Tagged With "mentally ill parent"
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Effects of Preterm Birth
A baby born prematurely often spends that crucial time for attachment and development of neural pathways in the NICU
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Family First Scholarships for 21st Annual Families and Fathers Conference
21st Annual Families and Fathers National Conference February 24-27, 2020 Hilton Los Angeles Airport 5711 West Century Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90045 I am honored to announce The Family First Scholarship supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation as a Title Sponsor and State of California First 5 as a Co-Sponsor for the 21 st Annual Families and Fathers Conference, Next Level 2020! the terms "putting family first" and "it takes a village to raise a child" parallels with why we have...
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Fathers & ACEs with Trauma Dad & Father's Uplift CEO: Tuesday, September 12th
What supports exist to "uplift" fathers who have survived abandonment, abuse or torture as children? Where can men go to discuss the joys, struggles and issues of being a father with ACEs? Where are the men who face hard, heavy and complicated realities to make life easier and lighter for all who come after? We found two of them and they will be the featured guests in the next Parenting with ACEs chat . Meet Charles Clayton Daniels, Jr. of Father's Uplift and "Trauma Dad" Byron Hamel. Both...
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H.R. 4215 Excellence in Maternal 5 Health Act of 2019
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Introduced in House (08/30/2019) Mr. Bucshon (for himself, Mr. Carson of Indiana, Mr. Burgess , Mr. Bilirakis , Mrs. Brooks of Indiana, Ms. Herrera Beutler , Mr. Long , Mrs. McBath , and Mr. Walden ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To improve maternal health care quality, to improve the training of health care professionals to reduce or prevent discrimination in certain health care services, to...
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Helping New Parents Make Room for Uncertainty
A new program for parents and infants, thanks to generous support from Mill Town Capital , is coming to Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The Hello It’s Me Project shines a spotlight on these tender new relationships, investing resources around the birth of a baby with the long-term goal of building a healthy community from the bottom up. When world-renowned child development researcher Dr. Ed Tronick spoke in the spring of 2018 for an audience of a wide variety of practitioners in Berkshire County...
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Helping women have a better birth and breastfeeding experience during COVID
We at Better Beginnings are actively working to help women have a better birth and breastfeeding experience. Our virtual doulas are available everyday to support women one-to-one through their cell phones. This service is free to the mother call 415-663-6852. We also have taken the Breastfeeding Cafes virtual and continue to see women one on one for serious problems on Mondays by appointment (this requires pre-screening for risk factors). Women need to know their rights during this pandemic...
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2020 Sex and Perinatal Mental Health Conference
Sex & Perinatal Mental Health Conference on January 13th and 14th, 2020 at The California Endowment. This dynamic training will delve into areas such as postpartum sex, birth trauma, cultural attitudes about sex, gender and sexuality, gender affirming care, personal stories and more. We have an amazing lineup of speakers and wanted to introduce you to a few over the next couple of weeks. Two day training that will explore how sex and sexuality impact and interact with mental health...
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4th Annual Bay Area Maternal Mental Health Conference
By UCSF Continuing Medical Education, December 12, 2019 This is the fourth annual conference here in the Bay Area focusing on maternal mental health and well-being, with speakers from throughout the area covering important topics that will improve the care our patients are receiving. We welcome anyone with a personal or professional interest in maternal mental health. Participants will: Review the state of the current opioid crisis in this country and learn about tools to help identity...
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A community-based approach to supporting substance exposed newborns and their families
This information brief highlights a community-based approach to supporting families and newborns affected by substance use. MA EfC developed this brief to address the profound intersection between the Massachusetts opioid crisis, Federal mandates for the development of Plans of Safe Care for substance exposed newborns, and, the MA EfC focus on increasing social connectedness as a means to reduce child maltreatment.
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A Message from the President of the Illinois Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics
Dear Illinois ACE Connection members, Children and families from all demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds in Illinois experience trauma, adversity, and chronic stress. Social determinants such as where we live, work, and play, can further exacerbate positive or negative physical, emotional, and behavioral health issues. The critical factor that determines if a child, family, and/or community can manage trauma, adversity, and chronic stress successfully is resilience : the process by...
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A staggering one-in-three women experience physical, sexual abuse [un.org]
24 November 2019, UN News Here is the grim reality, in numbers: A third of all women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, half of women killed worldwide were killed by their partners or family, and violence perpetrated against women is as common a cause of death and incapacity for those of reproductive age, as cancer, and a greater cause of ill health than road accidents and malaria combined. The prevalence of the issue, “means someone around you. A family...
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AAP Policy Statement Stresses Pediatrician's Role in Mental Health [healio.com]
By Healio, October 21, 2019 An updated policy statement and a technical report issued by the AAP highlighted the need for increased involvement among pediatricians in their patients’ mental health care and increased mental health care training in medical education programs. “Pediatricians — whether in primary care or subspecialty practice — typically have longitudinal, trusting relationships with their patients and families and, as a result, unique opportunities to promote social-emotional...
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ACE-Aha Moments & Parenting: Meet Aprel Phelps Downey
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...
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ACEs Community Spotlight Series: Dr. Richard Honigman, Central Nassau Pediatrics
For our second community spotlight interview, I spoke with Dr. Richard Honigman, a pediatrician at Central Nassau Pediatrics in Levittown and infant mental health advocate. We discussed the importance of addressing childhood adversity and the relevant work he is doing both inside and outside his practice. Please note that responses have been adjusted for length and clarity. Dr. Honigman is also the first recipient of the 2019 Ed Tronick Award for Distinguished Contribution to Infant-Parent...
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ACEs Research Corner — November 2019
[Editor's note: Dr. Harise Stein at Stanford University edits a web site -- abuseresearch.info -- that focuses on the health effects of abuse, and includes research articles on ACEs. Every month, she's posting the summaries of the abstracts and links to research articles that address only ACEs. Thank you, Harise!! -- Jane Stevens] Jackson DB, Chilton M, Johnson KR, Vaughn MG. Adverse Childhood Experiences and Household Food Insecurity. Am J Prev Med. 2019 Nov;57(5):667-674. PMID: 31522923...
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ACEs Science Champion Series: Dr. Angela Bymaster: This Faith-Based Physician Integrates ACEs Science with Healing Arts
Dr. Angela Bymaster, a family physician at Washington Elementary School in San Jose, CA, operates her clinic in a portable unit on the school property.
Because the unit faces students as they are dropped off by their families, she gets to “pick up the kids” before they are sent to the clinic, practicing “upstream medicine.”
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Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study: Beyond Screening in Pediatrics
The evidence is clear. When bad things happen to us as young children, we are at significantly increased risk for not only mental health problems, but also a wide range of physical health problems including asthma, heart disease, and even early death. These "bad things" all involve disruptions in caregiving relationships. A national movement directed at screening for ACEs in pediatric practices has emerged from this work. My suggestion that the implication of the Adverse Childhood...
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Announcing the Parenting with ACEs Monthly Chat Series!
I'm thrilled to announce our NEW Live Chat series!!! Starting in May, once a month, we will have a live Chat Event. It will take online in the Parenting with ACEs Group the second Tuesday of the month at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST). We'll learn from our featured guests (below) about ACE-related issues. We'll have discussions and share experiences, stories, and resources with each other. Here is who and what we have scheduled for 2017. 2017 Monthly Chat Schedule / Time is Always: @ 10 AM PST (1...
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Re: Doulas & Covid-19: A toolkit for doulas (DONA International)
We at Better Beginnings are actively working to help women have a better birth and breastfeeding experience. Our virtual doulas are available everyday to support women one to one through their cell phones. This service is free to the mother. 415-663-6852. We also have taken the Breastfeeding Cafes virtual and continue to see women one on one for serious problems on Mondays by appointment (this requires pre-screening for risk factors). Women need to know their rights during this pandemic so...
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Re: Learning To Care For My Newborn Was A Humbling Experience [npr.org]
Becoming a parent is a humbling experience - so much more incredible and complicated than I ever imagined. New parents need a circle of support - as often happens in other countries. And, in the US we need maternity leave policies that support families. Families that feel supported report feeling less stressed. Reduced stress is linked to decreased risk for child abuse. Lovingly caring for an infant that is awake and crying for nearly 48 hours is stressful! let's find ways to support...
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Re: NICU Moms 70% More Likely to get a Maternal Mental Health Disorder [huffingtonpost.com]
Jessica, thank you for bravely sharing the back story to your interest in maternal mental health! I wonder if you will be the person who helps another mom seek help? Just like from the article, " i t was a friend who had struggled with PPD herself who finally urged her to get help " . Thank you so much! Karen
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Re: NICU Moms 70% More Likely to get a Maternal Mental Health Disorder [huffingtonpost.com]
Thank you for posting this and sharing a little of your story Jessica. Powerful article that we need for health care providers to see!
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Re: The importance of maternal well-being in relation to child unintentional injury
Hello ELIZABETH I really appreciate the courage and the willingness of this group who are willing to deal with this tough topic of. MATERNAL MENTAL HEALTH OF THE MOTHER. Wow...my mother was a very broken woman whom my grandmother was a raging and violent alcoholic woman who was rough on my mother. Back in the late 1950's we did not have groups like this...thank God this group exist. My MOTHER WAS the youngest of 6 kids, she was the baby. SHE did the best she could, I can see that now. But it...
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Mental Health Awareness: When Suffering Is Not an Illness
When I was an adolescent and young adult, I struggled with depression. As I reflect back on that time, so much of what I was experiencing was deeply tied to coming to terms with my sexuality. Growing up in the 1980’s in a relatively conservative town, I was closeted (even to myself) until I was a young adult. The pain and fear of being different, of not belonging, of being judged or rejected for who I was more than my adolescent brain could wrap its conscious head around.
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Pediatric Mental Health Care Must Be Family Mental Health Care [jamanetwork.com]
By Matthew G. Biel, Michael H. Tang, Barry Zuckerman, JAMA Pediatrics, April 6, 2020 Pediatric mental health (MH) concerns, including depression, anxiety, loneliness and social isolation, and suicide, have increased markedly in the last decade and are critical factors associated with population health. While effective interventions for these conditions have been developed and pediatric health care professionals increasingly address MH concerns as a central component of clinical practice, our...
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Covid-19 could cause a mental health crisis. It can also spark post-traumatic growth (STAT)
By Jay Behel and Jennifer A. Coleman, June 22, 2020, STAT. Some experts are warning of a looming mental health crisis in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic that we are apparently ill-prepared for, and journalists are amplifying this message. Everyone, it seems, is depressed and there is a new health curve to flatten. We believe these warnings are being overdone, and definitely overlook the potential for post-traumatic growth (more on that in a minute). [ Please click here to read more. ]
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Re: Unbecoming an Armadillo: Recovering from Trauma with EMDR
Thank you Victoria for sharing your experience of EMDR and for vulnerably sharing some of your childhood and residual experiences. I can relate on many levels. The more we actually articulate our experiences, the more opportunity we give others to realize we're not alone, and the more we actually provide examples of how so many of us learn lies about ourselves as a result of our parent child interactions. You're not alone. You have many allies on this journey to autonomy and empowerment.
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The Cinderella Phenomenon: When One Child Is the Target of Abuse
Photo credit Unsplash.com/🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič (The article below is an excerpt from my book, Crazy Was All I Ever Knew: The Impact of Maternal Mental Illness on Kid s. I have used a pseudonym to protect the privacy of family members.) As a child, I lived in dread that something would set my mother off and she’d fly into a violent rage, unleashing a torrent of physical abuse. There never was any reason for the abuse. There didn’t have to be. Something would invariably infuriate my mother. I...
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Role Definitions for Perinatal Mental Health (Maternal Mental Health Scotland)
By Clare Thompson, August 25, 2020, Maternal Mental Health News. The Perinatal Mental Health Network have published Role Definitions to support NHS Boards develop their specialist perinatal mental health services. Here are some highlights – the full document is available here . PERINATAL MENTAL HEALTH NURSES PERINATAL MENTAL HEALTH MIDWIVES PERINATAL PARENT-INFANT THERAPISTS PERINATAL MENTAL HEALTH NURSERY NURSES PERINATAL CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS [ Please click here to read more. ]
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Conversations between Latina mothers and their child's mental health provider: An observational study of shared decision-making regarding pediatric patient mental health needs
By Hale KL, Wallace DD, Blanco-Durán D, et al. Conversations between Latina mothers and their child's mental health provider: An observational study of shared decision-making regarding pediatric patient mental health needs. Patient Educ Couns . 2020;103(1):96-102. Objective: To evaluate shared decision-making (SDM) and delineate SDM processes in audio-recorded conversations between language congruent Spanish-/English-speaking clinicians and parents of pediatric mental health patients.
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'A Better Normal:' Can universal ACEs screening be equitable? -- Concerns and solutions
Can universal ACEs screening be equitable? A conversation about concerns and solutions. When: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2-3:30 pm PDT/5-6:30 pm EDT This webinar explores what it takes to ensure that equity is built into the process of screening and providing support for families who have experienced trauma and want help. REGISTER HERE Background At the beginning of this year, California, through the ACEs Aware initiative began rolling out universal screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs),...
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Paying Attention to Mental Wellness
Here is a link to a recent post -- tied into Dak Prescott's injury and an article on post-partum depression. Key here is that if you can name feelings, then you can tame them. https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/we-dont-recognize-mental-distress-that-has-to-change-1e23074f2f19 Watch too for a new download: Trauma Toolbox Maker Kit at www.karengrosseducation.com. Should be available by week's end.
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New California preventive mental health coverage puts ACEs science front and center
A mother, frantic with worry, brought her newborn in for a checkup at the pediatric clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. But there wasn’t anything wrong with the baby. And over the next several months, no amount of reassurance could convince the mom that her child was eating, sleeping and growing just fine. If anything, the mother’s worry led to behavior that raised alarm bells for her health care providers. Dr. Kate Margolis “[The family] wasn’t returning calls from the provider, and...
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New Resource: Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic One-Pager (English & Spanish!)
English: The California Department of Public Health, Injury and Prevention Branch (CDPH/IVPB) and the California Department of Social Service, Office of Child Abuse Prevention’s (CDSS/OCAP) , Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative , ACEs Connection , and the Yolo County Children’s Alliance have co-created a newly developed resource, “Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic” in both English and Spanish. This material is intended for Californian families experiencing the severe...
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Maternal Mental Health
Like many of you, I’m a bit out of sorts and somewhat disoriented right now. Our collective mental health is deteriorating during Covid-19. Recent stats report an increase from 20-40% of adults struggling with mental illness since the advent of the pandemic. Maternal mental health is particularly at risk. Helping children with distance learning, navigating exposure to the news, trying to keep life a bit “normal”, keeping family members fed and supplied, juggling career and income loss, all...
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8 Categories of Adversity That Shape Health: Adverse Babyhood Experiences (ABEs), ACEs, and More
When I assisted women and families during pregnancy, labor and birth as a family doctor, I often felt concern that the interventions commonly used, while potentially life saving, influenced outcomes in ways that could be negative. I've since learned about a vast body of evidence that helps identify risk and offers tools to help recognize potential risk and effects so we can improve prevention and treatment. "ABEs" are one of 7 categories of adversity I add to ACEs that I wish I'd known about.
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New ACEs Aware Training Activity - Maternal Mental Health
Maternal Mental Health: Addressing the Impact of ACEs, Toxic Stress and Intergenerational Trauma (TWO DAY TRAINING) WEDNESDAY, MAY 19th & THURSDAY, MAY 20th 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM __________ PLEASE NOTE: This training was created with providers in mind BUT anyone interested in maternal mental health will benefit from the training. *These training activities are available at no cost to participants thanks to a grant through ACEs Aware* SIGN UP TODAY...