Tagged With "mental health"
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Florida will require mental health education for students in sixth grade and above (CNN)
By Lauren M. Johnson , CNN July 18, 2019 Florida will become the third state in the US to require students to learn more about mental health, behind Virginia and New York. The Florida State Board of Education voted on Wednesday to require public schools to provide students in grades six and above a minimum of five hours of mental health education annually. The announcement comes as studies reveal more about how screen time and social media impacts teenagers mentally. According to the...
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Four Ways to Integrate a Structural Racism Lens into Neighborhood Health Research [howhousingmatters.org]
Photo: Joao Victor Bolan/Shutterstock Structural racism refers to the institutional practices, policies, and norms that shape opportunity and assign value based on race, including the macro-level forces that often appear race-neutral but maintain existing racial hierarchies. In health disparities research, structural racism is often represented as neighborhood disadvantage or racial residential segregation, but some scholars argue that this approach fails to acknowledge structural racism as...
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Free 2-Day Course on Community Resiliency Model
August 15-16, 2019 , 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Valencia College School of Public Safety 8600 Valencia College Lane, Room 149 Orlando, Fl., 32825 NO COST Registration Link: https://web.spcollege.edu/survey/28951 The Community Resiliency Model® (CRM) introduces participants to six wellness skills to help create “trauma-informed” and “resiliency-informed” individuals and communities that share a common understanding of the impact of trauma and chronic stress on the nervous system. Resiliency can be...
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GABOR MATÉ JOINS EP. 3 on May 21 with Darrell Hammond and Filmmaker Michelle Esrick. [crackedupmovie.com]
CRACKED UP THE EVOLVING CONVERSATION TRAUMA AS THE ROOT CAUSE OF ADDICTION With DARRELL HAMMOND DIRECTOR MICHELLE ESRICK and RENOWNED TRAUMA AND ADDICTION EXPERT GABOR MATÉ, M.D. author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction MODERATED BY JANE STEVENS, FOUNDER OF ACES CONNECTION Hosted by ACES Connection Thursday May 21st at 2pm PDT / 3p MT / 4p CT / 5pm EDT FREE FOR ALL WHO REGISTER! IF YOU REGISTER, BUT CAN NOT ATTEND, YOU WILL RECEIVE A RECORDING WITHIN ONE WEEK.
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Got Your ACE, Resilience Scores?
What's Your ACE Score? (and Your Resilience Score?) There are 10 types of childhood trauma measured in the ACE Study. Five are personal -- physical abuse, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect. Five are related to other family members: a parent who's an alcoholic, a mother who's a victim of domestic violence, a family member in jail, a family member diagnosed with a mental illness, and the disappearance of a parent through divorce, death or abandonment. Each...
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Healing the Hidden Wounds of Racial Trauma (Reclaiming Healing Journal)
This article, originally published in 2013, has tremendous relevance. It was recently shared with me by community partner Laurie Elbow of the Suncoast Center for Community Mental Health. Healing the Hidden Wounds of Racial Trauma By Kenneth V. Hardy, PhD A disproportionate number of children and youth of color fail in school and become trapped in the pipelines of treatment, social service, and justice systems. This article examines racial trauma and highlights strategies for healing and...
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How Communities Can Build Psychological Resilience to Disaster
Nicole Wetsman The Red River runs north, up along the border between North Dakota and Minnesota, before spilling into Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. Its water flows slowly through a 10,000-year-old glacial lakebed, in one of the flattest stretches of land in the United States, and because it points north, it’s sometimes blocked by ice jams—all of which makes the river prone to flooding . In March 2009, one such flood threatened the city of Fargo. Residents watched for a week as the...
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How do these pediatricians do ACEs screening? Early adopters tell all.
Last week, three pediatricians — with a combined experience of 15 years integrating ACEs science into their practices — reflected on the urgency they felt several years ago that prompted them to begin screening patients for childhood adversity and resilience when there was practically no guidance at all. Along their journey , they accumulated a list of lessons learned for other pediatricians and family clinics to use. The three pediatricians participated in the ACEs Connection webinar,...
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How Stable, Affordable Housing Can Help Tackle Food Insecurity
by Kimberly Burrowes Farmers’ markets, community gardens, and fruit stands provide local residents access to healthy, affordable food in many neighborhoods. In areas with fewer grocery stores, farmers’ markets can help close the food access gap. But they don’t serve every neighborhood, and today, one in eight Americans experiences food insecurity —and they’re primarily from low-income households and communities of color. Although physical and mental health, family structure, and economic...
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How Zoning Shapes our Lives [howhousingmatters.org]
Zoning rules dictate more than just how we can use and build on land. They also shape our communities and our lives. Land use laws determine where we can find housing, schools, and parks—and who has access to them. Policymakers initially created zoning codes to protect public health —for example, to stop residents from getting sick from living too close to factories. But from the start, zoning has separated more than just land uses. It has also separated people. [For more on this story,...
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Integrating Healthcare and Early Childhood Systems Requires Capacity and Expertise [Chapin Hall At the University of Chicago]
Pediatric well-child visits represent a critical, often untapped opportunity to ask families about unmet social care needs and connect them with early childhood and other community services. Innovating in this space to address social determinants of health, early childhood organizations are increasingly building healthcare partnerships with the goal of increasing family access to services and preventing challenges from becoming crises. However, it can be difficult to establish shared...
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It Makes Sense
I felt inadequate and ill-prepared to speak to licensed mental health professionals about ACEs. But when I was asked to attend the 40th Annual Training Institute on Behavioral Health & Addictive Disorders in Clearwater, Florida to represent ACEs Connection, I was honored and eager. My background is in health planning, not mental or behavioral health. I review health data and look for gaps and inequities. My time is spent looking for and addressing the health needs of a community. So,...
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It took 3 years, 6 versions to develop ACEs screener that works for parents & providers
It’s irrefutable: Widespread research shows that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are common. That’s why researchers in a recent study insist: “It behooves pediatric providers to take an active role in preventing and identifying childhood adversity in order to reduce the health consequences of toxic stress.” In other words, if you want your kids to have a good shot at a healthy life, make sure they — and you — are educated about and screened for ACEs and resilience. In a recent study —...
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Join a New National Grassroots Campaign to Address Childhood Trauma and Build Resilience by Engaging and Educating Congress.
Hope you’ll join the new national campaign to address childhood trauma. Here's the link to join the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP): Join a New National Grassroots Campaign . CTIPP was created to Address Childhood Trauma and Build Resilience by Engaging and Educating Congress . We are looking for local trauma leaders to help educate our congressional delegation on the impact of trauma and strategies for building resilience. Learn more details from webinar. (Note:...
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Join National Grassroots Campaign to Address Childhood Trauma and Build Resilience by Engaging and Educating Congress
Dear Friends & Colleagues: I am on the board of a national group to address trauma and we’d love you to Join a New National Grassroots Campaign to Address Childhood Trauma and Build Resilience by Engaging and Educating Congress . We launch ed the National Trauma Campaign yesterday which calls for federal action to prevent and address childhood trauma and build resilience through educating and engaging Congress. The Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice , CTIPP, founded this...
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Latino Students in North Philadelphia Photograph Barriers to Healthy Living [philly.com]
Photo: Philadelphia Collaborative for Health Equity Mounds of trash on the sidewalk. Used hypodermic needles strewn around parks. Memorials to kids who died from gun violence posted on streets. That’s what Latino high school students in North Philadelphia walk past in their neighborhoods every day. So when researchers asked them to take pictures of what prevents them from being healthy, the answers seemed obvious to many. “I don’t feel safe when my community is dirty,” one student wrote in a...
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League of Women Voters Hot Topics: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
League of Women Voters Orange County - Hot Topics Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): The Biggest Public Health Crisis You've Never Heard of March 11th, 2020 11:00 am - 1:00 pm Sorosis Club: 501 E. Livingston St., Orlando, FL 32801 ACEs are traumatic experiences that occur in childhood (0-17 years) and are now scientifically linked to changes in the brain that lead to an astounding increase in a lifetime of poor life outcomes. Tragic outcomes include suicide, chronic diseases (cancer/heart...
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Local Org Helping Children Caught Up in Migrant Crisis Find Foster Homes [Faith Wire]
Bethany Christian Services has an office in Winter Garden, Central Florida, where they are the only local social-service agency that is actively partnering with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help children find temporary homes until they find a U.S. sponsor. “ We’re doing a lot of trauma-informed care ,” Bethany’s executive director for Florida, Laurie Stern explained. “There’s going to be some anger and confusion. It’s wrapping your arms around that child and letting...
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Love in the time of Coronavirus: HOPE-informed thoughts for parents
reposted from https://positiveexperience.org/ HOPE – Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences – is a new way of seeing and talking about experiences that support children’s growth and development into healthy, resilient adults. We now know that that even in the face of adversity, key positive experiences help us heal. Join our ACES Community to find out more about Balancing ACES with HOPE , and visit our website ( positiveexperience.org ) to learn more about HOPE and its four building...
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Lower parent-child conflict significantly reduces risk of mental health difficulties in children exposed to adversity [PsyPost]
By Eric W. Dolan, PsyPost, September 28, 2019 Facing adversity in childhood is associated with psychopathology in adolescence, but this risk is lower in families with less parent-child conflict, according to new research. The study, published in The British Journal of Psychiatry, highlights the importance of the parent-child relationship. “Adversity is common in childhood, affecting roughly 1-in-4 children. There is now a lot of evidence indicating that adversity is major risk factor for...
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Major decline in poverty rate for Central Florida children, report shows [Orlando Sentinel]
There’s some rare good news for Central Florida’s kids — the poverty rate dropped significantly from 2012 to 2017, juvenile arrests were down and more children were covered by health insurance. The findings were released Wednesday by the Florida Kids Count 2019 Child Well-being Index, produced by researchers at the University of South Florida and based on 16 measures of health, financial stability, education and social welfare in each Florida county. On the whole, St. Johns County — in the...
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ACEs Science Champions Series: Meet Florida's Johnny Appleseed. She plants seeds of ACEs science!
Dr. Mimi Graham is Florida’s Johnny Appleseed, but instead of planting apple trees, she’s been seeding hundreds of ACEs-science-informed schools, courts, juvenile detention centers, hospitals, childcare centers, home visiting programs, mental health agencies, law enforcement agencies, and drug treatment centers. Graham, who has served as director of the Florida State University Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy in Tallahassee since 1993, focuses on early childhood,...
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Mental Health Workshop Series- Hosted by The Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church
Mental Health Workshop Series When: April 17th – June 5th, 2019 Time: 7:00pm-8:30pm Address: 5200 W South St, Orlando, FL 32811. Hosted by: The Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church, Rev. Larry G. Mills, Pastor. Sessions are not exclusive but primarily focus on the minority community and include: Session 1: It’s OK Not to Be OK Wednesday, April 17th & 24th (7:00pm to 8:30pm) This two-part session will examine the history of mental illness in our community, faces of mental health,...
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Mindfulness Stress Reduction Techniques for Healing [ACES Connection]
By JEN JOHNSON, LPC Whether you’re healing from illness, trauma, or other difficult times, these mindfulness stress reduction techniques can support your healing. The Congressional Prevention Coalition estimated that 90% of disease is caused or complicated by stress. People with higher ACES scores are more vulnerable to stress related illness. Therefore, reducing stress makes good sense for health from both a prevention and disease management standpoint. 5 Things You can do to reduce stress:...
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Nadine Burke Harris Prepares to Launch Universal Trauma Screenings [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
Soon after being appointed California’s first-ever surgeon general , Nadine Burke Harris took off on a barnstorming tour across the state to talk about adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress, an issue she calls “the biggest public health crisis facing California today.” Before the pediatrician was appointed to her position in January by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), Harris had founded and led the Center for Youth Wellness, organization focused on addressing toxic stress and the study of...
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'Nature prescriptions' could be the next health revolution - and Washington is an early adopter [Inlander]
D r. Robert Zarr steps into the patient room and sees a teenage girl. Lately, the 17-year-old has been experiencing repeated panic attacks, giving her so much chest pain that she had to be rushed to the emergency room each time. She's looking for answers from Dr. Zarr. Instead, it's Zarr who asks a question. "Do you have a way to spend time outside?" he says. [For more on this story, written by Inlander, go to: https://www.inlander.com/spokane/back-to-our-roots/Content?oid=17700774 ]
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NEMOURS CEO LARRY MOSS: LET'S INVEST MORE IN KIDS' HEALTH [HealthLeaders]
Medical care represents only a fraction of what we should consider when we think about health, Moss said. The rest includes things like social determinants of health, in their various forms, including education, literacy, housing, safety, freedom from adverse childhood experiences, and other social factors.
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New Study Reveals Annual Cost of Childhood Adversity in California Is Approximately $113 Billion [prnewswire.com]
SAN FRANCISCO , Jan. 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ The Center for Youth Wellness announces the release of an in-depth study on the health-related cost of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the state of California . A number of studies have investigated the cost of child maltreatment, but the current study, entitled " Adult health burden and costs in California during 2013 associated with prior adverse childhood experiences ," is the first to examine the cost associated with adult health...
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One state. One year. (Partial) Cost of ACEs = $5.2 billion.
In looking at the impact of childhood trauma, you can’t get much clearer than this: In 2017, ACEs among Tennessee adults led to an estimated $5.2 billion in direct medical costs and lost productivity from employees missing work. That’s just one year, according to the new report, “ The Economic Cost of ACEs in Tennessee ," released on Feb. 1, 2019 by The Sycamore Institute in Nashville, Tenn. And to provide some perspective, $5.2 billion is one-seventh of the state’s annual budget . This $5.2...
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Parent Handouts updated and available In Dari, English & Spanish
The updated parent handouts are now available in Spanish as well as English and Dari. Here's the blog post with links to all three versions of each flyer. All versions of the Understanding ACEs and Parenting to Prevent & Heal ACEs parent handouts can be downloaded, distributed, and used freely. Both flyers were made with generous support from Family Hui, a Program of Lead for Tomorrow, who is responsible for making the Spanish and Dari translations available. These are updates of the...
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Press Release: Central Florida’s Working Families Continue to Struggle - New United Way ALICE Report Reveals 46% of Households Fail to Cover Basic Needs [Heart of Florida United Way News]
Photo: ALICE Florida Report 2018/ United Way Orlando, Fla. (February 6, 2019) – Heart of Florida United Way announced that more than 350,000 households in Central Florida struggle to afford basic necessities such as housing, food, transportation, health care and child care, according to the 2018 ALICE Report. Statewide, 46% of households face the same financial challenges. In Central Florida, the number of low-income workers struggling to cover essentials grew by approximately 1.1 percent...
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Press Release: Milwaukee County Leaders Proclaim Racism is a Public Health Crisis [Urban Milwaukee]
Following the lead from the Wisconsin Public Health Association, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and County Board Vice Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson, proclaim racism is a public health crisis, and are actively taking steps to achieve racial equity throughout Milwaukee County.
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Promoting a Community Approach for Mental Well-Being in Our Littlest Citizens [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
By Andrea L. Lowe, The Chronicle of Social Change, June 10, 2019. Several years ago , my sister and I watched my 2-year-old nephew’s behavior change dramatically. He started wetting the bed, throwing temper tantrums and getting frustrated so quickly. In any other child, it might have been normal “terrible twos,” but in him we knew something was definitely wrong. At the time, my sister and her husband were getting divorced. Ultimately, we found out that my nephew thought it was his fault,...
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Public Health Researchers to Launch a Trauma-Informed and Responsive Care Initiative [University of Miami]
Roderick King, M.D., MPH, and Joseph West, Sc.D., two researchers from the Miller School's Department of Public Health Sciences, were recently awarded a two-year grant from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to address gaps in health equity, responsive care needs related to trauma, and adaptive lifestyle behaviors in young men. The epidemiologic study and community-based intervention is a collaboration between the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Department of...
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Recording and slides now available for webinar on Florida’s Early Childhood Courts: Transforming Child Welfare
Information (recording, slides, and resources) on the June 6 webinar "Florida’s Early Childhood Courts: Transforming Child Welfare" is now available (and soon to posted in the ACEs Connection webinar section on the homepage). This well-attended and received webinar was sponsored by the National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma & Mental Health and co-sponsored ACEs Connection and the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice ( CTIPP ) Webinar Summary Every six minutes in the...
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Register now for Creating a Resilient Community; keynote speaker: Vincent Filetti, MD
Valencia College’s Peace and Justice Institute, the Early Learning Coalition of Orange County, the Orange County Health Department, along with partners and sponsors, invite you to a community conference, Creating a Resilient Community: From Trauma to Healing on April 3rd, 2019. The event, featuring keynote speaker Dr. Vincent Felitti, co-author of the Adverse Childhood Experience Study, will be held at the Florida Hotel & Conference Center in Orlando. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. To learn...
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Researchers show adverse childhood events contribute to lower self-control among teens [Florida International University]
MIAMI , Nov. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are known to lead to a number of negative health and behavior outcomes, including delinquent and criminal behavior. A new study has found exposure to adverse childhood experiences is also associated with lower self-control in teenagers, especially when those experiences are related to maltreatment. Researchers in Florida and Michigan found that a greater variety of adverse experiences in childhood leads to lower levels...
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Resource Feature: The Center for the Study of Social Policy
There is a wealth of information and resources around the Strengthening Families Protective Factors which can be found at The Center for the Study of Social Policy website - www.cssp.org . All resources are free and can be used to provide training and education around these Protective Factors. These Protective Factors when active and present in families act as mitigators for adversity and help reduce the possibility of abuse and neglect. Training Opportunity: Trauma/Adverse Childhood...
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Resource: What is epigenetics?
How does epigenetics relate to child development? New resource from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child explains. Science tells us that the interactions between genes and environment shape human development. “Epigenetics” is an emerging area of scientific research that shows how environmental influences—including the experiences we provide for children—actually affect the expression of their genes. This means that the old idea that genes are "set in stone" has been disproven. Nature...
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Observing Ramadan Amid COVID-19: Respecting Silence [Peace and Justice Institute at Valencia College]
Observing Ramadan Amid COVID-19: Embracing Silence By Sofiya Asedrem Respect silence. " Silence is a rare gift in our busy world. After someone has spoken, take time to reflect without immediately filling the space with words. This applies to the speaker, as well – be comfortable leaving your words to resound in the silence, without refining or elaborating on what you have said.” For the close to 2 billion Muslims around the world, Ramadan is the month when the first verses of the Quran were...
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Rich sheltered, poor shafted amid virus [Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index]
The coronavirus is spreading a dangerous strain of inequality. Better-off Americans are still getting paid and are free to work from home, while the poor are either forced to risk going out to work or lose their jobs. Driving the news: This sobering reality emerges from Week 3 of our Axios-Ipsos Coronavirus Index . The survey finds Americans with less education and lower incomes far more likely either to have to keep showing up at their workplaces — putting themselves at greater daily risk...
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Road to Resilience
Join The Department of Health in Orange County, Orlando Health and Carolann Duncan, MS, trauma-informed response trainer, for an overview of the science of ACEs, how ACEs impact children and how professionals can help children grow and heal after adversity. RSVP by April 26, 2019 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/road-toresilience-training-tickets-59169504581 *CEUs will be issued for qualified participants. See registration website for details
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Second Chance ?
I’m Peter Chiavetta, 1st Assistant Fire Chief in my local fire department. I respond to EMS 911 calls every week. I received this dispatch during the evening. Meet PD for mental health transport. Upon my arrival I am briefed by PD that I have a victim of a suicide attempt. My patient put a shot gun in their mouth and pulled the trigger. 99.9997 percent of the time a bullet primer will fire. That’s how reliable it is. This time there was a missed fire. My patient gets a second chance at life.
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Sheltering in Place: ACEs-Informed Tips for Self-Care During a Pandemic
Millions of lives have been affected in unprecedented ways by the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We are all grappling with uncertainty—our daily routines interrupted, not knowing what is to come. For those of us who have Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), these times can be particularly distressing. At the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW), we know that childhood trauma can have a significant impact on an individual’s health and well-being – both physiologically and psychologically. Since the...
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Something to Celebrate!
Valencia’s Peace and Justice Institute is excited to announce that we received a grant from the Khatoon Foundation to continue momentum around the work of ACEs and resilience in Central Florida. With this grant, we are able to bring on a Project Coordinator (Kelsey Visser) for 10 hrs/week for 4 months. Since our “sector” as Valencia College is education, our focus will be on contributing the following to the educational goals of the ACEs work: Film Screenings: Coordinating and marketing 2...
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Substance Use Disorder and Brain Development
The inputs a brain experiences during its developmental stages have a profound impact on whether that person will develop a substance use disorder (if they choose to drink or use other drugs). In turn, developing a substance use disorder (SUD) as a tween, teen, or young adult dramatically influences that person's brain development. And why is understanding this causality important? The risk factors for developing a substance use disorder are the result of inputs the brain experiences (or...
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The Black Community, COVID-19 & Trauma [sdvoice.com]
By Latanya West, San Diego Voice, May 15, 2020 In January 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Dr. Nadine Burke Harris as California’s first-ever Surgeon General. An award-winning physician, researcher and advocate, Dr. Burke Harris’ career has been dedicated to serving vulnerable communities and combating the root causes of health disparities. Her work is equally dedicated to changing the way our society responds to one of the most serious, expensive and widespread public health crises of...
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The Greatest White Privilege Is Life Itself: Like so many other black men in America, Elijah Cummings died too young [The Atlantic]
Ibram X. Kendi Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University I had a 30-minute ride to the train station. I nestled into my seat, opened my phone, and saw that Representative Elijah Cummings had passed away. I gasped and covered my mouth. The driver peeked at me in his rear-view mirror. He saw me shaking my head and whispering what many Americans whispered last Thursday: He was only 68 . My mind turned to my father, whom I had just left at a hotel in Princeton,...
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The Impact of Racism on Children’s Health [New York Times]
A new statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics looks at the effects of racism on children’s development, starting in the womb. This month the American Academy of Pediatrics put out its first policy statement on how racism affects the health and development of children and adolescents . “Racism is a significant social determinant of health clearly prevalent in our society now,” said Dr. Maria Trent, a professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who was one of the...
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The paradox of trauma-informed care | Vicky Kelly | TEDxWilmington
This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Dr. Vicky Kelly has over 35 years of experience as a psychotherapist, administrator, consultant and trainer. She is a nationally known trainer in the areas of trauma and attachment. Her career has included positions in a variety of human service, mental health, and child welfare organizations. She currently serves as the Director of the Delaware Division of Family Services . The common thread across her...