Aslan Tudor, who first traveled with his mom Kelly Tudor to Standing Rock when he was just eight-years-old, has written a book about his experience in a book titled “Young Water Protectors: A Story about Standing Rock.” “I thought it would be a good book to hear about kids in Standing Rock,” said Aslan, who traveled to Standing Rock when he was eight in August of 2016, and had turned 9 by the time he returned in October. Aslan’s mother Kelly Tudor, who helped Aslan write the book, and who...

In the spring of 2013, approximately 12,000 children in Chicago received notice that their last day of school would be not only the final day of the year, but also the final day of their school’s very existence. The nation’s third largest school district would eventually shutter 53 schools, citing budget limitations, building underutilization, and concerns about academic performance. Of the thousands of displaced students, 94% were low-income and 88% were African-American, leading critics to...

Pause . . . breathe . . . smile. Three small words, yet each contains a universe of wisdom. With Pause, Breathe, Smile , Gary Gach invites us to bring the practice of mindfulness into every moment of our lives. Writing for students of all levels, Gach draws on 50-plus years of study and practice in this elegant and accessible presentation of three central aspects of mindful living. The pause is about setting our intention before we think, speak, or act — the ethical dimension of mindfulness.

We are thrilled to announce the premiere of Wrestling Ghosts , a documentary about breaking the cycle of trauma, at the LA Film festival on Sept. 27th. “Incredible. Haunting and strange and beautiful and incredibly moving.” -Dan Cogan, Founder Impact Partners Wrestling Ghosts follows the epic inner journey of Kim, a young mother who, over two heartbreaking and inspiring years, battles the traumas from her past in order to create a new present and future for her and her family. In this...

Both of my books are available on Amazon and you can reach me at info@jamesencinas.com - ACE science informed and provided me with the knowledge and tools to transform my life and are featured prominently in my writing.

The opening quote in Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha's gripping book, What The Eyes Don't See, struck me right in the heart: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." so says Dr. Suess. Caring is something that may be in short supply during our current political climate. Grappling with caring, too much or too little is worth a moment of self-reflection. We have to know what we care about, and lead with our "why," in order to make an impact. Dr. Mona...

By some accounts, nearly half of America's incarcerated population is mentally ill — and journalist Alisa Roth argues that most aren't getting the treatment they need. Roth has visited jails in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta and a rural women's prison in Oklahoma to assess the condition of mentally ill prisoners. She says correctional officers are on the "front lines" of mental health treatment — despite the fact that they lack clinical training. "Most of [the correctional...

Review from Amazon: Childhood experiences can affect a person’s lifelong health. Thinking Developmentally presents a clinical framework for understanding the impact of toxic stress and both adverse and affiliative childhood experiences on development. It makes a compelling case that many diseases of adulthood are not adult-onset, but rather adult-manifest, based on genetic and epigenetic consequences from early childhood experiences. Garner and Saul examine the needs of children and the role...

Although not the first to propose that we all have an interior assembly of sub personalities, or "parts," which make up an internal family system (IFS), Richard Schwartz presents the IFS model in an extremely accessible way. He describes how, when the self is threatened by trauma, overwhelm, fright, and so on, these "parts" focus on protecting us from harm. I read this book last year; I found Schwartz's discussion of how we can cultivate compassion for our own seemingly negative traits--say,...

The author had a chipped tooth. It ruined her looks, she thought. She had to interview someone for her book, and she really wanted to cancel. The interview subject was Mariatu Kamara, the young woman from Sierra Leone who wrote “The Bite of the Mango,” a memoir about surviving a civil war, rape, losing the baby that resulted from the rape, having her hands chopped off, making it to safety and finally leaving everyone she knew to seek refuge in Canada. The author thought about this, about why...

Hi all, Too often in our work we deal with the negative impact of epigenetics. Dr Ken Pelletier has written the book listed below, to help us address those negative impacts. (Full disclosure, I worked for Dr. Pelletier many years ago. I have the utmost respect for his work.) I am looking forward to reading it and learning new tools that can enhance resiliency and mitigate the impact of ACES. I have included the blurb about the book below, but you can check out his website and reviews for...

National and global efforts have failed to stop climate change, transition our society from fossil fuels, and reduce inequality. We must now confront these and other challenges by building resilience at the level of communities. The Community Resilience Reader: Essential Resources for an Era of Upheaval (Island Press, 2017) combines a fresh look at the crises humanity faces, the essential tools of resilience science, and the wisdom of activists, scholars, and analysts working on the ground.