Blog

For several years I was the Education Co-chair of New Jersey State School Nurses Association (NJSSNA), tasked with co-creating our annual spring conference. It was a formidable job, but one that I relished. Our overarching goal was to bring the quality of a national conference to our state. One of the many components was to have scholarly poster presentations in order for school nurses in NJ to share the excellent work they were doing with colleagues. Posters are tricky, not all school...

An ACEs Connection webinar co-sponsored with 4 CA In 2017, California became the first state in the country to pass a law supporting universal screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the 5.3 million children in the state’s Medicaid program. As clinicians around California await the state’s announcement of what this new policy will entail, many are wondering what it takes to integrate ACEs science in a pediatric practice. Meet Drs. Deirdre Bernard-Pearl, R.J. Gillespie and...

[Editor's note: Dr. Harise Stein at Stanford University edits a web site -- abuseresearch.info -- that focuses on the health effects of abuse, and includes research articles on ACEs. Every month, she's posting the summaries of the abstracts and links to research articles that address only ACEs. Thank you, Harise!! — Jane Stevens] Zhang L, Zhang D, Sun Y. Adverse Childhood Experiences and Early Pubertal Timing Among Girls: A Meta-Analysis. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Aug 13;16(16).

In a video clip , a hospital patient turns away in protest as a physician enters the room. “Why do you all keep coming in my room!” she asks in frustration. The physician moves a chair out of the way and sits down at eye level with the patient. “You’ve had to see so many people,” he acknowledges. “And I’m tired of it!” she yells. “I already know I have to get both of my legs cut off. That’s what they keep saying. I don’t have a choice!” “You don’t feel like you have a choice,” he repeats...

Graduate School of Social Work Lecturer Meagan Corrado, M.S.S. '09 , who is also an artist, has always taken a creative approach to her work with children, adolescents, and families, incorporating elements of art, music, poetry, and play therapy in her clinical practice. As a lecturer, she noticed that many of the students she came to know also had an interest in the arts. "We have social work students who are yoga teachers, photographers, filmmakers, writers, actors, visual artists, and...

By Brigit Katz, Child Mind Institute, October 2019 On a recent afternoon, JD Bailey was trying to get her two young daughters to their dance class. A work assignment delayed her attempts to leave the house, and when Bailey was finally ready to go, she realized that her girls still didn’t have their dance clothes on. She began to feel overwhelmed and frustrated, and in the car ride on the way to the class, she shouted at her daughters for not being ready on time. “Suddenly I was like, ‘What...

By David Leonhardt, The New York Times, October 6, 2019 Almost a decade ago, Warren Buffett made a claim that would become famous. He said that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary, thanks to the many loopholes and deductions that benefit the wealthy. His claim sparked a debate about the fairness of the tax system. In the end, the expert consensus was that, whatever Buffett’s specific situation, most wealthy Americans did not actually pay a lower tax rate than the middle class. “Is it...

By Emily Laurence, Well and Good, October 5, 2019 In the US, the average life expectancy is 78 years. But there are a few places in the world—specifically Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Icaria, Greece—where living to be over 100 isn’t uncommon at all. In these regions, known as Blue Zones, the life expectancy isn’t just higher; centenarians are generally also healthy, their minds and bodies still working well. National Geographic journalist Dan Buettner spent years...

Oct 7, 2019 for Well Being Due to the very high levels of stress being reported in the solicitors’ profession in Ireland, the Law Society of Ireland has today launched a new initiative to promote wellbeing among practitioners. In all, 57% of solicitors have reported ‘very high’ or ‘extreme’ levels of stress in the course of their daily work. This is just one of the findings from independent research, commissioned by the Law Society, which examined the wellbeing of solicitors. The research...

For our second community spotlight interview, I spoke with Dr. Richard Honigman, a pediatrician at Central Nassau Pediatrics in Levittown and infant mental health advocate. We discussed the importance of addressing childhood adversity and the relevant work he is doing both inside and outside his practice. Please note that responses have been adjusted for length and clarity. Dr. Honigman is also the first recipient of the 2019 Ed Tronick Award for Distinguished Contribution to Infant-Parent...

Traumatized families often remain stuck in “now what?” After telling their story and identifying trauma, the question is “now what?” What do we do in the here and now to heal trauma and move forward? Therapists need tools to answer this question. In response, the Family Systems Trauma (FST) model developed playbooks. or written plans with concrete strategies to clarify roles and heal trauma in the here and now. Wednesday, October 9 1 - 2 pm ET Register HERE for free In this webinar,...

By Marketplace, October 7, 2019 It was midafternoon on Valentine’s Day when I heard an early news report about the school shooting. The particulars drifted in as I hurried my way through a pile of work that needed attention before I left for a long Florida weekend with my wife: students and teachers killed, number unknown. Panic in the halls. A gunman armed with an assault rifle. My first reaction was: Not again. I’d found myself thinking that too many times lately. Hadn’t we all? Four...