Tagged With "New Year's"
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Silent Cries: How the church can help people with mental illness [ChristianityToday.com]
I remember my family life while growing up in San Antonio, Texas as being tattooed by chaos, conflict, and consistent pain. My older relatives were often haunted by drug and alcohol abuse, violent relationships, and illegal activities. Like a...
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Some 350 Florida Leaders Expected to Attend Think Tank with Dr. Vincent Felitti, Co-Principal Investigator of the ACE Study; Expert on ACEs Science
Leaders from across the Sunshine State will take part in a “Think Tank” in Naples, FL, on Monday, August 6, to help create a more trauma-informed Florida. The estimated 350 attendees will include policy makers and community teams made up of school superintendents, law enforcement officers, judges, hospital administrators, mayors, PTA presidents, child welfare experts, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, philanthropists, university researchers, state agency heads, and...
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Thai boys rescued from cave consider ordaining as Buddhist monks (lionsroar.com)
After learning to meditate while trapped in a flooded cave for 10 days, the Wild Boars soccer team may become monks to honor the diver who died during their rescue. The 12 boys who were trapped in a flooded cave system in northern Thailand said at a press conference that they are considering becoming novice monks as a tribute to Saman Kunan, the 38-year-old former Thai Navy Seal who died during rescue efforts. At the press conference , the boys and their 25-year-old coach, Ekapol...
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Today's kids are experiencing a world full of trauma. Is your church trauma-informed?
In our world today, many children experience early childhood trauma. Through a lot of research, we now know that childhood trauma can affect children for the rest of their lives. ACEs too High explains in several articles and research reviews how trauma in early childhood can affect kids’ behavior and health during childhood and cause lifelong problems. We know early trauma causes toxic stress in the brains of young children—so much so that the American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a...
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Tools and how to use them is focus of second webinar on Community Resiliency Model, May 14, 2020
The second of two free Community Resiliency (CRM) webinars with Elaine Miller-Karas , key creator of the CRM, will be held Thursday, May 14, from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. ET, (10 a.m. CT; 9 a.m. MT, and 8 a.m. PT) and will include the practical application of tools of the model. CRM is an ACEs science-based biological model for helping individuals become emotionally regulated during natural disasters and other dysregulating times. Miller-Karas will be joined by CRM trainers from Wilmington, NC:...
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Trauma-informed churches
In our world today many children are experiencing early childhood trauma. We now know through a lot of research that childhood trauma can affect a child for the rest of their lives. The website ACEs too High (Adverse Childhood Experiences)...
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Trauma Informed Congregations Community of Practice meeting June 24 2015
Short summary of presentations and topics discuss Briefing on Welcoming Movement and Welcoming Congregations Stephanie Kreps Stephanie Kreps from ?? shared the Unitarian Universalist...
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Trauma Informed Congregations Community of Practice meeting May 27, 2015
LINK TO THE RECORDING OF THE MEETING: https://hrsa.connectsolutions.com/p1zlsjfmfww/ Short summary of presentations and topics discuss Northeast Michigan Trauma-Informed Community Action : With the goal of making Northeast...
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Two New Grant Opportunities for Youth Development and Diversion Services
In 2019, more than $40 million will become available to fund community-based, culturally rooted, trauma-informed services for youth in California as alternatives to arrest and incarceration. Thousands of California youth are arrested every year for low-level offenses. Youth who are arrested or incarcerated for low-level offenses are less likely to graduate high school, more likely to suffer negative health-outcomes, and more likely to have later contact with the justice system.
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Was Jesus' ministry "trauma-informed?" [part 1]
I have written before about a growing trend in education, mental health, social services, and health care that has now extended to ministry settings: becoming trauma-informed . Trauma results when we experience something as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening. A traumatic event, circumstance or series of events leaves a lasting effect on our ability to experience “life to the full” as Jesus intended (John 10:10). Adversity, and particularly traumatic stress in childhood,...
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Webinar Oct. 17 — Integrating ACEs science in pediatrics: Early adopters share lessons from the field
An ACEs Connection webinar co-sponsored with 4 CA In 2017, California became the first state in the country to pass a law supporting universal screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the 5.3 million children in the state’s Medicaid program. As clinicians around California await the state’s announcement of what this new policy will entail, many are wondering what it takes to integrate ACEs science in a pediatric practice. Meet Drs. Deirdre Bernard-Pearl, R.J. Gillespie and...
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What happens when a Muslim center opens up across from a Christian church? Community. (upworthy.com)
It all started when the Memphis Islamic Center purchased land across the street from Heartsong Church. It took Pastor Steve Stone of Heartsong Church by surprise. "When I saw that, my stomach kind of tightened up. ... I felt that ignorance and that fear ," he said. Like Stone, Dr. Bashar Shala of the Memphis Islamic Center was unsure of what to expect. The goal of the Islamic center was to create a place for people to "pray and play" and have a sense of community, but he knew they'd likely...
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Why be "trauma-informed?" - a training for churches by Chaplain Chris Haughee, DMin
As I wrap up my doctoral studies, I am excited to see how the concept of becoming “trauma-informed” in ministry is starting to pick up steam across the country. A large part of the credit for furthering that conversation goes to you--my friends and colleagues here on ACEsConnection! It's been humbling to see how our relatively small ministry in Montana has something to add to the conversation. In fact, far from being behind the curve here in Montana, we are on the cutting edge in terms of...
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Why do kids of divorce ask, “Who am I?”
Posted on August 13, 2015 by Linda Jacobs Imagine looking like your father and being proud of that fact. Perhaps at some point in your young life your grandmother proudly said to her friends,...
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Yoga Transformed Me After Trauma and Sexual Assault [yogajournal.com]
Laura's note: This story of sheer determination of transformation of self and community in the face of personal trauma AND systemic racism is breathtaking. Be warned: it may blow you away, as it did me. As a child, Ebony Smith survived sexual assault but didn’t have the tools to cope with the trauma until years later, when she found yoga. Now, she’s bringing the practice to her community, and others in crisis. Exactly 247 people came to practice yoga with me today. Why is that such a big...
Ask the Community
Building Resilient Communities Through Trauma-Informed Congregations
Please join us for the Building Resilient Communities Through Trauma-Informed Congregations 2 nd Annual Meeting of the Trauma Informed Congregations Community of Practice Harmonizing the intelligence of science and the wisdom of community ~ Thursday, October 1, 2015 9:15AM (EST) –Registration & Light Fare Breakfast 10:00AM -4:30PM (EST) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Hubert Humphrey Building 8 th Floor (Room 800) 200 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20201 ~ This...
Ask the Community
Worth Forwarding - "Caught between the Amygdala and a Hard Place" - by Karyn Purvis, Ph.D. & David Cross, Ph.D.
As so many disturbing and traumatic events involving children have been covered by the media recently - it caused me to reflect on my own journey of becoming trauma-informed. Now that I know what I know, I cannot view such stories in a trauma- un informed way. I've found myself in discussions with others who may, or may not be, trauma-informed. It turns out this one factor predictably correlates with the type of conversation that ensues around any topic covered by the media where children...
Ask the Community
INVITATION: Strategic planning meeting on Building Resilient Communities thru Trauma Informed Congregations
Monday, July 25, 2016 Dear ACES in the Faith Community Group Members, Please mark your calendars for the 3rd annual in‐person meeting of the Building Resilient Communities thru Trauma Informed Congregations (TiCiong) October 18th, 2016 at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ‐200 Independence Ave. SW in Washington, DC. More to come on this. For those interested in participating in the planning of our meeting, and building our strategy for the year, please send your letter of...
Ask the Community
Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Task Force Social media and engagement package Call for comments
Please help us engage people in the critical conversation about mental health and substance use disorder parity. President Obama created the Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Task Force in March 2016 to focus key federal agencies on ensuring that Americans receive the coverage and treatment they need. The Task Force wants to hear from patients, families, consumer advocates, health care providers, insurers, and other stakeholders about their experience with mental health and...
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Re: Welcoming Communities for New Americans & People on the Margins TiCong Linear Plan
Hi Kimberly, Do you have a finalized version of this document by chance? Thanks, Andy Maurer
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Re: Confused
Ed...Last year I partnered up with a Pastor Tim Wesemann and we have written a bible study on ACEs. It is titled "Family. It's Complicated." A Bible Study of ACEs in the Book of Genesis. If you visit my website at www.cope24.com you will find the study there. Read it and then gift it to your church. You have the ability to get your church informed about ACEs through the study. Please let me know if you have any thoughts or questions. Rene
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Re: Silent No More
Maria, I have written a 145 page, 26 lesson, faith-based workbook entitled, Overcoming a Difficult Childhood. The curriculum is currently being used in 14 ministries in 4 states. The book is a combination of solid science and sound biblical principles. University of California will be studying the effectiveness of the program beginning Sept of this year. The curriculum is used in 7 recovery ministries. If you email me at aceovercomers@sbcglobal.net, I can forward you a sample of the lessons.
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Re: Free Resource! A "Trauma Informed" Jelly Bean Easter Poem
What a great revision! I needed it just a week earlier to revise the "Jelly Bean Catechism" bags we made this year. Next year, we're on it. The whole "black" and "white" thing is so difficult, because this imagery is everywhere - in art, literature, and Scripture. Thinking about it, it occurs to me that the problem is with labeling PEOPLE "black" or "white". It has always seemed ridiculous to me since no skin color is either black or white.
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Re: Call for Proposals Philadelphia Trauma Conference (March 6th)
Thank you so much for your interest, Stacy! The conference focuses on interprofessional work, drawing attendees from the Medical & Healthcare, Mental Health, Early Childhood, K-12 Education, Juvenile Justice, Child Welfare, Higher Education, Faith, and Community(Block Captains, organizers, etc.) sectors. The majority of sessions are accessible to cross-disciplinary audiences, while a few are targeted to attendees from specific backgrounds/professions. the website for the conference is...
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Re: Examples of churches, temples, synagogues, mosques, and other faith communities practicing child trauma prevention and intervention?
The curriculum I wrote earlier this year is just starting to be implemented in the faith communities that requested it. Here is something I wrote up recently that might be helpful? "Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks" a study for churches It's already being utilized in 28 different states and the District of Columbia, and it may be the best resource for introducing your congregation to the biblical and theological reasons to consider "trauma-informed ministry." Written by Intermountain's own...
Comment
Re: Resilience Surveys and the Christian Faith
You might check in with Shelley Melia. I went to a workshop last year at the LifeWay KidMin Conference and she talked about grief and resilience in kids. She has a child's capacity for resilience survey and a parent survey. Don't know if this is what you are looking for but contact and her and find out. Here is her contact info: Shelly Melia, PhD Assistant Professor of Childhood Education Program Director of MA in Children’s Ministry and MA in Christian Education/ Graduate School of Ministry...
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Re: Resilience Surveys and the Christian Faith
I do have a resilience instrument that includes the faith and spirituality component. Feel free to email me and I will provide the information for it. It is a 30 item survey and is geared towards 8-12 year olds. There is a self-report and a parent-report survey. Shelly Melia shelly@dbu.edu
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Re: Influencer's Church of Cumming, GA Hosts Strategic Trauma and Abuse Recovery: A Detailed Map for Healing
Thanks, Dale. I am very excited to share this with everyone and look forward to seeing what God is going to do with it. We are completing our first research project now and hope to share that with you by the end of the year.
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What Do We Do? What Do We Do Now?
People’s response to the great chasms of structural inequities glaringly laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic have been further inflamed by the murder of George Floyd and deaths of other African Americans in recent weeks. The acute emergency of the pandemic has eased, but the violence inflicted on racial minorities and now those who are protesting the inequities in our society has compounded the outrage. Right after the pandemic began running riot across the US, I often heard people ask: When...
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ACEs Champion Danette Glass says COVID-19 increases the need for trauma-informed communities
Glass’s mission has always been to protect and foster the practice of nurturing children. That’s because she herself experienced at least five types of adverse childhood experiences, as measured in the original CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study). If the scale could account for childhood adversity such as structural racism and community violence that’s more likely to occur in communities of color, her burden of ACEs is higher.
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Strengthening Families During Covid-19 [positiveexperience.org]
Guest Author, 6/17/20, positiveexperience.org Today’s post is based on an interview with Rev. Darrell Armstrong, pastor of the Shiloh Baptist Church of Trenton, NJ for the past 20 years. He is considered a national leader on issues pertaining to child welfare and family strengthening. Most questions contain links to video excerpts of the original interview. To watch, click the link on the corresponding question. Introduce yourself to our blog readers? My name is Darrell Armstrong. I’m in my...
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Help Navigating the Road to Community Resiliency
The first time I ever heard the words trauma-informed care and the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study was in the summer of 2014. At the time, I was working for the local Police Department as the Director of a grant-funded Crime Reduction Project aimed at reducing drug-related and violent crime. Of the many program goals, one was to develop a rehabilitative corrections program for felony offenders with addictions in order to reduce recidivism. Though I’ve lived in this region for...
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GUEST EDITORIAL: We need a new model for mental health [heraldtribune.com]
By Andrea Blanch, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, July 27, 2020 People are really stressed out right now. A recent national survey reports that “serious psychological distress” — the kind that can lead to longer-term psychiatric disorders — has more than tripled since this time last year. We are already seeing the consequences in Sarasota County, with the number of opioid-related deaths in the first half of 2020 more than double the number in all of 2019. And based on experience with SARS, experts...
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Greater Richmond Trauma Informed Community Network, first to join ACEs Cooperative of Communities, shows what it means to ROCK!
In 2012, Greater Richmond SCAN and five other community partners hatched a one-year plan to educate the Richmond, Virginia, community about ACEs science and to embed trauma-informed practices. Eight years later, the original group has evolved into the Greater Richmond Trauma-Informed Community Network (GRTICN) with 495 people and 170 organizations. And they're just scratching the surface.
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Donald Trump is the product of abuse and neglect. His story is common, even for the powerful and wealthy.
“In order to cope,” writes Mary Trump, “Donald began to develop powerful but primitive defenses, marked by an increasing hostility to others and a seeming indifference to his mother’s absence and father’s neglect….In place of [his emotional needs] grew a kind of grievance and behaviors—including bullying, disrespect, and aggressiveness—that served their purpose in the moment but became more problematic over time. With appropriate care and attention, they might have been overcome.”
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Trauma-informed policing: Learn how three highly experienced community leaders strengthen ties between police and community
ACEs initiative participants in communities where there is tension between the community and law enforcement will want to join Becky Haas in a compelling conversation on law enforcement, ACEs science, COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement and protests. Haas is a nationally recognized adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) science initiative builder and trainer. She and colleagues Renee Wilson-Simmons, the head of the ACE Awareness Foundation of Memphis, Tennessee, and Maggi Duncan,...
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Does VP Candidate Kamala Harris know about ACEs? You bet!
Nadine Burke Harris, California’s Surgeon General, has a lot in common with the vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris—Jamaican heritage, surname, home state—and a commitment to addressing ACEs and toxic stress. As reported in the New Yorker article by Paul Tough, “The Poverty Clinic,” Dr. Harris told Kamala Harris, then San Francisco district attorney, about ACEs in 2008 and in response, she offered to help. District Attorney Harris then introduced her to professor of child and...
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The Best for our Children: Considering ACEs in Voter Engagement.
The presidential race is a big-ticket item, but hundreds of other state and local races will impact critical issues like school funding, childcare and early education, nutrition programs, and health care. Every seat in the NC General Assembly is on the ballot, along with the Governor’s race, a US Senate seat, congressional races, and more. When it comes to elevating the importance of racial equity, voting is vital to make marginalized voices heard. Policies and systems can be changed by our...
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Hope and Progress, No Matter What! — an ACEs Connection/Cambia Health Foundation “Better Normal”, Oct. 22, 2020
The election is upon us. In two short weeks, we voters in this country decide who will lead us for the next four years. We have the opportunity to embrace — as a national priority — the tenets of understanding, nurturing and healing that underlie the science of adverse childhood experiences and move in a direction that embraces cultural and racial equity and anti-racism. Or not.
What is clear is that no matter what, the ACEs movement will continue.
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A New Hippocratic Oath Asks Doctors To Fight Racial Injustice And Misinformation [NPR]
First-year medical student Sean Sweat "didn't want to tiptoe around" issues of race when she sat down with 11 of her classmates to write a new version of the medical profession's venerable Hippocratic oath. "We start our medical journey amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and a national civil rights movement reinvigorated by the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery," begins the alternate version of the oath, rewritten for the class of 2024 at the University of Pittsburgh...
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The Pandemic Is Raging. Here's How to Support Your Grieving Students [edweek.org]
By Brittany R. Collins, Education Week, November 12, 2020 Over the past few decades, trauma-informed teaching has gained ground in the United States, yet rarely is grief included in the conversation. In the midst of a global pandemic, with teachers and students confronting loss in and outside the classroom in new and myriad ways, it is more critical than ever to apply a grief-sensitive lens to our conversations about curricula and trauma in the school system. We are not the people we were a...
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A Better Normal- Education Upended 11/19, with special guest Robin Cogan, The Relentless School Nurse!
Hi Everyone! Welcome back. I am SO very excited to announce our special guest for this Thursday 11/19 12-1 PST. Please join us as we discuss everything school health and school nursing with rock star school nurse Robin Cogan. Along with all her amazing achievements in her bio below she has recently been featured on CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, and the NYT commenting on school health and the invaluable role of school nurses during a pandemic. Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN is a Nationally Certified...
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Make “Giving Tuesday” your day to support the work of ACEs Connection. Help us meet our matching grant goal of $50K, and your gift will be matched, dollar-for-dollar!
"This Giving Tuesday, and every day, we thank you for your support," said members of the ACEs Connection staff on a recent "all staff Zoom." L-R (top row) Laurie Udesky, Carey Sipp, Gail Kennedy, Lara Kain (second row) Cissy White, Rafael Maravilla, Donielle Prince, Jenna Quinn (third row) Ingrid Cockhren, (off camera) Alison Cebulla, Jane Stevens. Out that day, and grateful all the same, were Karen Clemmer, Dana Brown, Elizabeth Prewitt, Marianne Avari, and Samantha Sangenito Called “the...