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On Sunday, Politico reported that Ivanka Trump , the president's daughter and special adviser, and Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) have begun strategizing how best to advance a new paid family leave proposal. The reporting comes on the heels of President Donald Trump 's State of the Union Speech, in which he specifically called for a national paid family leave policy. At the moment, it seems unlikely the issue will get much attention this year. Congress is currently struggling with a number...

A decade of work with children damaged by horrific experiences has shown a Duke researcher that the first step forward is ensuring the child knows that trauma is not destiny. “It’s saying something bad happened to you, not that you’re a bad kid,” says Katie Rosanbalm , research scientist at the Center for Child and Family Policy . For the past 10 years, Rosanbalm has been working with local school systems and child services agencies in North Carolina to better identify and treat children who...

Part of the fun of being deeply immersed in the world of trauma and resilience is that you get to learn about pioneers around the world doing great work. Better still, sometimes you're able to persuade them to bring their work to LA! Kirstie Seaborne is based in the UK, where she supports parents and professionals in "responding to children under pressure." She does this by helping adults rewrite their embodied response to challenging behaviors. Kirstie already had a career in dance and...

Aprel Phelps Downey What was your ACEs Aha moment? When did you first hear about ACEs and what impact did/does it have on you? How do ACEs impact you as a parent? How is your parenting impacted by past trauma? What’s been most helpful to you as a parent parenting with ACEs? What’s been most challenging for you as a parent parenting with ACEs? What has parenting taught you? What have you learned? How do you manage complex family relationships? What inspires/encourages and helps you? I know...

Sarah Shanley Hope's story is frighteningly common. As a kid, she went over to her neighbor's house one day to play with her best friend. While there, her friend's older brother sexually assaulted both of them. Hope was only 6 years old. Being so young, she didn't know how to verbalize what happened or how to process it. She carried the pain with her for years, until she had daughters of her own. She told her own girls from the beginning, "You're in charge of your body." But at times, the...

We now know that babies DO feel pain, and in fact, they are even more sensitive to it than adults. The study of baby’s experiences in utero and the first two years of life have led to the rise of early developmental trauma as a reality today, especially with the acceptance of implicit memory and that the body remembers.

There's been quite a bit of research linking financial insecurity to poor health outcomes. The connection is, on its face, an obvious one, as a depleted checking account can cause stress, which can manifest in our bodies and minds. A new study by researchers at Boston Medical Center furthers that unfortunate connection: It finds housing instability, including chronically late rent payment, can affect the mental and physical health of family members of all ages. "People talk a lot about...

Excerpts from article in today's Keene Sentine l by Jessica Ricard.

Morgan's note: This is an important article about Childhood Emotional Neglect, how deeply it damages, and how it can be healed. Read full article . Morgan Vien Co-Manager, Practicing Resilience for Self-Care & Healing

From an evolutionary perspective, babies attach to their parents for survival. A baby who is securely attached, experiences her parent as a safe haven and secure base. When a baby experiences stress, pain or other negative emotions, she will seek the support of a parent and will allow herself to be soothed. Moreover, a baby who is securely attached will feel free to observe and explore an environment in the vicinity of a parent. 'There are strong differences in the quality of attachment...

We don’t see it coming. We are having a moment of intimacy: a moment we’ve been desiring and have been moving towards. And here it is, clothing is coming off and the connection is good and new and hot and then boom—a flashback comes at the tip of a lover’s fingers, the thrust of a tongue, a hand at the throat—suddenly we are pulled back to a moment of terror, violation, or confusion. Our bodies feel caught up in that memory state and cannot register the present moment, can’t tell if we are,...

Last week, a Facebook post from a mom seeking mental health services from her OB/GYN went viral. She was educated and well informed enough to know that her symptoms were likely related to postpartum depression, but the ask for help only added to her struggle. 10 hours later, she left the ER with her infant and list of resources feeling worse. But instead of blaming the "system" that she sought help from, she has decided to embrace it by diving deeper into attempts to utilize it. Jessica...