Blog

By Cassidy Chisholm, June 6, 2020, CBC News. A Halifax man who was racially profiled by police when he was 15 is speaking out about the trauma he's facing after the murder of George Floyd. Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25 and his death has sparked anti-racism protests around the world. Rodney Small was only 15 when he was arrested by a white police officer who claimed the teen assaulted him and now he said he's reliving the trauma of that experience. [ Please click...

Unbecoming an Armadillo By: Victoria F. Burns, PhD, LSW Victoriafrances49@gmail.com Instagram: @betesandbites “When you are traumatized, you are basically in a permanent defensive mode” — Gabor Mate I’m sitting across from Meg on her charcoal grey love seat. My forearms are resting on a velvety mustard-yellow throw cushion and I’m holding crescent shaped pulsers in each hand. Meg’s my psychologist; a rare gem who specializes in chronic illness and trauma. Every two weeks, we spend an hour...

Returning to my childhood hometown is always surreal. The memories flood my soul. Some good. Many sad. They all have meaning in the life I live.

By Kim Wheeler,CBC.CA Radio, The Doc Project, June 18, 2020 My name is Kim Wheeler but some know me as Kim Ziervogel. Others will remember me as Kim Bell, and to a small group of people I will always be Ruby Linda Bruyere. But the name game doesn't stop there. Why would someone have so many different names? Are they all aliases? Are they hiding from their past? From the law? In my case, it's none of these. I'm a Sixties Scoop survivor and those names were given to me through birth, adoption...

ACEs and Their Significance in Substance Use and Addiction Early childhood experiences are important contributors to health outcomes across the lifespan. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), defined as negative, stressful, traumatizing events that occur before age 18, can increase the risk for negative health outcomes, including mental illness and addiction. ACEs are viewed as an important upstream determinant of health, and an awareness of this relationship can strengthen public health...

The Public Health Agency of Canada has announced funding of the VEGA Project, a training program for service providers in evidence based recognition and response to Family Violence, developed by McMaster University and partners. This education is available free from the VEGA website https://vegaproject.mcmaster.ca/

The Canadian ACEs and Trauma-Informed Network was started in May 2018 to build a cross sectoral community of ACEs and Trauma-Informed practitioners and advocates in Canada. 2020 has seen our membership blossom to over 300 members. Here we showcase the diversity of regions, professions and areas of interest of our members.

George Floyd’s murder has made me cry many nights over how senseless and inhumane his killing was. Learning of the killing of Breonna Taylor and many other black people has been soul crushing to say the least. A question comes to my mind in these times, “where is home for me?”. I lived for 20 years in Switzerland and finally decided to leave 3 years ago. Canada, my new home, also has its problems with racism, police brutality and the way Indigenous people have been/are treated.

Funded in September 2019 through the Social Innovation Fund and LivingSJ, the 3-year project is co-sponsored by Horizon Health Network and the Boys and Girls Club of Saint John. The project team is being guided, mentored and trained by world leaders Laura Porter, Kathy Adams and Dr. Robert Anda, Co-Principal Investigator of the original ACE study. The Self-Healing Communities Model (SHCM) has over 15 years of demonstrated success in Washington State. Communities who implemented the model...

“Stringing Rosaries,” is a labor of love. But like most books associated with the Native experience in the U.S. Denise Lajimodiere’s history of Indian boarding school survivors is studded with long-hidden painful thorns. Although the survivors interviewed for the book ultimately display a fierce spirit of resilience and even humor, “Stringing Rosaries: The History, the Unforgivable, and the Healing of Northern Plains American Indian Boarding School Survivors,” is a difficult read especially...

Supporting Trauma-Informed Transformation in First Nation Communities Beginning in 2010, the Traumatic Stress Institute began supporting the Yukon Territory (Canada) child welfare system to make the transition to trauma-informed care (TIC). Much like tribal communities in the US, First Nation and Aboriginal people in the Yukon suffer the devastating impact of historical and intergenerational trauma...Now significant portions of the youth in the child welfare system are children of...

New podcast launched - an educational resource on trauma-informed lawyering by Myrna McCallum, Miyo Pimatisiwin Legal Services @LegalTrauma