Blog

The Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) is here to help you gain the skills necessary to change your community and the world. We will be offering a three-day training course June 10 - 12, 2019, taught by Dr. Ram Bhagat , related to challenging the status quo in the education system that allows systemic racism to flourish . Course details are: The framework for Building Resilience for Challenging Systemic Racism is grounded in Restorative Justice theory, values, and praxis. This three day...

A need and desire to be in motion may have been bred into our DNA before we even became humans and could have helped to guide the evolution of our species, according to a fascinating new study of the genetics of physical activity. The study uses big data and sophisticated genetic analyses to determine that some of the gene variants associated with how much and whether people move seem to have joined our ancestors’ genome hundreds of thousands of years ago, making them integral to human...

In 2007, I gave someone a second chance. I was in Danbury (Conn.) Federal Correctional Institution recruiting women for a new program for people returning from prison that I was running in New York City. A woman approached me and handed me her portfolio. It was basically a detailed resume of her accomplishments, skills and goals for the future. Over a two-year period before this, I had visited at least six female facilities in New York and Connecticut and met hundreds of women looking to...

Can technology solve cities? During economic booms, we tend to apply the philosophy of the zeitgeist too broadly. But what’s good for the goose isn’t necessarily good for the gander. The intersection of cities and technology is a perfect example. While well-applied technology and data analysis can vastly improve cities’ livability, relying on those tools to create a healthy, vibrant city is crazy. The tech sector’s focus on data collection and analysis locks them into a narrow definition of...

“Surviving Motherhood – One sip at a time.” “Liquid Therapy.” “I wine because they whine.” A popular meme this past Mother's Day read: "If you aren't screaming 'BARTENDER' at your husband all day, you're doing it wrong!" The “wine mom” sayings go on and on. They are mounted on glasses, t-shirts, cell phone cases, key chains, etc. You’ll find them on chalkboards outside of restaurants and bars, posters on store windows, or signage on end-caps in grocery stores that sell wine and beer. Social...

Even though I have excelled in practically all endeavors that I set out to do and have succeeded in new learning, I continued to have flash backs of certain events from my past and residual anger on certain things. I was first introduced to Trauma theory when I was working in an Outpatient clinic for Men in 2001. The Trauma Recovery Empowerment Model TREM was the philosophy practiced in conjunction with Boston model of psychiatric rehabilitation at the clinic. The concept of recovery made...

I believe all sentient beings should be free to roam. It’s our birthright. Both Karla, the Harvard-educated, formerly undocumented immigrant journalist and advocate featured in this film, and I share this view about the human migration, so we open this film with a radical declaration: “If you crossed, if you made the journey, if people did what it takes [to survive as an] immigrant in America, which is a lot, then you deserve to be here,” says Karla. She goes on to profess that recent desert...

Wednesday May 29 th , 2019 10:00-11:30 CST/ 11:00-12:30 EST Join the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative for this important webinar with sociologist Ruth Thompson Miller to discuss the enduring traumatic legacy of Jim Crow and how this trauma is reflected in the United States today. Dr. Thompson Miller will discuss her idea of “Segregation Stress Syndrome”- the chronic, enduring, and extremely painful responses to collective trauma that occurred during Jim Crow, and whose effects are still...

Psychiatric disorders definitely have a genetic component. And that, in addition to the trauma that most black people, particularly black women, endure in their lifetimes means that what may lie dormant is invariably loosed. Sometimes it looks like your auntie, who has barely left her room in 15 years. Sometimes it looks like your daddy, whose rage is so palpable that you can actually feel it; sometimes it’s drinking every night to take the edge off. Read more .

The Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative is excited to honor the first Trauma-Informed Awareness Day in Illinois! Conceived by the Community Behavioral Health Association of Illinois and supported by research conducted by the Collaborative, Trauma-Informed Awareness Day is sponsored by State Senator Julie Morrison of Deerfield, as well as numerous others who have joined the senator in recognizing the importance of trauma-informed care and resilience. Trauma-Informed Care Day calls upon the...

Every Tuesday morning this school year, Sammie and I have visited the kids at Terrace Park Elementary school. Sammie melts my heart as I witness her work her therapy dog magic with these sweet little humans. The idea of helping a child who is experiencing anxiety or feelings of overwhelm touches me on a soul level. I know how much small gestures of kindness and gentle acceptance meant to me as a child.

When Jose Luis Garza was arrested for threatening his brother during an intoxicated argument, his mother begged the police to keep watch of him. "I'm afraid of him hurting himself," she told the arresting officer early one morning in February of 2016. Watchfulness did not ensue. Despite his mother's warnings, the local jail in the border town of Donna, Texas, took no mental-health precautions. Instead, in the hours after Garza covered the camera in his cell with wet paper towels, no one...