Tagged With "Quality Time"
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What Events would you like to see in this Community?
As we build the ACEs Caribbean Community and seek to provide you with relevant ACEs information, we also desire to create community events for our members. Until regional travel and in-person community events are allowed to occur again, we propose to host a virtual Quarterly Meet and Greet to get to know each other better. In addition, we would like to host monthly virtual Events to equip members for the very important work you do. Some thoughts include Podcasts (interviews of our members to...
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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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Childhood Trauma Clips on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has been known as a source of wholesome, relevant information for decades. (Remember Sesame Street? ) Well, PBS also has videos on childhood trauma that you can access at no cost, even from the Caribbean. Some of the content is designed as a series so you can arrange to view the segments when you have the time. So get the popcorn ready and check out PBS for your free Childhood Trauma-related content. [Clips related to Childhood Trauma on PBS] If you would...
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ACEs Clips on PBS
As we established last week, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has free content on the topic of childhood trauma that you can access even from the Caribbean. Well, what would happen if you search for "adverse childhood experiences" on PBS? You would receive a wider range of content, that's what! Some of the content is designed as a series so you can arrange to view the segments when you have the time. So get another bowl of popcorn ready and check out PBS for your free ACEs-related content.
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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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Help Inform and Transform the Caribbean with ACEs Caribbean Community
Hi there. We recently started the ACEs Caribbean Community on the website, Aces Connection, to rally our Caribbean people and those who love the region to work together to bring the knowledge of Aces Science ( Adverse Childhood Experiences ), Resilience, Hope, and Truth to our regional people and government institutions. We are facing an epidemic of crime, violence, addiction, despair, and suicide throughout the region and we believe that a better understanding of the connection between what...
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Can ACEs Training Help Doctors and Patients During Covid-19?
For more than a year the world has been gripped in the throes of combating the Novel Coronavirus 2019 and over 1 million lives have been lost globally to the disease. In the face of the fear, anxiety, despair and grief which has arisen, a question for those familiar with ACEs science is whether this body of knowledge can help alleviate the prevailing stressors. Here is where Hope steps in. Last month, panelists in an Aces Aware webinar discussed the secondary health effects associated with...
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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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Is There A Link between ACEs and Human Trafficking?
Today is March 25th and - just in case you have no clue why that date is significant to us in the Caribbean - it marks the anniversary of the Slave Trade Act of 1807 by which the British Parliament abolished the trade in slaves in the British Empire. (If you are not a student of history, you can read the Wikipedia version here .) True, the abolition of the institution of slavery itself occurred nearly 30 years later but this 1807 legislation was a proverbial "nail in the coffin" for slavery...
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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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Grief and Crime.
Odd title. What's the deal with that? How is crime connected to grief? I've spent a few decades serving (in one form or other) people who were incarcerated or had a history of incarceration. A few years ago, I was privileged to do a program on the topic of "Grief and Hope" at a local penal facility with a group of amazing men. During the course of our time together, both I and they were surprised to find out that most of them had experienced grief in childhood prior to them becoming involved...
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Why Call It Good?
That question was posed by a male relative as he sat teary-eyed and sad. To what was he referring? "Good Friday" which we celebrate today in Trinidad and Tobago and in many other Caribbean countries. His sincere concern: "How could a day which marks the brutal torture and death of Jesus Christ - who gave His life for the world out of His Love - ever be called "good"?" At the time, the explanation which he received was enough to satisfy him and change his demeanor. The death (and...
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Free Trauma-Informed Law Webinar
Hello everyone! One of the core areas in which we need to see a transformation is in the Justice system - from the point of arrest all the way through to reentry. As we've shared previously, there is ample research from the original 1998 ACEs study through to recent times which indicates the majority of persons in conflict with the law have multiple ACEs. So if you're interested in learning how Trauma Informed principles can be used to transform Justice, please register for the free webinar...
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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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Can You Tell The Difference?
It is the Easter school vacation and online and in person education is on hold. However, this is a perfect time to explore what we know of and apply to our interaction with the children we teach. As persons who are entrusted with the social and emotional learning of the nation's children, are you able to identify and distinguish behaviour which has pain as its genesis? If not, have you treated with it in a manner which has caused greater pain to your students? Your thoughts as educators...
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Register for Free Webinar on ACES Aware.
Happy Resurrection Weekend, ACEs Caribbean Community! Please click on the picture below for a link to a webinar about ACES Aware - the California partnership between medical and community-based providers and the prevention sector. The program trains pediatric providers across the state on how to conduct ACES screening, reimbursable by MediCal (California’s Medicaid). Community partnerships go beyond screening to help ensure that children and families are connected to services and supports...
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Self-care is not Selfish.
Ever feel overwhelmed? Most of us have so there's no shame in that. Sometimes we just need to close some of the tabs we're no longer working on, or those which have content that is not in our best interests. (Practice Mindfulness) Or we can close the browser altogether and take a break from it all until we're ready to deal with it again. (Take time to Rest) We encourage you to practice self-care this weekend and to ensure that you are not pouring from an empty cup. Whatever thoughts or...
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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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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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Did You Remember?
Happy Monday, everyone! We hope the weekend was relaxing and refreshing. So about the image we chose for this blog post. Legend has it that elephants have fantastic memories. They represent the animal with the ability for the longest recall. What were you supposed to remember? Well, the upcoming free webinar from Justice Clearinghouse on "The Empathetic Workplace: Five Steps to a Compassionate, Calm, and Confident Response to Trauma on the Job". It is scheduled for April 21 which is only 2...
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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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'A lot of grief and anxiety' for kids, youth after living with COVID for 1 year, says psychotherapist. [CBC article]
Around the world, the 1 year anniversary of Covid-19 interrupting our lives was observed in different ways. For many, the concern is for the children and young people who are experiencing Covid-19 as an adverse childhood experience. The clinical observations of a Canadian psychotherapist may well be true for the Caribbean region as it relates to how children are coping one year on. Alyssa Strachan, based at the Delton Glebe Counselling Centre in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada has been helping...
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Action on ACEs Conference 2021: From ACEs to Resilience (June 10)
Hi ACEs learners. We're trying to ensure you have access to credible information and training on ACEs by sharing links to such events. Today is no exception. The organisation, Action On ACEs, based in Gloucestershire, UK is hosting a free virtual conference on Thursday 10th June 2021 from 9:30 am to 3:30pm UK time. The conference, ‘From ACEs to Resilience’ will focus on "resilience, how to build it in children and young people and how we can support adults who have experienced ACEs. It will...
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Wellness Wednesday - Burnout Prevention
Good morning everyone! Happy Wellness Wednesday - This post is to reinforce the truth that we are not living in isolation. We're all born into a family, community and nation. When one of us is struggling or feels overwhelmed, because we are born into and live in community, it means we can and should have access to help from others around us. Being present, they have the opportunity to help in the interest of supporting the community. In a sense, therefore, self care is linked to community...
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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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Wellness Wednesday - Examining the Mental Wounds of Covid-19
Good day and welcome to this week's Wellness Wednesday! We are sharing this article from The Atlantic titled, 'What Happens When Americans Can Finally Exhale. The pandemic’s mental wounds are still wide open.' It's been discussed a bit in recent times especially as the USA (and other nations) see the light at the end of the tunnel out of Covid-19. As some Caribbean territories are experiencing severe spikes in cases of Covid-19 infections and deaths, we long for the time when this is...
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PACEs Connection: Not just another social network
At last week’s fabulous HOPE Summit, one person told me that they didn’t realize all the things that PACEs Connection does.
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How can student progress in public schools be improved?
Good Monday morning everyone. It is a public holiday here in Trinidad and Tobago for the Arrival Day observance on Sunday but this article just cannot wait. Kudos to our ACEs Caribbean Community member, Mark Nicoll, whose article on ACEs and their impact on children's education was published last week in the Cayman Islands newspaper, Cayman Current. At the time, Mark was commenting on the Education Data Report 2020 that highlighted the poor performance of public schools as compared with...
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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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The Pain of "215"
Hi everyone. We hope you're taking care of your spiritual, physical and mental health, wherever you are in the world. This has been a sombre week with the news of the discovery of the bodies of 215 precious children on the grounds of a residential school in Canada. Words cannot express the incredible pain those families must have felt for years, knowing nothing of the whereabouts of their babies. To have the revelation come at this time, during all that the world is experiencing and with the...
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Five Years On - 5 Ways to Boost Your Resilience at Work
Hello. It's Wellness Wednesday everyone and we're bringing you a Harvard Business Review article from 5 years ago. Don't worry, it's relevant for today even more than the author could have imagined at the time. The author, Mr. Rich Fernandez, was a director of learning and organization development at Google, eBay and J.P. Morgan Chase. Rich began by writing, "Many of us now work in constantly connected, always-on, highly demanding work cultures where stress and the risk of burnout are...
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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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ADHD in first- and second-generation immigrant children: A nationwide cohort study in Sweden
Hi everyone, it's Food For Thought Friday again and we are excited to bring to you this study from Europe on ADHD prevalence in children and adolescents. The reason is that some of the respondents in this study are of Caribbean heritage! With the paucity of Caribbean research in this area, we are always on the hunt for global research that includes respondents from or in the Caribbean. Ahem, in case you missed it, that was a subtle ask for you to share whatever research you may come across...
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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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What Do We Do Once We Realize the Prevalence of Adversities?
When people hear about the mental and physical health risks of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress, one of the first questions is, “What do we do about this?” Awareness of the prevalence of adversity and the impact of stress on the brain and body leads to the possibility for prevention and response. Whether you are acting within a family, agency, organization, business or community, the next steps should be taken knowing that we will all work together to bring about change.
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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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Action on ACEs Virtual Conference 2021.
Hi again. In case you did not hear about it before, there was an ACEs and Resilience related event yesterday in the UK - the Action on ACEs Virtual Conference 2021 . Hosted by Action on ACEs Gloucestershire, it was a free virtual event aimed at people who are aware of, talking about and taking action on adverse childhood experiences. It began at 4:30 in the morning, Eastern Caribbean Time so it is understandable if you were If you missed it, do not fear because we have you covered. You can...
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Upcoming Livestream on Father's Day - ACEs & The Father Wound
Many men and women around the world are nursing a Father Wound and it is negatively impacting their health, eroding their self-confidence and crippling their ability to form healthy relationships, among other things. For such persons, the word "father" does not represent the definitions outlined in the title image. Rather, it brings to mind memories of hurt and pain, or thoughts of abandonment and neglect, or simply a void. So, on Father's Day, at 2pm Eastern Standard Time we want to address...
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Reminder - Livestream on Father's Day - "ACEs & The Father Wound"
Hi everyone, it's the Father's Day weekend! If your dad is in your life and you love him, try to do something different for him this year. Socks and ties are so 20th Century. You can take him to "Lunch and a Movie" - or Livestream, on us! Yup, you can share with your father the link to our YouTube channel and you and he can tune in for our riveting discussion on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and The Father Wound. Date - Sunday 20th June 2021 Time - 2:00 p.m. EST Where - On YouTube of...
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Wellness Wednesday - Resilience Prescription
Hi everyone and welcome to another Wellness Wednesday! Today we have an account from a psychiatrist who, after many years studying trauma and the experiences of trauma victims, had the misfortune to become one himself. In a rather dramatic turn of events, Dennis S. Charney was shot by a former co-worker and survived to write about it and to grow from the experience. In his own words, he describes how the situation challenged him to dig deep and uncover the resilience he needed to take him...
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Wellness Wednesday - A Self-Care Resilience Resource
Hi everyone. On this Wellness Wednesday, we are pleased to share with you a resource from the USA to help implement self-care towards building resilience. The American Academy of Pediatrics, California Chapter 3 has developed a visual resource adapted from the ACEs Aware Self-Care tool . The handout is print-ready and available in English , Spanish , Amharic , Arabic , Chinese , Farsi and Vietnamese . Please see the attachment to this article for the English version. We will add it to the...
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How Does Historic Trauma Impact Blacks Swimmers?
Good Monday morning everybody! It's warm weather time in the global North and the "wet season" here in the Caribbean. In times before 2020, this would have signalled a lot of beach and river bathing in Trinidad and loads of people headed to Tobago to enjoy the more attractive beaches there. Now, beach-going and sea-bathing are restricted as part of the current national State of Emergency. With those thoughts in mind, that may explain why this recent article from an African American mother...
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About Our Livestream Guests
Are you ready? It's almost time! Yes, we are 2 hours away from the start of our Father's Day Livestream titled, "ACEs & The Father Wound - A Cross Cultural Discussion" . Join us for the discussion via this link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgeVx3-3EFo With us today will be Mr. Mark Nicoll, Dr. Kenneth Niles, Queen Mother Dianne Sears and Dr. Joanne Spence. Dr. Spence will do double-duty as moderator for this afternoon's discussion. Their bios are below so you will have some context...
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How to (Mentally) Prepare for Hurricane Season
Hi everyone! We are well into the Hurricane Season for 2021 and today Trinidad and Tobago was put on a Yellow Alert due to the passage of a weather system. For those interested in learning more about the possibilities of the hurricane season, try to register for the Pre-Hurricane Conference 2021 put on by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies ( IFRC ). It runs from Wednesday 23rd to Friday 25th June 2021. While there is great value in developing a Disaster Plan...
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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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It's time to heal childhood trauma!
A consensus of scientific research demonstrates that cumulative adversity, especially when experienced during childhood development, is a root cause to some of the most harmful, persistent, and expensive health challenges facing our nation. But there is hope. We can take action now to change and save lives. The impacts of ACEs, trauma, and toxic stress are treatable. Start by watching the short educational video below. For more information please visit: https://aceovercomers.org/...
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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...