Blog

Neighborhood violence has been associated with adverse health effects on youth, including sleep loss, asthma and metabolic syndrome. Yet some youth living in high-crime neighborhoods manage to avoid these effects. A new Northwestern University study aims to answer a resilience puzzle: Why does a second-hand or indirect experience of neighborhood violence affect some youth, but not others? "Little is known about the brain networks that are involved in shaping these different outcomes, a...

Less than a mile south of the U.S.-Mexico border, in Sasabe, Mexico, a Guatemalan man named Giovanni (whose first name is used to protect his undocumented status) propped up his feet while an EMT applied antibiotic ointment to his feet in the shade of a cottonwood. Giovanni left his home country because of a catastrophic drought and was attempting to unite with his brothers who were already in Dallas. After trying to cross the border into the Arizona desert, his feet were ravaged:...

At age 40, Joe Burton was not a mindful leader. He was the COO of an $2 billion company, working 12-hour days and weekends and making more than half a million dollars a year. But his body was paying the price: He was suffering from insomnia, asthma, and eight years of chronic back pain that was so bad it sometimes brought him to tears. “I was frustrated, angry, competitive, and hurting,” Burton writes in his 2018 book Creating Mindful Leaders: How to Power Down, Power Up, and Power Forward .

In case you missed it over the holiday weekend, on late Friday afternoon, the federal government released a worrying new report about climate change. Over 1,600-plus pages, the report explains in blunt terms all the ways that climate change will harm the environment, devastate the economy, and imperil the lives of millions of Americans. The fourth National Climate Assessment shares many similarities with the first, which was released in 2000. Both studies find that temperatures in the United...

To properly understand white supremacy and institutional inequality, there is no need to study the Ku Klux Klan or ask why you can’t say the n-word. Racism has less to do with the hate in one’s heart and more to do with the hard truths of economics and history. A new study titled “ The Devaluation of Assets in Black Neighborhoods ,” from the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings highlights how race is intertwined with economics, manifesting itself as the inescapable reality of racism. The...

On a Saturday afternoon in Houston, Dennis Rivera-Sarmiento crossed a stage donning a green graduation gown. The 19-year-old was proud of this moment—one he wasn’t sure would happen. Just months before, a scuffle with a classmate near Stephen F. Austin High School threatened his future in the United States. Charged with assault, he was arrested by campus police, sent to county jail, then held in three different Texas immigration detention centers, including one located more than an hour from...

All with the beautiful intention of helping kiddos who need a sprinkling of Sammie hope in their lives. As a child who experienced ACEs and the resulting anxiety, it can feel overwhelming and scary. I am so very happy our Sammie's Bundles of Hope can help alleviate a little bit of that scariness and bring a smile to those kiddos needing hope the most.

Brett A. Loftis, JD, is co-founder of The Center for Trauma Resilient Communities and is also Crossnore’s Chief Executive Officer. Crossnore School & Children’s Home is pleased to announce the opening of the Center for Trauma Resilient Communities. The Center’s focus is to provide training and consultation for building trauma resilience within an organization or community. Start-up funding for the Center has been provided by an anonymous private foundation that is committed to healing...

Dr. Sharon Portwood, a valued member of Benchmarks' Partnering for Excellence Leadership Team, is now serving on the American Psychological Association's Committee for Children, Youth, and Families and is helping to raise awareness of ACEs. Dr. Portwood, who also teaches at UNC Charlotte, has opened this recent newsletter with an article on research and policy implications. The newsletter continues by highlighting four different articles regarding ACEs across domains from education to...

Editor's Note: RSVP to join us at Brookings on December 5 for an event focused on this report’s findings, Homeownership while black: Examining the devaluation of assets in black neighborhoods . Homeownership lies at the heart of the American Dream, representing success, opportunity, and wealth. However, for many of its citizens, America deferred that dream. For much of the 20th century, the devaluing of black lives led to segregation and racist federal housing policy through redlining that...

A mother brings her 8-year-old son to the pediatrician after his teacher repeatedly asks her to have him evaluated for ADHD. The trauma-informed pediatrician knows that childhood trauma exposure can resemble hyperactivity associated with ADHD. The pediatrician asks the mother to privately complete an adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) questionnaire and asks to do one with the son as well. The questionnaire reveals that the son had witnessed his mom being physically abused by her last two...

In new pre-clinical research, scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), led by Scott Thompson, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology, have identified changes in brain activity linked to the pleasure and reward system. The research, published in the journal, Nature, provides news insights into how the brain processes rewards, and advances our understanding of addiction and depression. The research, which was conducted by Tara LeGates, Ph.D., a Research Associate in the...