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‘Our future can be brighter than our past.” These words of hope are critical for hundreds of thousands of Oklahoma children impacted by trauma and the public educators who serve them. Science tells us that childhood experiences of abuse and neglect linger in the brains of young people — causing them to relive their most agonizing experiences in an endless feedback loop and propelling them into a subconscious, and recurring, state of fight or flight that disrupts their ability to learn.

What can the movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse teach us about child development? All stories and fairy tales contain symbols and archetypes. These are what make stories universal and relatable to everyone . Such symbols and archetypes can represent human conflicts, struggles or experiences we have or may encounter — such as trauma and loss. Stories provide us with options for how to deal with the adversity we face. They provide a way of experiencing how things could be resolved and...

Thursday marks one year since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which set off a wave of activism across the country, as students and youth called for more gun control and safer schools. Young people in Philadelphia and other urban areas seized the opportunity to bring long-awaited attention to gun violence and trauma that impacts them on a regular basis. But some activists, students, and teachers say one year later, not much has changed in the way of...

By K. Hecht, A. Hosack, & P. Berman Its will be so wonderful to have children in the house again. It has been so lonely since our kids have grown up. Ms. Alexandra had told the Carsons that Claire had been abused and neglected by her family and might have some problems fitting in to their home. They weren’t worried. They had raised both a son and daughter who had grown up to marry and have their own happy homes. They felt they could provide Claire with just the same type of loving care...

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE — Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland took office in 2016 vowing to fight the city’s high violent crime rate by beefing up a dwindling police force. His most novel idea: use an advisory body, the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission, to funnel anonymous private donations from the city’s elite to reward cops who remain on the force. His wish list, dubbed the “Blue Sky Strategy” and outlined in emails obtained by The Marshall Project, was ambitious: $48.2 million, including $12.7...

Witnessing abuse carries the same risk of harm to children's mental health and learning as if the children had been abused directly, new research shows. SAVANNAH, Ga. – Latrelle Huff says her twins were conceived by rape. Now she blames domestic violence for her children's health problems. The Georgia woman says she had been in an abusive, on-and-off relationship for six years when she became pregnant. While pregnant, she says, the conflict continued. Huff spent 25 of 37 weeks on bed rest,...

This initiative will develop four case studies on the successes and barriers of individual state efforts to address preterm births. This work is part of a larger initiative to gain insights and perspective on how maternal health and well-being can help support optimum child health outcomes. Who: The case studies will be developed in partnership with four states that participated with NICHQ on the Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network to Reduce Infant Mortality (Infant Mortality...

In a photograph taken in the early 1960s, I’m sitting on the side porch of our rambling Victorian off Hope Street in Providence, with my parents and three sisters and brother. We’d just come home from Sunday school at the First Unitarian Church. We girls are wearing skirts and crisp white blouses, stockings held in place by garters. (Pantyhose, which will shortly arrive on the scene, will seem liberating.) My father and brother have crew cuts and narrow ties; they wear drip-dry polyester...

Growing up, neuroscientist Judith Grisel would take little sips of alcohol at family events, but it wasn't until she was 13 that she experienced being drunk for the first time. Everything changed. "It was so complete and so profound," she says. "I suddenly felt less anxious, less insecure, less inept to cope with the world. Suddenly I was full and OK in a way that I had never been." Grisel began chasing that feeling. Over the years, she struggled with alcohol, marijuana and cocaine. But...

Being an ally means standing in solidarity with someone impacted by an issue, regardless of whether or not it affects you. The term originated as a way to describe straight and cisgender supporters of the LGBTQ+ community but has expanded to include anyone who takes on another’s struggle as their own. In 2018, mass shootings dominated the headlines, exposing many Americans to the harsh reality of gun violence and inspiring a new wave of allies dedicated to the cause. Teen Vogue spoke with...

Pediatricians are seeing epidemic-level numbers of children and teens with anxiety disorders and physical problems related to anxiety. I currently estimate that more than 25 percent of the problems I discuss with parents and children in a day are stress-related. Anxiety presents in so many ways in kids: school avoidance, sleep problems, headaches, panic attacks, depressed mood and stomach pains are only a few ways that kids can show their stress. For over a decade, teachers, parents and...

We hope you will join ther first annual Trauma Informed Schools Network Conference: Cultivating Connections coming to Nashville, TN in mid-July. Details to come soon. The RFP wil open this Friday.