But, there is a time for rule breaking. We can come up with examples, including civil disobedience. Here is another example: breaking a rule for decency and for caring. The fact that this student was kicked out of school is enough to make my blood boil. Read this. Ask: what were the adults in charge thinking. Oops. They weren't thinking and that's the problem. https://apple.news/AzUe6J1zbQsyVbptDmzC-Zw

Thought this article would be of interest. It speaks to why the word "trauma" scares many people and why it matters that we name it, tame it and frame it. Comments welcome as always. https://medium.com/@KarenGrossEdu/we-have-trouble-using-the-word-trauma-and-thats-not-good-c2f20c2548ce

By Dolores Acevedo-Garcia, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, January 23, 2020 The Tale of Two Boys Growing Up in Cleveland Let’s ask two hypothetical 9-year-old boys a question: What is it like to grow up in Cleveland? Each boy attends school, and enjoys riding his bike and playing with Legos. Both live in Cleveland. Beyond these similarities, their life experiences are—and will continue to be—starkly different based on multiple, complex factors that lie within their neighborhoods. [...

By Ann Schimke, Chalkbeat Colorado, February 5, 2020 There’s a lot Melisa Sandoval wants educators to know about childhood trauma. But perhaps the most important thing is this: It’s not a life sentence. The brain can heal from trauma with the right relationships and environment, said Sandoval, the director of social emotional learning and student agency for the 9,000-student Westminster School District in suburban Denver. [ Please click here to read more .]

By Christopher O'Donnell, Tampa Bay Times, February 6, 2020 Over and over, Kaitlyn rubs a sanding block up and down a piece of birch that was once the back of a chair, scouring away its faded varnish and imperfections. She’s dressed in flip-flops, sky-blue pipe jeans and a tourist T-shirt from Puerto Rico. With strawberry blonde hair corralled into a ponytail, she looks like a high schooler. Once a week, Kaitlyn, 21, turns up for an art therapy class at the Florida Dream Center, a Pinellas...

By Danielle C. DeVille, Diana Whalen, Florence J. Breslin, et al., February 7, 2020 Key Points Question How common is suicidality among preadolescent children, and are certain family factors associated with children’s suicidality? Findings In a cross-sectional analysis of 11 814 children and their caregivers from the baseline sample from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study, the prevalence of suicidal ideation and behaviors among preadolescent children was higher than previously...