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California Protective Parents Association (CPPA) is celebrating our 20 th Anniversary at a Spring conference. Domestic Violence and the Battle for Custody: Moving Towards Child Safety will take place on April 8, 2018 from 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm at the Brunelle Performing Arts Center, 315 West 14 th Street, Davis CA 95616. The program includes: Rachel Meyrick’s excellent documentary What Doesn’t Kill Me A panel discussion including Kathleen Russell from the Center for Judicial Excellence Retired...

Los Angeles - First 5 LA today released a report that explores how homelessness and trauma affects young children, as well as recommendations for effectively improving outcomes for children and families experiencing homelessness. The National Center on Family Homelessness estimates that 2.5 million children in America go to sleep without a place to call home each year. In Los Angeles County, First 5 LA estimates that roughly 3,000 children under age six are homeless on any given night. While...

In partnership with Genentech Charitable Giving, the Center for Care Innovations is excited to launch the Resilient Beginnings Collaborative . We’ll select 5-7 Bay Area organizations to participate in this 24-month learning and action community dedicated to addressing childhood adversity in pediatric safety net care settings. We’ll provide access to technical expertise, in-person convenings, site visits to exemplars, and coaching, as well as $80,000 grants to each participating team. If you...

Kids in foster care have experienced significant trauma from abuse and neglect and, as a result, often need mental health services. Yet too often, kids in foster care and their caregivers are left to navigate triggering events and conflicts on their own, even though immediate professional support is critical in times of crisis. Tell our state’s leaders to support a common sense solution – a toll-free hotline, available 24/7, so caregivers and kids in foster care, who are experiencing...

Some of the best advocates for children's health are engaged and empowered youth. Creating a positive cycle of health, from optimal physical and mental health to positive social behaviors and supportive relationships requires all of us, adults and youth alike, to be engaged citizens. Adolescence is the stage in human development when individuals begin to clarify and articulate their own values and operationalize their roles in the larger world. Their uncertainty motivates them to question...

Dealing with students’ childhood trauma may improve classroom behavior and attendance rates — at least that’s the idea at the Los Angeles Unified School District’s wellness centers. They are located in or near schools, and are designed to serve kids impacted by issues such as deportation threats, domestic abuse, housing instability and other trauma. The district is working with local nonprofits to expand the program. Suzanne Markey is a social worker with the district. She said schools often...

Trauma Informed Practices are the link to academic achievement and social/emotional success for students who’ve experienced toxic stress and trauma. Due to repeated triggering of the fight or flight system, the neurology of these students is different than their grade level counterparts, and taking in new knowledge can often be challenging. Navigating social/emotional situations can also be difficult. Trauma Informed Practices help teachers and students to be better regulated, which...

Press Release: https://walker.wi.gov/press-releases/governor-walker-trauma-informed-care-everyone-has-role-play

A statewide tax on the wealthy has significantly boosted mental health programs, helping to reduce homelessness, incarceration and hospitalization, according to a report released Tuesday. Revenue from the tax, the result of a statewide initiative passed in 2004, also expanded access to therapy and case management to almost 130,000 people up to age 25 in Los Angeles County, according to the report by the Rand Corp. Many were poor and from minority communities, the researchers said. “Our...

Senator Jim Beall's office that on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 at 9am, a bill will be presented at the Capitol. The SB 940, (Extended Cal Grant funding for foster youth) will be addressed. Senator Beall's office would like to see as many foster youth present, as well as, supporters of foster youth to learn more. SB 940 will improve post-secondary achievement among foster youth by increasing access to California’s largest and most important financial aid program, the Cal Grant. This bill has...

Cities around the world are dealing with severe housing shortages and inflated housing costs. But nowhere is housing such a potent political issue as in California, whose unique geography, state policies, and activist culture have combined with a poorly distributed economic boom to create a “perfect storm”—the chosen words of multiple sources for this story. California is home to more than one-fifth of the nation’s homeless people, and the numbers are continuing to grow. Los Angeles County...

One of the five domains of post-traumatic growth is spirituality. Helping us understand the role of spirituality in recovering from trauma at the Echo Frontiers of Resilience conference is Shaun Tomson . If you think the name and face look familiar then perhaps you know him from his days as a world champion surfer. Shaun needed every single one of the lessons he had learned about facing challenges in the form of towering waves and overcoming wipe-outs when he lost his 15-year-old son to a...