Blog

While many kids in Contra Costa County are thriving, others lack basic health, education, and financial supports they need for well-being and long-term success. Since countywide statistics can mask such issues, regional data is useful for highlighting disparities and targeting resources. That’s why Children Now collaborated with the Contra Costa Economic Partnership , The Lesher Foundation , and First 5 Contra Costa to develop an infographic to help illustrate the need to close the...

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Do you have specialized expertise in trauma-informed care and education? Has your school taken the journal toward becoming trauma-sensitive ? The Attachment & Trauma Network (ATN) is looking for workshop presenters from a variety of backgrounds: educators (at all levels), counselors, social workers, clinicians, community leaders and others to present at our 2020 conference, February 16-18, 2020 in Atlanta, GA. You will be speaking at the LARGEST gathering of trauma-informed educators in...

How a troubled childhood led to bettering outcomes for Alaskan Native children If only for a short time, there was some happiness in Patrick Anderson ’75’s childhood: swimming in a slough off Alaska’s Prince William Sound, eating fresh herring eggs, and picking berries for his large extended family and placing them into empty 3-quart cans. It was a traditional life of Tlingit and Aleut peoples in Cordova, Alaska, in the early 1960s. But when Anderson was 8, his family moved to Seattle, where...

CA Prop 56 and CA AB 340 Trauma “Screening” begins 7/1/2019 Santa Clara County (SCC) ACEs Network Update - tools online https://www.acesconnection.com/g/santa-clara-county-ca-aces-connection (CA Department Of Health Care Services) Background: Trauma informed care is a model of care intended to promote healing and reduce risk for retraumatization. Early identification of trauma and providing the appropriate treatment are critical tools for reducing long-term health care costs for both...

By Jenn Lukens April 17, 2019 It was late July 2018 when the Mendocino Complex wildfire broke out in rural Lake County, California. It burned more than 450,000 acres and destroyed 280 structures before it was contained. Ana Santana managed to fill some storage bins with sentimental items – her kids’ blankets, pictures, and art projects – before fleeing her home. Santana is the facilitator of the Lake County Children’s Council and Program Director for Healthy Start Youth and Family Services ,...

In a downtown Anchorage courtroom last Tuesday afternoon, a judge declared Andrea Conter and Mitchell Hershey mother and son. It was an unusual adoption: Hershey was a week away from turning 21, and has been in Alaska’s foster care system for more than half his life. Conter is a 53-year-old bookstore manager who had barely considered motherhood until two years ago, when a Facebook post about a college-aged boy who needed a home changed both of their lives. In the fall of 2017, Conter, who is...

Part of the damage from abuse and neglect in childhood is what actually happened when we were kids. But a significant part of the problem today comes from what I call "Inside Traumas." These are self-defeating behaviors that are common to people who are frequently in a state of dysregulation. They start as an innocent attempt to feel calm and stable, but they can grow into significant traumas that cause real problems for us and others. If you'd like to learn about my online course, Healing...

Eighteen-year-old Kia Hanson has always enjoyed her time as a youth leader at the East Oakland Youth Development Center (EOYDC). She’s worked mostly with five- and six-year-olds since she began in 2016. Recently, she tapped into new skills, especially if the kids were having a meltdown. Kia Hanson “If they’re off, we ask them, ‘What’s wrong?’ ‘Do you want to talk about anything?’,” she explains. “Basically asking before assuming they’re mad at the world for no reason.” What made the...

On April 23rd, 2019 from 12:00pm-1:30pm PST the National Pediatric Practice Community on ACEs (NPPC) , an initiative of the Center for Youth Wellness, will be hosting a webinar to support efforts to screen all children for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and additional adversities. This webinar will summarize the findings of a state advisory group assigned to review tools and protocols for screening children for trauma, and provide an introduction to two tools the advisory group...

Panels from "Candorville," by Darrin Bell, from April 2012. (WPWG) There is a direct line between Trayvon Martin and Monday’s editorial cartooning Pulitzer. Darrin Bell, the California-based writer and artist, was the creator of the comic strip “Candorville” and co-creator of the strip “Rudy Park” when Martin, a Florida teenager, was shot to death in 2012. Bell’s syndicate, The Washington Post Writers Group, had urged him to try his hand at regular political cartooning — especially after he...

The third session of the Starting & Growing Resilient Communities: Online & IRL (In Real Life) was a success. Thank you to all who attended the live webinar. And, thank you to our guests, Linda Manaugh of Raising Resilient Oklahomans! and Kate Reed of Kankakee Iroquois Cares . We were also joined by ACEs Connection's Northeast Community Facilitator, Cissy White . I have embedded the video in this post. I invite every ACEs Connection member to also follow our YouTube Channel to view...