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I wrote the song "Handle with Care" as I was dealing with the murder of my husband's grandmother (hence the dedication to Valentine Marie Williams). The process of writing the song helped me in the healing, and in also in my feeling hopeful that I could, indeed, reach out to touch young lives to assist them in developing increased empathy and compassion for others. I also hope and pray that it fosters in listeners/ singers a feeling of empowerment --- and an inclination --- to make a...

Excerpts from article by Nina Lakhani published in The Guardian. To read the rest of this article by Excerpts from article by Nina Lakhani published in The Guardian, go here.

Symbolic of our quick-fix culture, I was recently asked to do a five-minute radio interview addressing the challenge of remote learning without the peer group dynamics of a regular classroom. The time constraint motivated me to get to the core of the education crisis precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic. Decades of developmental science research reveal that our physical and emotional health- our very sense of self- emerges in moment-to-moment interactions in our social world. The...

By Chloe Yang, 8/19/20, positiveexperience.org/blog As the pandemic stretches far into the foreseeable future, with jobs, schooling, housing, and almost every other aspect of life a swirl of uncertainty, it is easy to fixate on the negative. Here at HOPE, we do not deny the devastating severity of the pandemic’s effect on lives across the nation. We do not deny Covid-19’s exacerbation of long-standing systemic inequities in healthcare, housing, education, employment, and more. However, we...

"I have toured the country for the past 10 years to talk to our young people. I’ve learned that the biggest threat to our humanity is not guns, mental illness or our government. It is that everyone is talking and no one is listening. ” Erahm Christopher, The Washington Post Please join us on Thursday, August 27th as we host special guests Erahm Christopher and Graham Bodie to discuss the power of listening as part of our A Better Normal / Education Upended community conversation series.

By Elizabeth Wall-Wieler, Leslie L. Roos, and Ian H. Gotlib, Pediatrics, August 2020 OBJECTIVES: To assess the relation between exposure to maternal depression before age 5 and 5 domains of developmental vulnerability at school entry, overall, and by age at exposure. METHODS: This cohort study included all children born in Manitoba, Canada, who completed the Early Development Instrument between 2005 and 2016 (N = 52 103). Maternal depression was defined by using physician visits,...

We are very happy to announce the release of the trailer of our newest documentary titled "How Many ACEs Are You Holding?" Here is the link to view: https://youtu.be/DncG576OGv4 You will also find this on the homepage of our website at www.cope24.com. We plan to have the full documentary uploaded to Vimeo this week. We have been working on this project for nearly two years. We were fortunate to have filmed all of the interviews before covid and so we were able to continue production during...

I am SO excited for our next episode, and you should be too! Join us Thursday 8/20 as we welcome our speical guests Judee Fernandez and Michelle Kurta from the Meaning Makers Collective . We will discuss what it takes to create cultures of care and connection in our schools, how to develop a system that supports collective care for staff and prioritizes the wellbeing of adults in school settings. It is gonna be great! Weekly themes include: How do we create physical and psychological safety,...

By Lucy Danley, First Five Years Fund, August 5, 2020 - The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated financial challenges that child care providers have faced for years, pushing the industry to the brink of collapse. Anxious parents and struggling child care providers looking for solutions amid a tumultuous and unpredictable economic crisis are looking to Congress to provide the financial relief necessary to keep the industry afloat through America’s economic recovery. Across the country, there is...

Who knew when the year started we’d be separated from loved ones for months? And here we are, canceling celebrations, work and vacation plans, and not even hugging our friends. We are facing more stress – financial, emotional, social – than anyone could have imagined. We haven’t seen the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health yet. But as therapists, we know that as chronic stress continues, more people will experience depression and even suicidal thoughts. Let’s not wait to...

Robin is a brilliant, passionate, and vocal school nurse with almost two decades of experience as a New Jersey school nurse in the Camden City School District. She is the Legislative Co-Chair for the New Jersey State School Nurses Association and she joined us last week for A Better Normal community discussion about back-to-school (or not) plans families are facing this school year. Robin serves as faculty in the School Nurse Certificate Program at Rutgers University-Camden School of Nursing...

If you missed The League of Extraordinary People's first Town Hall, or would like to watch it again, it is available here ! Health and Wellness Town Hall: Adverse Childhood Experiences 101 Class How ACEs Impact the Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other Communities of Color This event will be led by Alfred White. Alfred is the founder of The League of Extraordinary People. After nearly 40 years experiencing homelessness, Alfred swallowed a 1/4 ounce of crack cocaine in 2004 and nearly died. He...