Tagged With "Find the WHY"
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Recovery is our journey to healing......you have to keep searching until you find
Recovery from trauma is extremely hard when you don't know what you are recovering from and why you would even want to recover. To recover you have to know what it is that has caused you harm and understand what you have done to deal with that harm. It is very hard to do it by yourself. You need the support of others. You need to find someone who resonates with you and that means you have to search for that person. After 34 years of searching, I found my princess, a counsellor. I know...
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Oranga Tamariki - Ministry FOR Children are trauma-informed but NOT in the way they work
In New Zealand, we have Oranga Tamariki - Ministry FOR Children. This is what Oranga Tamariki state on their webpage: Oranga Tamariki was established on April 1, 2017. We are a Ministry dedicated to supporting any child in New Zealand whose wellbeing is at significant risk of harm now, or in the future. We also work with young people who may have offended, or are likely to offend. Our belief is that in the right environment, with the right people surrounding and nurturing them, any child...
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NZ ~ Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions
The Royal Commission of Inquiry are looking into what happened to children, young people and vulnerable adults in State and faith-based care in Aoteoroa New Zealand between the years 1950-99. They may also listen to survivor experiences before and after these dates. The inquiry is considered to be the largest in the world given its scope and terms of reference Why have an Inquiry? Many people and organisations - survivors, community leaders, iwi and Māori, the Human Rights Commission and the...
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Ignite your curiosity
I have joined a number of ZOOM meetings hosted by ACES Connection which have exposed me to the work of many people who have inspired and motivated me. My thinking has been challenged, extended and expanded. My curiosity has been ignited I have been filled with hope and energised to share that hope to others We must acknowledge that we only know what we know If what we know does not feel like the truth then we must seek the truth If what we do does harm to ourselves or others then we must...
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Asthma, eczema, allergies, boils ~ It may be more than you think
When under stress, I suffer from boils, eczema, rashes, allergies and eczema Many people dismissed my symptoms They considered me a "hypochondriac" Look at the infographic Now I understand why it is so important for me to learn how to be calm If you are a parent of a child who has boils, eczema, asthma and allergies Take action and teach your child how to calm themselves Create an environment where the child feels safe And build a relationship with that child so they know they are loved,...
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We learn from the stories from those who have gone before us
Who we were is not who we are now Incarcerated youth need more guidance and support to uncover their inner selves So that they understand who they are and why they do what they have done Then they need guidance and support to learn how to forgive themselves for doing what they believed they had to do to survive. They need to learn how to care and love themselves So that they can care and love others. Books can expose us to the thinking and life journeys of others Books can show us how we can...
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We frame the way we "see" the world ~ it reflects who we are
When I was very young I sat with my grandma She was bed-ridden So she always asked me to tell her what I could see in detail For HER She would ask me questions She changed The way I saw EVERYTHING I now know why I can see the finer details and that I frame what I see to reflect All that I AM I saw this blog from Jodi Wert on her blog, Wert Knowing And it reminded me of my Grandma We frame the way we "see" the world I like the way you frame the world of children's learning Thank you, @Jodi Wert
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Protected Factor Framework ~ Free introductory webinar
I attended the Protected Factors Framework Introduction webinar with Elizabeth Smith from Project Whole Child. It was a very good presentation. Very interactive, great video clip and great slides There is another free webinar - closing date Wednesday 16 December USA time Places are limited I recommend that you register for this if you want to know more about what you can do to strengthen families. The Protected Factors Framework is an approach ~ a way of viewing the world When we change the...
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Why I joined ACES CONNECTION
Kia ora from Auckland, NZ. My name is Adriana. I am the community manager of trauma-informed NZ with ACES CONNECTION. ACES CONNECTION, is based in the States, far from New Zealand, and our way of life, yet, I am the community manager of a community with ACES CONNECTION Today, I am going to share with you, my reasons for joining ACES CONNECTION. I will make a call for action at the end of my talk, so please stay to the end Why did I join ACES CONNECTION? Here is my story. I live in NZ, always...
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A compelling reason why we need to be child-centered and trauma-responsive in NZ
For those who do not know: Child, Youth and Family Services and Oranga Tamariki are NZ's child protection services. They are a government agency I found this article in the Herald from 2016 , it clearly shows how Oranga Tamariki's predecessors, Child, Youth, and Family Services(CYFS) are incompetent and placed children at risk of harm. Child, Youth, and Family Services were rebranded as Oranga Tamariki, Ministry of Children and still they get it wrong. The article Two children aged 8 years...
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Re: Mō tātou, ā, mō kā uri ā muri ake nei For us and our children after us
Kia ora @anne kurtz , I believe that we can blog/post on PACES for workshops/conferences/events that cost money as there have been many workshops/conferences/events that have been posted on PACES Connection from a number of communities associated with a cost to attend. The reason that I have promoted this workshop is that here in NZ we need our social workers to improve their practice, especially when working with Maori and Pasifika whanau. As professionals, and this covers every profession,...
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Re: Mō tātou, ā, mō kā uri ā muri ake nei For us and our children after us
Absolutely true, regarding importance of educating M H providers and others in the community of Maori and Pasifika wellbeing models in NZ. There are many who will benefit from this information who are able to pay the asked for registration fee. Often the case, those needing it most, cannot afford the fee. I've often wondered why Maori and Pasifika Indigenous healing practices are not covered by ACC, when Chinese Indigenous - Acupuncture and Medicines are in NZ. All the best in your endeavor.
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Listen up NZ government - You need to STOP harming us with urgency
NZ Study - School Readiness, Adversities in Childhood Experience and Access to Government Services A Scoping Study on Potential Protective Factors December 2020 This report is based on the NZ context. It is interesting because Oranga Tamariki, Ministry for Children and the Ministry of Social Development (aka MSD) were involved. This means that both Oranga Tamariki and MSD know about the experiences of our people beyond anecdotal observations. They have in fact done the research. They have...
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Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit public hearing – 14 to 30 June in Auckland
Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit public hearing – 14 to 30 June in Auckland The Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit public hearing will be in Auckland at Level 2, 414 Khyber Pass Road, Newmarket, Auckland (entrance from Kingdon st) from 14-30 June. The hearing will focus on evidence about abuse of children and young people in the care of the Child and Adolescent Unit at Lake Alice psychiatric hospital in the 1970s. We will investigate what happened, and why it happened. We are also...
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Bad things happen to GOOD people in NZ
Bad things happen to GOOD people I stood behind Sam because I support him You need to as well Sam's story is so unbelievable that you may think it did not happen I can say that I have seen the evidence It is all true It shows how Oranga Tamariki social workers inaccurately labeled Sam based on his appearance and shared that inaccurate information with other agencies to split his family apart while he and his partner were facing the imminent death of their son, Titaha This was an abuse of...
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Silence divides us. Speaking up unifies us
Silence divides us Speaking up unites us By speaking up By telling our stories We are seen and heard By listening we discover we are not alone The media has a responsibility to report the truth To give people the opportunity to speak up So that the public is informed Sadly, many of our major media providers in NZ do not report many stories of child abuse and harm to our children and harm done to parents who protect their children and to advocates fighting to address the harm done to our...
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I am learning to Self-Regulate ~ I am learning to STOP
I have PTSD. It sounds scary and many people judge me and sometimes fear me It does not help when I get dysregulated because I get loud, aggressive, and send out words of my truth like daggers. My truth, my message no matter how insightful and valuable is LOST in translation as I watch the walls go up over the ears of the recipients ~ the very ones that I want to LISTEN to me. Delivery of the message counts, people, more than it should. Human nature dictates that it does. The anger that I...
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Whatever I have ~ Empower me with KNOWLEDGE and TOOLS
In response to a comment to a post Misdiagnosis: Is It Bipolar Disorder or Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder , I made this comment. I believe it could HELP others I agree that the two overlaps and may co-exist hence why it is so very important to access a full history of life experiences from the person. The difficulty of course is that the person has often lost trust with people including those who want and can help. That is why TIME is so important - TIME to build a trusting...
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Social and Emotional Supports for Educators During and After the Pandemic
Americanprogress.org released an article 'Social and Emotional Supports for Teachers During and After the Pandemic' giving a ton of great information on the stress that educators deal with regularly. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning defines SEL as the process where youth and adults learn skills to manage emotions, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible decisions. "Research by Pennsylvania State University found that teachers who...
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Emodiversity gives me HOPE
I discovered this article that gives me HOPE. The article is of interest because it raises the term "Emodiversity. The definition of Emodiversity from the article is: How does this fit in with Trauma The article states: This gives me HOPE because it tells me that all the emotions I have experienced through my life journey of adversity and trauma, has been beneficial to my health because it means I have a "more balanced and nuanced appraisal of daily life" The final paragraph of the article...
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Obesity ~ Find the underlying cause
This post in my inbox this morning from PACES Connection Weekly Roundup Schroeder K, Schuler BR, Kobulsky JM, Sarwer DB. The association between adverse childhood experiences and childhood obesity: A systematic review. Obes Rev. 2021 Jul;22(7):e13204. PMID: 33506595 From a research review, “Findings suggest ACEs are associated with childhood obesity. Girls may be more sensitive to obesity-related effects of ACEs than boys, sexual abuse appears to have a greater effect on childhood obesity...
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The danger of Flashbacks
The danger of flashbacks is that once you are back there, You can get stuck and Never find a way out. That is why we need strategies To find our way out again When you are with a person especially children who are facing flashbacks Please show us kindness and compassion And if you have absolutely no idea about what I am saying Please educate yourself If there is anything that is going to help us ALL to get unstuck Is empathy and that means EVERYONE knows about trauma and what it is like...
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Anger can be helpful in driving change
Anger can be helpful in driving change Read the article by: Chloe Young, Kat Williams, & Scott R. Stroud, Ph.D. Media Ethics Initiative Center for Media Engagement University of Texas at Austin Snippets from the article: Macalster Bell discusses how most literature on feminist moral psychology and philosophy defends anger in four ways: (1) Calling out wrongdoing and oppression, (2) disvaluing the disvaluable, (3) motivating overall social change, and (4) providing new knowledge about the...
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Why we should befriend Adversity by Mark A. Campbell
This is a good article to read: Why we should befriend Adversity Snippet: We all go through difficult situations, period. There is no magic formula for dealing with these times, but there are ways we can learn to manage them. Through the process of struggling, we acquire knowledge and skills that allow us to function at a higher level. We gain an understanding of our strengths, as well as those areas of life which need improvement. It allows us to connect with our values, which leads to...
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Mia Mingus ~ Leaving Evidence
@Umi Asaka kindly shared this short sound clip (3:29min) with me. As I read it I thought came floating gently into my head Interview between Mia Mingus and Alice Wong 23 August 2014 This is a short audio clip from an interview of Mia Mingus, activist, and writer, conducted by Alice Wong, Project Coordinator of the Disability Visibility Project at StoryCorps San Francisco on August 23, 2014. Text transcript: Alice: In your blog, Leaving Evidence, this passage really resonated with me. You...
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Lake Alice ~ What New Zealand did to their own
(Blog image of Paul Zentveld - Lake Alice abuse survivor) Read this NZ Stuff article by Aaron Smale I ask that you reflect on your definition of mental health Your definition of mental health will determine how you respond to people with mental health The term "mental health" does not need to change Our perceptions, our definition, our response to the term "mental health" needs to change. Once I said that we need to take away the term "mental health" and replace it with another term. I...
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The Humpty Dumpty of New Zealand needs help
Whakarongo mai whānau! CYFS is the Humpty Dumpty of New Zealand I am oppositional defiant When I hear the words "Can't" and "Impossible" I say We can do When you believe you make the seemingly impossible Possible Social workers working for CYFS create many of the problems that families, parents and children face in New Zealand. All professionals know this: In order to understand why we have CYFS social workers that are not following best practices, we need to know about the supports that...
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NZ Family Violence Prevention Strategy
ACC is investing $44.9 million over four years to establish a fit-for-purpose sexual violence primary prevention system, Minister for ACC Carmel Sepuloni announced 3 October 2021. “Almost a quarter of adults in New Zealand have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime, and around one in six people are affected by sexual violence before the age of 18,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “These high rates cannot continue. We need to put in place systems that protect our whānau and our future...
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Find the WHY to know WHAT to do
Once you find the WHY Then you can find the WHAT WHY the behaviour WHAT I NEED TO DO In order to address a problem In order to address a behaviour You need to find out WHY it is happening That requires a thorough ecological assessment The collection of evidence from a number of sources Analysing the evidence To see if it matches If the evidence does not match You have to go and find more evidence TRUTH is when you get the same message From all sources When you have the TRUTH Then you can...
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NZ Education system ~ We have no systemic racism
Iona Holsted, Chief Executive and Secretary for Education said in her response on behalf of the Ministry of Education that she does not acknowledge that our NZ education system has systemic racism . This was later endorsed by Nicholas Pole, Chief Executive and Chief Reviewer of the Education Review Office, in his response on behalf of the Education Review Office. I may have gotten it wrong. I don't think so, as I was there at the hearing. Sadly, our media did not pick up on this, and it was...
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Re: Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in State Care
So what's new. That's been the story from day 1 because they know they can. Tight lipped, closed lip, control, it's worked in the past, so why change? It's the way "we do things". Anne I did not know one could watch the proceedings from Newmarket?
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Growth through trauma
There is growth through trauma. Hard as it is, there IS growth through trauma. Very often, we do not see it at the time. It is not until we reflect on what happened and find possible reasons why we faced a flashback or responded so badly to a trigger. I have been forcing myself to attend the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Care hearings because I wanted to discover WHY professionals working in our State institutions would cause harm to children and youth. I wanted to discover WHY they...
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Ironically, tomorrow Maori "celebrate" Waitangi Day and yet....
Ironically, tomorrow Maori "celebrate" Waitangi Day and yet...our people and our children continue to be over-represented in statistics that show that they face barriers to accessing quality education. Waitangi Day "celebrates" the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi on 6 February 1840. An agreement signed between representatives of the British Crown and more than 500 Māori chiefs. British Crown versus Māori Tomorrow is 6 February 2023 183 years Despite Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and all the plethora...
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Ironically, Maori are expected to "celebrate" Waitangi Day and yet....#2
The following is the journey of yet another mother trying to get her son access to quality education for her son here in New Zealand Yes, Maori again Her journey is totally unacceptable and we continue to WAIT for professionals to resolve the issues This is how Maori are treated here in New Zealand We are expected to be grateful for what we get and to "celebrate" Waitangi Day on 6 February 2023 183 years later and this is the best our NZ education system can offer our people? As Maori, we...
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Ironically, we "celebrate" Waitangi Day and yet.... Abuse in State Care
This post is to honour all survivors from State Care of NZ including Māori and Non-Māori My post is lengthy to acknowledge their long hard arduous journey to seek justice and they too continue to WAIT Te Tiriti o Waitangi protects both Māori and Non-Māori citizens of New Zealand. Initially, I worked with both Māori and non-Māori whanau who struggled to access quality education for their children. I now work with whanau who are significantly harmed by the actions of representatives...
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How do I contribute to the state of our education system in New Zealand?
Life learnings for today Many of those I support Those facing schools that target their children Clarification of target: Effectively actions the school uses to discriminate against children in a way that the children know that they are different and that difference is not acceptable to them, the school Whanau (family) often face these types of responses Group 1: Shut up and put up - stop complaining and it will go away Group 2: You or your kid must have done something wrong ~ You deserve it...
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Wahoo traction ~ NZ is reaching out to get Trauma Informed
I attended Global Resiliency Accelerator group on Tuesday 7 March 2023 at 6 am NZTime hosted by Warren Larkin and Becky Haas. I was smiling this morning ~ Great News I heard New Zealanders are reaching out to attend Trauma-informed programmes and Warren Larkin has visited New Zealand to work with others here in NZ Warren Larkin shared this report with us this morning He Oranga Ngakau ~ Maori Approaches to Trauma-Informed Care He Oranga Ngākau is a research project funded by the Health...
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Through death comes learning and growth
Warning: it may be triggering Below is a link to an article from the NZ Herald today It triggered me Because I have lived it Many others have too We remained silent Thanks to the NZ Herald journalist, Carolyn Meng-Yee And his wife lives on with her memories I hope that Pua's wife gets all the support she needs I thank her for having the courage and strength to share her journey with us So that we can take time to reflect and learn I am sending her all my aroha and awhi to surround her to...
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Transparency trumps Legal Privilege - Judge Mallon Pike River Mine NZ
Transparency trumps Legal Privilege - Judge Mallon Pike River Mine I believe this decision is monumental for those seeking accountability from the State TV One News had an exclusive on this story For those living in NZ: Watch TV One news at six Sunday 26 March 2023 on TVNZ on demand The ruling will be discussed on the Breakfast Show on TV One on 27 March 2023 from 7.06 am Transparency is in the best interests of Justice to ensure the integrity of the administration of Justice is seen to be...