Tagged With "World Day of the Boy Child"
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When Acknowledgeing Our Family's Failures Is Not Betrayal.
As a child to Caribbean parents, growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, it was rare to see families which did not raise their children with physical and verbal abuse on a regular basis. The conversations we children engaged in with our "best friends" often revealed the dark secrets lurking behind the facades of our picture-perfect family lives. Even in the seeming "best" families, the children faced private, if not public shaming. Some lived in fear of parental outbursts to their childish...
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Trading Sex as a Minor is Sex Trafficking
Okay, so I want to share this article with you about the link between ACEs and sex trafficking in the USA. It is titled, " Youth Arrested for Trading Sex Have the Highest Rates of Childhood Adversity: A Statewide Study of Juvenile Offenders ". However, I need to explain something to you (i.e. vent) first... The researchers and article publishers use the term "arrested for trading sex" because in the early part of the century (c. 2014) that was the unfortunate state of the law in the USA...
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ACEs and Human Trafficking Research
Ten years ago today the Trafficking In Persons Bill of Trinidad and Tobago was laid in the country's Parliament. It was eventually passed, assented to, and became law as the Trafficking In Persons Act, Chapter 12:10. (The Act itself took effect in January 2013.) So to commemorate the anniversary of the introduction of the Bill, we will share one of the first of what we hope will be many resources on the link between childhood trauma and human trafficking. The report, titled " Domestic Sex...
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Question of the Month - Is Child Adversity Linked to Ethnicity?
Hi Community! Here in Trinidad and Tobago, we are probably more diverse in terms of ethnicity than many of our Caribbean neighbours - a callaloo of sorts (Remember the national anthem proclaims: "...Here every creed and race find an equal place..." ) Well, research overseas shows that there is a difference in how children experience adversity based on their ethnicity. In the USA in particular, there are neighbourhoods that are predominantly white and others where the majority of persons are...
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#ChooseToChallenge - What leads to a man assaulting a woman or a child?
Hey Community! We just observed International Women's Day (#IWD2021) yesterday and we hope the ladies in our community had a terrific day. Against the backdrop of all the intimate partner violence and family-related abuse being perpetrated in the region, here is a question many are asking - " What leads to a (big, hard-back) man assaulting a woman or a child? " There is a recent thread on Aces Connection where a man in Canada posed the question. The responses are interesting. Before you head...
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Re: #ChooseToChallenge - What leads to a man assaulting a woman or a child?
Yes, this phrasing, versions of which are used in Jamaica too, assumes/suggests that the woman is always 'the victim’. And when we speak of GBV here, in the region, we rarely talk about emotional/verbal abuse. Put that into the equation and we’ll have a much clearer picture of the scale of women’s violence against men and boys in the Caribbean. In many ways, emotional verbal/abuse is just as egregious and harmful as physical abuse by men. In some cases, it is worse. I had a conversation...
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Young Black Men's Mental Health During Covid-19
Research from the UK suggests that men from racialised backgrounds are reporting higher levels of mental distress during the pandemic compared to white men (Proto et al., 2021). Contributing factors include bereavement, loneliness and worries about coronavirus and misinformation.
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Building a Multi-System Trauma-Informed Collaborative.
Since the effects of childhood trauma do not play out in isolation, an effective response to child trauma should benefit not only children but the communities in which they live. This feeds into what we know from studies about factors that impact a child's growth - they occur within the family, community and also are climate-related. Multiple studies reveal the extremely high percentage of youth in contact with the law and under the care of social services who have been exposed to violence...
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UK 'Punishing Abuse' Report Finds Many Justice-Involved Youth have Trauma Histories.
A published study from West Midlands in the United Kingdom, titled "Punishing Abuse", has confirmed what many have long suspected - many youth are being punished in the criminal justice system for acting out in the aftermath of childhood trauma. It looked at 80 youth, 67 of whom were male, and many of whom were of Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) heritage. They included White and Black Caribbean youth, some of whome were born in and others whose parents came from the Caribbean island...
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How Trauma Affects the Body.
In a post on the website, Aces Aware, California paediatrician, Dr. Eric Bell shares how he and his family experienced Trauma after the death of a pet, which was a close member of their family. As a doctor, he was aware of his physical, emotional and other symptoms and is able to clearly articulate these as well as the benefits he and his family derived from implementing protective factors, stress-busting strategies and using other resilience building tools. We love how he is able to use his...
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Kids Need More Time with Grandparents
In the article linked to below, there is an evidence-based solution being out forward to raise emotionally healthy children. In a 2011 Brigham Young University study, children in both two-parent and single-parent homes who felt close to at least one grandparent exhibited "higher pro-social behavior." (Pro-social behaviors tend to benefit others: helping, sharing, donating, volunteering, cooperating, etc.) "The bottom line," the researchers say, "is that grandparents have a positive influence...
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Interesting Weekend Tweet.
For us in the Caribbean, there is a tendency to cover up sex crimes committed against children by their relatives. When the offence is made known, the first call is seldom to the police but to other relatives. This is often done to strategize how to preserve the family's reputation (albeit at the expense of the child's mental and physical health), may be motivated by a false sense of protection to spare the child the shame of the offence being made public, or to confer some benefits upon the...
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Is Parenting Post-Covid A Catch-22?
Harvard Business Review published an article 3 years ago examining how parents' careers impact their children's development. Post-2020 - when many parents were forced to work from home and homeschool their offspring while trying to be productive and attend innumerable Zoom meetings - one wonders what the authors would think of the way forward. The truth remains that quality time for our children is indispensable to their healthy upbringing. Yet 2020 also brought financial difficulty to many...
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The Power of a Hug
The past year has taken a heavy toll on millions of us around the Caribbean. In order to stem the spread of covid-19 we were asked by our regional governments to essentially change who we are. We forsook the beach and river limes, bar scene and house parties in an effort to play our part to keep everyone safe. Even with our relatives and in our Faith practices, we had to abide by strict protocols and refrain from hugging, kissing and showing affection in the way we as Caribbean people...
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Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - A Season of Diverse ACEs
Hi everyone. While it is rare that we post on a weekend, we want to highlight that for the people of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, life has been challenging recently. Yesterday, what has been feared became a reality as the La Soufriere volcano began to slowly release ash, smoke and lava and eventually erupted, after months of seismic activity. This comes after a year of dealing with Covid-19 and the economic fallout from lockdowns and loss of employment. Thankfully, the death toll from...
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Sex Offenders and High ACE Scores
In the Caribbean and elsewhere, sex offenders tend to be considered the worst of all offenders. If their crime was against a child, then they themselves become targets for violence from other inmates in prison. So it requires a mental adjustment and an objective stance to write about this research. Done by Barry University's Jill Levenson, the title is " Incorporating Principles of Trauma-Informed Care Into Evidence-Based Sex Offending Treatment ". She cites previous research to establish...
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Changing Our Response to Childhood Adversity.
"For generations, we have trained practitioners to consider childhood suffering only through the institutional lens of child protection. Through research on the prevalence of ACEs in our most vulnerable children, it has become clear this approach is not enough." This is the introduction to an online event, "Changing Our Response to Childhood Adversity", to be hosted by The Learning Institute (https://www.learninginstitute.co.uk/) of the UK on 30th June 2021 where they will unveil their...
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Are ACEs Overplayed?
Hello everyone! It's Friday again. To send you into the weekend, we want to ask you to put your thinking caps on. In reading the literature, it is clear that there is no unanimity with respect to the role that the Adverse Childhood Experiences study should have in guiding public health. One nation in which there has been much thought given to the issue is Scotland. In 2019 two advocates squared off to share their respective points of view as to the value of the ACEs research and how best it...
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Florida Study Reveals Link Between ACEs and Sex Trafficking of Minors
Hi everyone! We trust you are doing well and enjoying the Community and benefiting from the resources being shared by our members. It is the 25th day of the month and you know what that means - we are looking at the issue of ACEs in the context of human trafficking. Today we have another resource to show the link between childhood adversity and the vulnerability of persons with high ACE scores to human trafficking. In this 2016 study, " Human Trafficking of Minors and Childhood Adversity in...
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Still I Rise - A Documentary Highlighting Sex Trafficking (with ACEs Lurking in the Background).
Hey everyone! We hope the weekend has been a blast so far. As you know, we rarely post on the weekend. However, although it is Sunday, the date is the 25th of April, so we are sharing this post in fulfilment of our promise to highlight the issue of ACEs and Human Trafficking on the 25th day of every month. We did submit a post on the topic on 1st April to observe the 10th Anniversary of the laying in Parliament of the Trafficking In Persons Bill in Trinidad and Tobago. If you missed it,...
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Can We Talk About George Floyd? [Al Jazeera article]
Hi everyone. As everyone knows, the year 2020 was defined by a series of events, many of which linger to this day. Covid-19, as devastating as it and government efforts to curb it have been, may have been eclipsed for a time by the reporting and riots which ensued after the horrific death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers in the USA. Last week, the tension of a 3-week trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd ended with a guilty...
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Parents, Choose How You Will Respond
Good morning everyone. Last month was Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month in several countries. With all the webinars, symposia and other informational sessions, one message came across loud and clear: The days of ignorance need to remain behind us as we seek to undo the trauma of harmful parenting practices. Some Caribbean parents used to adopt the perspective that "no mistake will go unpunished". Their children would literally tremble if they made a mess or did anything which might...
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Repair, Don't Repeat.
Friday is here again! Who's excited for the weekend? This weekend may be triggering for some people as most of the world observes Mother's Day. If you have been a victim of child abuse or rejection or neglect by a parent, please seek to get support to undo the harm. Hurt like that may be a catalyst for you to repeat what happened to you as you engage in marriage, parenting or other relationships. May you be compassionate and loving toward yourself as you journey towards healing. Have a great...
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Happy Mother's Day!
Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers, nurturers, biological or surrogates throughout the Caribbean and the world! Empirical data shows that 42% of our Caribbean families are single-parent in nature. From my observations in Trinidad and Tobago, many such homes are led by a lone woman caring for more than 1 child. With all that you have experienced - your own adverse childhood trauma, the trauma of adulthood, and the challenges of Covid-19 - we salute you! We cheer you on, admire...
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May 6-7: Canadian Sexual Exploitation Summit: Disrupt Demand
Hello everyone! Are you interested in Trauma and ACEs as they relate to child sexual exploitation and human trafficking? Well, there is an upcoming Summit which you should enjoy. It will take place this week so be ready to take action. This year's edition of the Canadian Sexual Exploitation Summit will be held virtually on May 6 and 7 with the theme: "Disrupt Demand". With over 50 Canadian, American and international speakers and presenters, the Agenda of the Summit will cover a wide cross...
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Upcoming "YouTube Live" - ACEs & The Boy Child (May 16 @ 2pm EST).
In observance of Mental Health Awareness Month and World Day of the Boy Child (WDBC) on May 16, 2021, ACEs Caribbean Community will be hosting its first "Live" online chat on the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences in the Caribbean. In a virtual discussion titled " ACEs & The Boy Child ", we will speak with the founder of World Day of the Boy Child, Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh, and explore Mental Health and the effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences on boys with consulting psychologist,...
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We Did It!
Good Monday morning everyone. In case you missed it, ACEs Caribbean Community had our inaugural online event yesterday (16th May 2021) in honour of both Mental Health Awarenesses Month and World Day of the Boy Child with a discussion on "ACEs & The Boy Child". Despite technical challenges, we persevered and those who logged in for the livestream received wisdom from our experienced team of speakers. The discussion included our two ACEs Caribbean Community Managers, Adrian Alexander and...
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Re: We Did It!
Good morning. Thank you for your kind comments and your encouragement and support on all social media platforms, @Elizabeth Perry .
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Re: We Did It!
This is such an important conversation. Thanks for hosting. Thanks for recording. Thanks for sharing. If we don't change how we're raising our boys, we're not going to transform humanity. I can't thank you enough for working to address this. Elizabeth Perry Canadian ACEs and TI Network Manager on PACEs Connection @ACEsCanada2020 @PACEsCanada1
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Adverse Babyhood Experiences (ABEs): 10 New Categories of Adversity Before a Child's 3rd Birthday (Free Downloadable Journal Article) | PACEsConnection article
Hi ACEs Caribbean Community! We know some of you receive the email updates from PACEs Connection but sometimes a riveting article may slip through the cracks. So, just in case you missed it, we are happy to share the article from Dr Veronique Mead on Adverse Babyhood Experiences (ABEs). Here is an excerpt: "Adverse babyhood experiences (ABEs) are a new construct derived from large bodies of evidence that identify a different group of risk factors from adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
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Intergenerational transmission and prevention of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) [Science Direct]
Hi everybody. It's Friday and we want to share some ACEs research wirh you that you can digest over the weekend. 📖 This is a heads-up on a recently published study from the USA on intergenerational trauma and ACEs and how it is transmitted and can be prevented. Angela J. Narayan, Ph.D., L.P. and her colleagues published it in April 2021. Here is an excerpt from the abstract. "In recent years, research and practice on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have shifted from delineating effects...
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ACEs and the Oldest Oppression.
Hi everyone. So it's still the 25th and apart from expressing how important it is to use appropriate language when discussing child trafficking and exploitation, we do have another post for you on this important topic of ACEs and Human Trafficking. Mrs Harmony Grillo, a Survivor Leader and founder of the nonprofit Treasures, recently did a TEDx Talk titled, The Oldest Oppression in the World. As you can expect, she is referring to the sexual exploitation of primarily women and girls in...
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Criticizing ACEs in Peer Reviewed Professional Journals Impairs Child Abuse Treatment
Criticizing ACEs in Peer Reviewed Professional Journals Impairs Child Abuse Treatment Jeoffry B. Gordon, MD, MPH May 23, 2021 As a family doc practicing in San Diego I was privileged to hear Dr. Vincent Felitti talk about his inspired development of the ACEs questionnaire and its association with many adult mental and physical diseases directly from him only a few years after his original insight. Yet, although I had a lively clinic and learned how to manage a vast array of medical...
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Barbados Research into Childhood Malnutrition and Maltreatment.
Happy Friday everybody! As you know, with that comes some weekend reading for you. Today, we are sharing a report from research conducted in Barbados that links childhood malnutrition and maltreatment to personality disorders which persist into adulthood. It is the work of Rebecca S. Hock and her colleagues using data from the 47 year longitudinal Barbados Nutrition Study. Published in Psychiatry Research (Volume 269, November 2018, Pages 301-308), the work, " Childhood malnutrition and...
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Mental Health and School Reopening for the Caribbean
Good Monday morning everyone. We hope the weekend was refreshing. So across the world there continue to be diverse reports on the way countries are coping with Covid-19. In the Caribbean, there has been a sense of relief after the USA indicated that it will donate millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccines to the region and Latin America. As a consequence, there have been hopeful statements that schools may reopen in September 2021, after having been shuttered since February and March 2020 in...
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ACEs Screening and Precision Medicine
In news from California, USA, funds have been provided for a new initiative that will study 300 mother-child pairs to screen for Adverse Childhood Experiences as part of a precision medicine multi-disciplinary approach. "Currently, the only screening method for ACEs involves questionnaires for parents and caregivers. But screening rates are generally low in pediatric practices, and the questionnaires are not able to identify which babies and children are having a toxic stress response. The...
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Profiles and behavioral consequences of child abuse among adolescent girls and boys from Barbados and Grenada
Hi everyone. Can you believe that we are at the end of July this weekend? Time is flying! For this Food for Thought Friday we have a study titled " Profiles and behavioral consequences of child abuse among adolescent girls and boys from Barbados and Grenada " by Agata Debowska, Daniel Boduszek, Nicole Sherretts, Dominic Willmott, and Adele D. Jones of the University of Sheffield and University of Huddersfield. It is published in Child Abuse & Neglect, (Volume 79, May 2018, Pages 245-258)...
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Mental health of jail inmates within the prison of Ducos, Martinique – a cross-sectional descriptive study
Happy Food for Thought Friday, everyone! As we approach the weekend, we want to share with you some research from the Caribbean island of Martinique. Martinique is a French overseas administrative district in the Caribbean, with a population of about 400,000 inhabitants. Its only prison is located in the city of Ducos. The study was done by R. Arnal et al and published in Revue d'Épidémiologie et de Santé Publique (Volume 66, Issue 3, May 2018, Pages 201-207)...
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Wellness Wednesday - The steps that can help adults heal from childhood trauma
Hi everyone! This Wellness Wednesday we are looking at an article written by Shanta R. Dube, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, Georgia State University. In writing in 2107, she focused on the fact that ACEs can be a cycle that is hard to break if we only deal with it from the perspective of the child. "Prevention is the mantra of modern medicine and public health. Benjamin Franklin said it himself: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Unfortunately, childhood...
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California PACEs Connection initiatives spark new connections in regional meeting
Among PACEs Connection initiatives around the country, it’s well known that our social network is something like a bustling, giant town square where people share ideas, resources and any number of conversations about how to prevent childhood adversity and promote positive childhood experiences. On May 14, PACEs Connection assembled a virtual town square gathering of PACEs initiatives in California, where we have 58 initiatives sparking action all across the state. Speakers at the gathering,...
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Research into Effects of Child Maltreatment on Males
Hi everyone. We hope your weekend was restful and you were able to view "Wrestling Ghosts" after we shared this Watch Party opportunity last week. Since we wanted you to have the chance to catch the documentary, we deferred our usual " Food for Thought Friday " post (based on a research article to review) to today, Monday While it is USA-based, this paper looks at how child maltreatment, especially child sexual abuse impacts males into adulthood. This is a very under-served area of study...
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Reclaiming the Narrative of Black Fatherhood
Fathers play a critical role in the healthy development of children and families. This is why it's important to address structural and systemic barriers that prevent Black men from being fully present in their children's lives—so that all families have a chance to thrive. My wife and I have been married since 2019, but we’ve known each other since we were 14-year-olds. We are raising a blended family. She has a daughter who is 9 and a 7-year-old son. I have a son who is 8, and together we...
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Explore the Role of Culture in Healing with La Maida Project
La Maida Project is thrilled to share videos from our recent webinar series “Exploring the Role of Culture in Healing”. We had an great audience turn out and robust dialogue with our panel of guest speakers including Ken Epstein, PhD LCSW , leader in trauma-informed systems transformation, Anil Vadaparty , CEO of child-welfare agency McKinley, and Omid Naim, MD , integrative psychiatrist and founder of La Maida Project. In these webinars we discuss the role of leadership in trauma-informed...
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Building a Restorative Restart to School in the Fall
As we look towards the reopening of in-person instruction in the fall, planning and reimagining for a restorative restart to our school systems that emphasizes student and educator mental health is a priority. In addition, there is a windfall of one-time funding coming to districts from federal and local funds for just this purpose. Recently a wise educator said to me, ‘you know, if you want to get to the hearts and minds of school leaders to make changes for the fall you need to do so by...
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Psychologists Advocate for Improved Treatment for Developmental Trauma
Hi everybody. This article contains some good news! According to an article on the website of the American Psychological Association (APA), a growing body of research is leading many psychologists to call for the inclusion of complex childhood trauma in various classification systems. "To better serve children who faced poverty, homelessness, and severe neglect throughout his childhood, a growing group of psychologists and psychiatrists is studying complex trauma—which can refer to exposure...
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How Have Children and Families Fared During Covid?
Hi everyone, It's Friday or as some say, Fri-yay! Today we want to share some additional research info with you and it is based on US data for the past year. Essentially, the desire was to understand how children and families have been coping since the onset of Covid-19. Recently, KidsData released the latest data from the "Family Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic" questionnaire. These data are the second wave of findings from the multi-wave questionnaire. As the COVID-19 pandemic...
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5 ways to create compelling messages about childhood trauma using data
When presented strategically, data can help tell an important story about childhood trauma. Here are a few tips for presenting numbers in ways that advance efforts to reduce adversity, promote resilience, and improve health outcomes.
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Racism as an Adverse Community Experience
By Christina Velez, The Relationship Foundation July 15, 2021 Have you ever questioned the ways that racism and trauma intersect? As a person of color, I know I have. Racism is a core determinant of health which often leads to social inequities. From watching PBS’s video on “Mental Fitness for Resilience-The Trauma of Racism” it was interesting to learn how racism and trauma, often converge in inseparable ways. Dr. Terri D. McFadden, a general pediatrician, and professor at Emory University...
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World Day Against Trafficking in Persons Coming Up on 30 July
Good Sunday morning everyone. We hope you are enjoying the weekend. While we seldom post on the weekend, today is different. Why? Well, because it's the 25th of the month and, as promised, we want to bring you a post that highlights the issue of slavery and human trafficking. This week will mark the United Nations observance of World Day Against Trafficking In Persons on 30th July. The commemoration of the Day was proclaimed in December 2013 by the United Nations General Assembly, in its...
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What HOPE Adds [positiveexperience.org/blog]
By Bob Sege, 7/22/21, positiveexperience.org/blog Summertime offers a chance to pause and reflect. This past year our team has had the good fortune to meet with, teach, and learn from dozens of organizational leaders and well over 10,000 participants from around the country and beyond. HOPE resonates with the values and work of so many other programs, organizations, and frameworks. At the same time, HOPE coalesces many years of research, thinking, and practical experience. What does HOPE...