Tagged With "Mindful Calm Community"
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7 Ways to Help a Child Deal with Traumatic Stress
Traumatic stress feels awful. Thankfully, there are small things we can all do to help relax a hyperaroused nervous system.
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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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ACEs Champion Julie Kurtz Gives Every Child (and Adult) a Voice
Julie Kurtz hasn’t stopped creating ways to build and promote resilience in herself and others who have experienced trauma since she left her family home for college at age 18. Although she experienced four types of adversity during her childhood, the CEO of the Center for Optimal Brain Integration has traveled a complex journey to mitigate those adversities by recognizing her own internal resilience, building skills to buffer her toxic and traumatic stress, uncovering her voice through...
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Are Lockdown Drills Trauma Informed?
Are lockdown drills trauma informed? We have outlined three easy to implement recommendations. Please share with your fellow teachers!
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Calming Your Anxious Mind Through Rhythmic Movement
5 Rhythmic Movement Practices That Can Calm Our Anxious Mind
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Care for Yourself, So You Can Care for Others
December can be a busy and stressful time for everyone. Please see the message below from the Office of Head Start, reminding you to take care of yourself and giving some helpful daily tips- Safe Foundations, Healthy Futures Campaign Care for Yourself, So You Can Care for Others December 2018 December can be a particularly hard time to take care of yourself. You may be busy, over-scheduled, stressed about finances, or worried about family. This month, the Safe Foundations, Healthy Futures...
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Early childhood educators learn new ways to spot trauma triggers, build resilience in preschoolers
A hug may be comforting to many children, but for a child who has experienced trauma it may not feel safe.
That’s an example used by Julie Kurtz, co-director of trauma informed practices in early childhood education at the WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies (CCFS), as she begins a trauma training session. Her audience, preschool teachers and staff of the San Francisco-based Wu Yee Children’s Services at San Francisco’s Women’s Building, listen attentively.
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From Compassion Fatigue to Healing Centered Engagement: Turning Trauma Informed Values into Action
To pave the way for a truly strengths-based approach to full healing and recovery for both service users and burned out staff, we must educate them on (1) the central role of primal body responses to trauma (past and present), and (2) the early development of adaptive thoughts and behaviors in response to
traumatic experience.
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Greener Childhood Associated With Happier Adulthood [npr.org]
The experience of natural spaces, brimming with greenish light, the smells of soil and the quiet fluttering of leaves in the breeze can calm our frenetic modern lives. It's as though our very cells can exhale when surrounded by nature, relaxing our bodies and minds. Some people seek to maximize the purported therapeutic effects of contact with the unbuilt environment by embarking on sessions of forest bathing , slowing down and becoming mindfully immersed in nature. But in a rapidly...
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Growing Resilient Kids
Resiliency is defined as the ability to bounce back from stressful events we encounter in life. When something we encounter is so overwhelming to us that we become stuck in it, that is one definition of trauma. Resiliency can be viewed as the antidote to trauma. In fact, when we effectively process trauma we have experienced, we often come out the other side far more resilient than before. Our nervous systems have a higher stretch capacity, so to speak. How do we help our kids stretch and...
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Limbic Revision – Love Heals Your Traumatized Brain
Limbic revision is simply another name for revising and rewiring the faulty development of our brain, namely our limbic system. In simple terms in order to truly heal we need to experience deep and attuned loving care.
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Mental Health and Resilience Month Part 3: Declutter Your Mind
Happy Friday! For this week's mental health and resilience tip, I wanted to give resources on ways to declutter your mind. Some of them are more literal (#6 - declutter your workspace), but most of them are figurative ways to help you feel less stressed and more centered. My personal favorite is #5 - breathe. Taking a slow, deep breath actually lowers your heart rate and blood pressure, which signals to your brain that you're calm, which then makes you feel calmer! You can read the list...
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Mindfulness Stress Reduction Techniques for Healing
Whether you're healing from illness, trauma, or other difficult times, these mindfulness stress reduction techniques can support your healing.
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Self Regulation Skills Bring Resiliency to Angry Preschool Boy
SUCCESS! RESULTS! Here's a testimonial from a preschool teacher who reinforces the Superkid Power skills I teach to a classroom of 3 and 4 year olds. "Two very active little boys were playing in the dramatic play area. Both saw a police officer uniform that they wanted to wear. We have been working on social dialogue throughout the month so one little boy responded with "Can I have it when you are done?" The other little boy responded with "Yes." Thinking that he was able to play with it...
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Tantrums [Zero to Three website]
Anyone who has interacted with young children knows that tantrums can be hard to manage! Children are still growing in their ability to manage emotions, and they need patience and guidance along the way. The Zero to Three website can provide tips and strategies for helping children work through these difficult emotions, and help parents and caregivers stay level headed in the face of them. Acknowledge what your child is feeling. It is never wrong for a child to feel angry or sad, but you can...
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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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Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic: One-Pager
Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic: One-Pager
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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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Mindfulness On-The-Go!
https://www.acesconnection.com/g/practicing-resilience/blog/515440920095409272
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Mindful Moment!
Hello Bridge Community! Join me for this mindful moment focused on the practice of pleasure. This pleasure mediation offers an opportunity for us to stop and remember something, someone, or someplace that has brought us joy over this past week. Reminding our bodies and our minds that these feelings can be accessed at any time!
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Come As You Are!
Hello Bridge Community! Who heals the healer? Who cares for the caregiver? The Mindful Calm Community will be hosting a nourishing event on June 6th from 6-7pm PST. This will be a place for caregivers to convene and hold space for transparent discussions about their experiences. Come fill your cup with other likeminded community members next Tuesday! Registration is free! Click here to register for this event
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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 co-created “Coping with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic” in both English and Spanish. This material is intended for Californian families experiencing the severe economic consequences resulting from...
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FREE WEBINAR: The Impact of Mind Matters: Preliminary Evidence of Effectiveness in a Community-Based Sample
Becky Antle, Ph.D., Professor of Social Work and esteemed University Scholar at the University of Louisville, won The Dibble Institute’s national competition to evaluate Mind Matters: Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience in 2019. As a result, Dr. Antle and her colleagues have conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine the impact of Mind Matters on a host of outcomes related to trauma symptoms, emotional regulation, coping and resiliency, and interpersonal skills for at-risk...
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Scholarships now available for Mind Matters Now!
Has the pandemic stressed you out? Want to learn the self-soothing skills of Mind Matters: Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience directly from the author, Dr. Carolyn Curtis? Good news! The Dibble Institute has received generous funding for scholarships to the online, full 12-lesson series, Mind Matters Now . The course helps teachers, social workers, medical professionals, and others manage their stress by building resilience skills and practices for mental well-being. (CEUs are...
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ABC for Me: ABC Mindful Me (Google Books)
Author and Illustrator Christiane Engel: ABC for Me: Mindful Me Pairing simplified mindfulness principles with each letter of the alphabet, ABC Mindful Me features colorful illustrations of children and animals, as well as playful rhymes to explain each concept to toddlers (and their parents!). From Awareness to Zen, and everything in between, take a deep breath, find some quiet space, and discover the magic of mindfulness! A fun read for the entire family, ABC Mindful Me is not only perfect...
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Fall Is the Season for Building Mindfulness and Resilience [nytimes.com]
By Erik Vance, The New York Times, September 21, 2022 Whether you like it or not, fall is here. Soon the weather will get colder, the leaves will die and the nights will stretch longer than the days. Outdoor pools have closed and the holidays are coming. Another year is dying; that’s just how it goes. At least, that’s the way autumn often is cast — as a time of aging and decay. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley compared autumn’s falling leaves to corpses in the grave. William Shakespeare called...
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The Complete Guide to Self-Awareness
“ Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what is going on inside ourselves.” - Bessel Van Der Kolk Trauma-informed care is impossible without self-awareness. Anyone who practices TIC needs self-awareness, and most of us would benefit from greater self-awareness. In this complete guide to self-awareness, we’ll explore why self-awareness is core to the trauma-informed model and how to...
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How to Practice Gratitude
Gratitude is proven highly beneficial as a daily practice, not just something we save for the holidays. Learn a couple of easy ways to practice gratitude, and find out how to get personalized support to heal from ACEs and live the stress-free life you deserve.
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How to Practice Gratitude
Gratitude is proven highly beneficial as a daily practice, not just something we save for the holidays. Learn a couple of easy ways to practice gratitude, and find out how to get personalized support to heal from ACEs and live the stress-free life you deserve.
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The Mindful Mind
Mindfulness is based on having purpose and intention. It is an actively conscious focus on what you are feeling and creating in the present moment. When we engage in a mindful existence we are not judging ourselves for anything in our past experiences, we are not interpreting what a situation means in our lives, we are experiencing the present, emotions and all. When we practice being present in every moment, every interaction, every activity, we sub-consciously learn the art of self...
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How to Talk to Kids About School Shootings
Take an age-based approach to discussing news of school shootings with kids. "School shootings" are two words no parent ever wants to hear in the same sentence. But news of these tragic events is now so familiar, the topic is unavoidable. Unlike other conversations you have with your kids about scary stuff in the news , talks about school shootings are much more emotional, for both you and your kids. Add in the facts that kids as young as 5 are practicing active-shooter drills at school, and...
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How to Talk to Kids About School Shootings
Take an age-based approach to discussing news of school shootings with kids. "School shootings" are two words no parent ever wants to hear in the same sentence. But news of these tragic events is now so familiar, the topic is unavoidable. Unlike other conversations you have with your kids about scary stuff in the news , talks about school shootings are much more emotional, for both you and your kids. Add in the facts that kids as young as 5 are practicing active-shooter drills at school, and...
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How to Talk With Kids About Tragedies & Other Traumatic News Events
By: David Schonfeld, MD, FAAP After any disaster or crisis, families struggle with what they should say to children and how to help them cope. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) encourages parents, teachers, child care providers, and others who work closely with children to filter information about the event and present it in a way that their child can understand, adjust to and handle in a healthy way. Where to start No matter what age or developmental stage your child is, you can...
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32 Mindfulness Activities to Find Calm at Any Age
There are many mindfulness activities available for children, teens, and adults that can relieve stress and help you be more present in the moment. The practice of mindfulness is gaining popularity as a way to ease stress , soothe anxiety, and be more present and engaged in life. Interestingly, some research suggests Trusted Source that mindfulness meditation may even be beneficial for issues like anxiety, chronic pain , and depression. The good news is that incorporating mindfulness...
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Can I Really Be Happy After a Crummy Childhood? Yes, you can!
A difficult past need not define you, nor determine your future. We explore three paths to building a satisfying life after hardship in childhood.
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Can I Really Be Happy After a Crummy Childhood? Yes, you can!
A difficult past need not define you, nor determine your future. We explore three paths to building a satisfying life after hardship in childhood.
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A Solution to Help Prevent Trauma and Suffering
The current conversation about anxiety and depression is lacking a vital dimension: emotions education. We are now learning that many instances of anxiety and depression are actually symptoms of buried core emotions. These types of symptoms could be prevented with more education surrounding emotions and trauma.
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A three-step skill set for self-care - 20min video
Hi. Sharing my recent 20 minute A three-step skill set for self-care ( https://youtu.be/w_P31VSQQvA ) Description: This video provides an overview of a three-step skill set for self-care, of one’s body, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. And then, there is an additional segment with some possible approaches for thoughts, mindfulness, grounding, and resetting/relaxing. Purpose: Done to support the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network’s annual Trauma Informed Care conference...
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10 Ways to Be More Mindful at Work
We would like to invite you to read an article published by Mindful.org which is written by Shamash Alidina. The article suggests that you don't have to meditate every day to experience the benefits of mindfulness at work. It offers a few ways in which you can incorporate mindful moments into your day to help you de-stress and perform at your best. Mindfulness may seem like a great idea, but how do you become more mindful in the context of a busy work day? You may have emails, phone calls,...