Tagged With "Dynamic Mindfulness"
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37th Annual Child Abuse Prevention Symposium Recap
"Speak Out! Confronting the Culture of Child Sexual Abuse and Secrecy" was the theme of Santa Clara County's 37th Annual Child Abuse Prevention Symposium which featured a Keynote conversation with Olympic Gold Medal winning gymnast and current UCLA Assistant Gymnastics Coach Jordyn Wieber. Jordyn, and other athletes and survivors of former USA Gymnastics team doctor and serial child sex abuser Larry Nassar, earlier spoke to a U.S. Senate Subcommittee about a “culture of silence” more...
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8 Myths About Screening For Adverse Childhood Experiences
I’d like to take this opportunity to address some of the objections to screening for ACEs that I have come across. It is true that some areas of research are still emerging, such as protocols, but in other ways we are twenty years behind using the information we have to make a positive difference in our patients lives and in training new physicians to be more comfortable addressing social and experiential determinants of health.
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A "Better Normal" Community Discussion - Trauma Sensitive Yoga for Embodiment and Agency
TCTSY (Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga) is the practice of bringing our bodies into the present moment to integrate and recover from the harmful effects of adverse life experiences. This evidence-based method focuses on the felt sense of the body, also known as interoception. Exercising interoception helps inform one’s choice-making and allows participants to restore their connection of mind with body and cultivate a sense of agency that is often compromised as a result of trauma. Dion...
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A Guide to Creating “Safe Space” Policies for Early Childhood Programs [CLASP]
From the Center for Law and Social Policy Early childhood programs play an important role in the lives of young children and their families. But in our current immigration policy climate, families across the country are questioning whether it’s safe to attend or enroll. Providers can take steps to protect families’ safety and privacy by implementing policies that designate their facilities as a safe space from immigration enforcement. This guide explains federal agency guidance related to...
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A National Agenda to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences
What are ACEs and Why Do They Matter? In 2016 1 , nearly half of U.S. children – 34 million kids – had at least one Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) and more than 20 percent experienced two or more. The new brain sciences and science of human development explain how ACEs can have devastating, long-lasting effects on children’s health and wellbeing. These events resonate well beyond the individual child to have far-reaching consequences for families, neighborhoods, and communities. ACEs...
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A Pathway to Prevention: Understanding root causes to help break the cycle of domestic violence [Blue Shield of California Foundation]
From Foundation Program Manager Jelissa Parham: Recently, I was in Oakland’s Chinatown neighborhood when I heard a couple fighting across the street from me. As I looked on, the man lunged toward the woman and began to choke her while her young toddler watched the entire scene, clutching a small toy. Instinctively, before I had time to process the possible consequences, I called out: “No! Stop! Don’t touch her!” The man released his hold, and I briefly thought the incident was over. But I...
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ACEs Connection Network Confab -- Northern California, May 12, 2016
About 50 people drove in from north, east, west and south of Sacramento County, CA, for our first (but not our last) confab for members of ACEsConnection.com groups in Northern California. This was one of two confabs we hosted -- the other was May 10 in Southern California. Both confabs were organized with generous support from The California Endowment. (l to r) Ben Rubin, Charlotte Ormond, Carolyn Curtis, Imani Lucas, DeAngelo Mack, Carlina Ramirez Wheeler We were very fortunate to have the...
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ACEs screening in CA — a Q and A with Dr. Dayna Long
Last year, the California Department of Health Care Services rolled out its plans for universal screening for trauma among its pediatric and adult Medicaid population. Beginning January 1, 2020, California physicians were able to receive an incentive payment of $29 for each pediatric patient screened for ACEs using the PEARLs ( Pediatrics Adverse Childhood and Resilience Study) tool. Dr. Dayna Long talked with ACEs Connection staff reporter Laurie Udesky about ACEs science, what led to the...
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ACEs Science Champions Series: Allen Nishikawa: ACEs Storyteller Helps People Develop Their Resilience
Sonoma County ACEs Connection members Allen Nishikawa and Lena Hoffman at California Policymaker Education Day, 2018 Allen Nishikawa, a sansei, or third-generation Japanese American, majored in political science and American history at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he participated in antiwar (Vietnam) marches. But it was his experience as a military brat — moving from school to school across the U.S. and even to Japan as a child — that shaped his own childhood experiences and...
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An Alternative to Suspension with Trauma-Informed Dynamic Mindfulness: Building Stress Resilience, Emotion Regulation and Empathy
At the November 2019 Northern California Safe and Healthy Schools Conference at UC Berkeley, Niroga Program Managers Sam Weiss and Fatima Ahmed facilitated a session incorporating the theory and practice of Dynamic Mindfulness (DMind) to a standing room only crowd.
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As Newsom rethinks juvenile justice, California reconsiders prison for kids (calmatters.org)
Though it’s not on the parchment, Moreno, 21, earned his Johanna Boss High School diploma over the past two years at a state prison for juveniles in Stockton. And as one of fewer than 800 remaining youths in the custody of the soon-to-be-shuttered juvenile division of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, he said, that accomplishment—behind razor wire—was more than just a step toward a future job or a rite of passage. “Being the first one [in the family] to graduate,”...
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Cal WORKs Training Academy: Compassion Fatigue
Front-line and case workers for the TANF program (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) are at high risk for compassion fatigue. They hear approximately 30 stories of trauma, abuse and hardship each day. Complaints from workers vary from “How many stories of torture will have to I hear.” “It feels like I am spitting at a forest fire.” “After 12 years in the field, I am now on blood pressure medication.” This year the Cal WORKs Training Academy featured a workshop on compassion fatigue...
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Webinar: Impact of an Anti-Immigrant Climate on the Mental Health and Well Being of Children in California.
On behalf of The Children's Partnership (TCP) and the California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC), consider attending the webinar, Healthy Mind, Healthy Future: A Webinar Exploring the Impact of an Anti-Immigrant Climate on the Mental Health and Well Being of Children in California. August 7, 2018, 10:00AM-11:15AM PT / 1:00-2:15PM ET Registration Link: bit.ly/WebinarHMHF Facebook Link: bit.ly/FBWebinarHMHF
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Webinar Slides and Recording: Transformational Resilience for Climate Change Traumas and Toxic Stresses with Bob Doppelt
Recorded live October 28, 2019. Find the slides attached below. The webinar recording: You will learn: how climate change creates personal, family, and community traumas and toxic stresses; how those traumatic stressors trigger feedbacks that expand and aggravate ACEs and many other person, social, community, and societal maladies; why current approaches are woefully inadequate to address what is already occurring and rapidly steaming toward us and why prevention is the only realistic...
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“Strategic Advocacy: Winning Policy Change without Crossing the Lobbying Line”: Webinar summary & links
(l to r) Kelly Hardy, Allen Mattison, Jeff Hild _____________________________________________________ The stakes in today's public policy debates are as high as they've ever been. So, how does a nonprofit organization separate legitimate and perceived barriers to find the sweet spot for maximum engagement and not cross the lobbying line? The three panelists on the “Strategic Advocacy: Winning Policy Change without Crossing the Lobbying Line ” webinar held March 14, 2019, covered the fine...
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Welltopia: A new online resource for Californians
Welltopia , a new website launched today by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) and the UC Davis Institute for Population Health Improvement (IPHI), offers a wide range of essential resources to help Californians,...
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What does a public health approach to preventing and healing trauma look like? This statewide initiative may have an answer.
Learn more about All Children Can Thrive (ACT/CA), trauma informed effort funded through the CA state legislature.
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When Being Trauma-Informed Is Not Enough
Trauma-informed care is the new gold standard. For the last several years, Echo has been providing professional development in trauma-informed care but we’re beginning to notice a worrying aspect of the new push to train staff and transform systems. Some human service professionals are seeing ‘trauma-informed care’ as another skill to add to their resume or a box to check off on a grant proposal. But if the information stays with the professionals and is not used to empower survivors, then...
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Wisconsin state agencies end year one of trauma-informed learning community; goal is to be first trauma-informed state
Here in California, many people think that it’s only liberal Democrats who have a corner on championing the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and putting it into practice. That might be because people who use ACEs science don’t expel or suspend students, even if they’re throwing chairs and hurling expletives at the teacher. They ask "What happened to you?" rather than "What's wrong with you?" as a frame when they create juvenile detention centers where kids don’t fight, reduce...
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Yoga helping inmates transcend jail cells [KEYT - Santa Barbara]
An ancient spiritual practice is helping rehabilitate men and women at the Santa Barbara County Jail. Prison Yoga Santa Barbara (PYSB) invites inmates to practice yoga, meditation and mindfulness during incarceration at no cost to taxpayers. Ginny Kuhn is the force behind the non-profit staffed by volunteers. The program is modeled after The Prison Yoga Project which was started yogi James Fox at California’s San Quentin State Prison 15 years ago. Kuhn's motto for PYSB is 'Working Freedom...
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You're Not Losing Your Mind - Really [chcf.org]
By Xenia Shih Bion, California Health Care Foundation, May 11, 2020 The COVID-19 crisis has stunned the nation with medical trauma that has unfolded on an unimaginable scale. A vaccine or treatment may come along that halts the pandemic’s remorseless progress, but the damage done to our psyches may be with us for a long, long time. The data show that living under the threat of infection by the novel coronavirus is taking a toll. A recent KFF health tracking poll found that 56% of US adults...
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Sharing the Stage Together, Dr. Gabor Mate and Dr. Vincent Felitti at CAMFT's 2018 Advancing the Art & Science of Psychotherapy Conference, April 26-29, 2018
For all of our progress in understanding and treating mental illness, it continues to be a subject of misapprehension, prejudice, and stigmatization. The reason for that may be not its strangeness but its familiarity. Very few individuals or families are not touched by at least some aspects of mental dysfunction, some periods of the discouragement, disconnect or anxiety that, on a deeper and more chronic level characterizes the mind state of the mentally ill. And beyond individual experience...
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Solano County launches its ACEs and resilience initiative inviting all to take action
Elizabeth Huntley recalls the day when her family’s life was turned upside down. “One day my mom woke up and she packed up all of our clothes, all five of us…and she took me and my younger sister who had the same father… down to my paternal grandmother’s house…and she left us there. She took my middle sister to a town near Birmingham, Ala., and left her there. She took my only brother and an older sister back to Huntsville and left them at a sister’s house. Then she went back to that housing...
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Solano County's (CA) ACEs initiative, a robust community effort, makes room for input from all
In a house called “Johanna’s House” on a tree-lined side street in Vallejo, Calif., four women are filling out the adverse childhood experiences (ACE) survey given to them by Maria Guevara, the founder of Vallejo Together, an organization that serves homeless residents in Vallejo. The house was named for Johanna Dilag, a homeless woman who was found dead along with her dog.
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Sonoma County foster children given too many psychotropic drugs, report finds
Sonoma County does not adequately monitor the use of psychotropic drugs among local foster youth, raising the possibility the county may be inappropriately medicating children or over-prescribing the mind-altering medications, according to a report released Tuesday by the California Auditor’s Office. County officials, however, strongly questioned some of the findings and insisted state auditors reviewed only limited documentation of the care foster youth received. The state did not review...
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RYSE Center's Listening Campaign: Young people in Richmond, CA help adults understand trauma, violence, coping, and healing
"My experience with violence is very brutal...I grew up with violence as if it were my sibling." - LC participant (youth) "We know we can't run the city- it's too complex- but our experience and our voices should count, especially because we're the most effected ." - LC participant (youth) "Our city's problems are shared by us all; we are all part of the problem AND the solution. Listening is a key component to healing." - LC Share Out partici pant (adult) Three years ago, RYSE Center in...
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Safeguards for Youth Briefing
Webinar Details Date: Thursday, March 5 Time: 11:00-11:30 AM PST Kidsdata.org recently compiled data on Safeguards for Youth to highlight important protective factors and supportive services for California children. Learn about the Safeguards for Youth framework and where to easily access these data. Also, hear from a specialist at the Child Abuse Prevention Center about adopting a prevention mind-set and using trauma-informed practices to address adversity among children. Speakers will be...
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Saint Joseph Health Hospice Offers Gentle Reminders on Self Care
In the midst of the devastating fires that continue to threaten our county, we at St. Joseph Health Hospice Grief Services would like to offer a few gentle grief reminders for anyone touched by these events . Whether you personally have experienced a loss, you are supporting others, or even witnessing the events remember: We all grieve differently, and ALL grief is valid. Extreme Self Care While chaos is swirling we must try to drink plenty of water , eat whenever possible, sleep even if...
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San Bruno, CA, police reduce stress, burn-out with mindfulness
When Officer John Hampton of the San Bruno Police Department in San Bruno, CA, first heard that mindfulness training was being offered to him and his fellow cops, he had two reactions. John Hampton “I think my major reaction was: ‘Oh, there’s some hippy thing that they’re trying to get cops to do,’” he said. “When I say that, it’s funny because that’s not my voice. It’s the caricature of a police officer-like voice. In the back of my mind, I was interested and open to it, but that police...
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San Jose: Doctors who treat homeless deliver care to the streets [MercuryNews.com]
SAN JOSE -- Being named host city for this week's International Street Medicine Symposium might bring to mind Abraham Lincoln's story about a man who is tarred, feathered and ridden out of town on a rail. Asked how he liked it, the man replies,...
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September 18, 2019 Sierra Region Learning Community: Highlights and Resources
The first Sierra Learning Community for the 2019-20 fiscal year focused upon Best Practices in Trauma Informed Care: Building Youth Resiliency. The power point and other materials distributed to attendees is available in the Resources Section. View the recording by clicking here: September 18, 2019 Sierra Learning Community ANNOUNCEMENTS Make sure to visit the Strategies2.0 YouTube Channel to access recordings of all the Strategies2.0 sponsored webinars and Learning Communities. The channel...
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Suisun Elementary (CA) makes ACEs science intrinsic to everyday life
Students start each day with meditation During her first year as principal of Suisun Elementary in Suisun City, Calif., in 2014 Ann Marie Neubert suspended 102 students — out of a student population of 550 —for disrupting their classes. It was a serious problem, but the school’s teachers didn’t know what to do. “[Teachers] felt like they were using all the tools in their toolbox and it wasn’t changing behavior,” she recalls. Ann Marie Neubert Too many students were spending too much time out...
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Supporting Safety and Well-being of Children and Families during COVID-19
The following information is from a tip sheet created by Sacramento County, for the full tip sheet, please access it at the below link: The outbreak of COVID‐19 is a concern on everyone’s mind. While we may be comforted to know that the risk to our children’s physical health from the outbreak itself appears to be low, child and family serving agencies are worried about the increased risk for child abuse and neglect during this time of crisis and economic insecurity . Reports to child abuse...
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Supporting Your Child Through the Wildfire Disaster: 6 Tips From a Child Psychologist
Wellness Blog by Kirsten Kuzirian Supporting Your Child Through the Wildfire Disaster: 6 Tips From a Child Psychologist October 10, 2017 / Kirsten Kuzirian In the last 48 hours, our California communities have been thrown into survival mode as they race to protect the people, animals, and structures they cherish. As families leave their homes for safe shelter or stay monitoring media updates with bags packed, parents are wondering how this will impact their children. Napa and Folsom Child...
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Telling a more complete story about child welfare
A new study from Berkeley Media Studies Group found that coverage of the child welfare system omits important context and connections to other issues. Here are four steps practitioners can take to improve the news.
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The California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review [ CMQCC, CDPH, MCAH, PHI]
New reports, recently released: The California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review (CA-PAMR) is a statewide, in-depth examination of deaths while pregnant or within one year after end of pregnancy, which aims to identify the cause and timing of death, factors that contributed to the death, and improvement opportunities in maternity care and support, with the ultimate goal to reduce preventable deaths and associated health disparities. CA-PAMR is a collaborative effort between the Maternal,...
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The Love In The Air Is Thicker Than The Smoke
As a native Californian I knew it was important to be prepared for a natural disaster, however in my mind, I was preparing for an earthquake. Never in a million years did I envision a fire storm, let alone multiple fire storms raging across the state and across my community all at the same time! Before the Northern California fire storm our family felt well prepared for an earthquake, we had our camping gear, nonperishable goods, medications, and more staged in an easy to access location in...
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Three Mental Health Bills for California Children
Mental Health Awareness month is a time to note that the emotional health of children is an integral part of overall health, as physical and mental health are intricately linked. Mental disorders affect as many as 1 in 5 U.S. children each year and are some of the most costly conditions to treat – mental health problems among young people under age 24 cost the U.S. an estimated $247 billion annually. Unfortunately, the majority of young people who need mental health treatment do not receive...
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To Bring a Boy's Murders to Justice, a Prosecutor Wrestled with His Own Childhood Abuse [latimes.com]
By Marisa Gerber, Los Angeles Times, December 11, 2019 Jon Hatami’s voice shook and he stared down at the courthouse floor as reporters packed around him. Minutes before, the prosecutor had won a conviction in the killing of Gabriel Fernandez, one of the most infamous and chilling child abuse cases in California history. When paramedics arrived at Gabriel’s Palmdale home in the spring of 2013, the 8-year-old had shattered ribs, a cracked skull and cigarette burns dotting his unconscious...
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ACEs Science Champions Series: Training future counselors to integrate ACEs science in the classroom
Nemia with peacock used in therapy with children. Talking with an animal is often easier than talking with an adult for a child who's experienced abuse. _________________________________________ Toni Nemia, program and clinical director for the University of San Francisco Child and Family Center's School-Based Family Counseling, says that her graduate students are often surprised to hear that ACEs science (adverse childhood experiences) has an international reach. In fact, Scotland is an...
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Transformational Resilience Train the Trainer Opportunities in San Francisco
Applications Now Open for Nov 15-16 Transformational Resilience Intensive Train-the-Trainer Workshop The ITRC is offering a Train-the-Trainer Workshop on Transformational Resilience for climate change aggravated traumas and toxic stresses workshop. The workshop will be held November 15-16 in San Francisco. This will be an intensive 2-day training offered in cooperation with the SEI Resilient Community Fellows Program. It is open to a maximum of 20 people who want to learn how to apply...
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Trauma-informed Care: It Takes More Than a Clipboard and a Questionnaire
California is about to launch an ambitious campaign to train tens of thousands of Medi-Cal providers to screen children and adults up to age 65 for trauma, starting on January 1, 2020. It is well-established that the early identification of trauma and providing the appropriate treatment are critical tools for reducing long-term health care costs for both children and adults. Research has shown that individuals who experienced a high number of traumatic childhood events are likely to die...
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Trauma Informed Practices for Schools Training April 23, 2018
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...
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Trauma Transformed launches regional effort in San Francisco Bay Area
Nearly 300 impassioned and committed people crowded into the Green Room at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center last week to launch Trauma Transformed. Known as T2, the regional effort representing the San Francisco...
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Early Discount 20th Annual Families & Fathers Conference
Call to action- Fathers and Families Coalition of America is nearing the 20th Annual Families and Fathers Conference, March 4-7, 2019 in Los Angeles, California with a comprehensive program that hosts presenters from the United Kingdom, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Bolivia and throughout the United States. We are providing the conference information for your consideration to participate. We are asking you to share this conference information with your community...
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El Dorado ACEs Collaborative Celebrates its 3rd Year of Accomplishments!
12.5 percent of people have 4 or more ACEs. FOUR! This statistic really hit me today as I attended my second El Dorado ACEs Collaborative meeting since starting my time with El Dorado County as a Community Health Advocate. I work in the Community Hubs program in which ACEs is at the heart of all we do, and today’s meeting solidified the importance of that. ACEs are a new topic to me but a fascinating one at that. I didn’t realize prior to coming to EDC that so much of a person’s overall...
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Expensify.org is matching CalFresh benefits for up to $50/family
In response to recent events, Expensify.org, is shifting focus (and funds) with immediate effect to help supporting families in the US that may be struggling to support themselves right now. If you have a needy client struggling because of not being able to work, please share the information below about how to get their CalFresh benefits matched up to $50/family. These are unprecedented times, and it's inspiring to see communities rising to the challenge. However, not everyone has the...
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Free Mind Matters Online Series -- Build skills to overcome anxiety and increase resilience
In appreciation of and support for the tremendous work you are doing under challenging circumstances, Dibble will be hosting a free, 12-week Mind Matters online series with Dr. Carolyn Curtis and Dixie Zittlow. Unprecedented times, such as these, are stressful and call for everyone to think about ways to help others and themselves. Thus, we see this as an opportunity to offer free, professional development and help you and your staff practice self-care. Join us as we teach the Mind Matters...
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Free Mind Matters Online Series -- Build skills to overcome anxiety and increase resilience
In appreciation of and support for the tremendous work you are doing under challenging circumstances, Dibble is hosting a free, 12-week Mind Matters online series with Dr. Carolyn Curtis and Dixie Zittlow. Unprecedented times, such as these, are stressful and call for everyone to think about ways to help others and themselves. Thus, we see this as an opportunity to offer free, professional development and help you and your staff practice self-care. Join us as we teach the Mind Matters...
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Join the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) Executive Steering Committee
There's another important opportunity to determine if and how new state money will support community-based youth development services. The Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) has a new duty to distribute around $26 Million of new tax money raised from Proposition 64, which decriminalized adult use of marijuana. The BSCC is allowed to spend the money on "public health and safety programs" that can include local youth substance abuse prevention and intervention programs, but also...