Tagged With "Georgia Reads"
Blog Post
Where The Brain Processes Spiritual Experiences (scienceblog.com)
Yale scientists have identified a possible neurobiological home for the spiritual experience — the sense of connection to something greater than oneself. Activity in the parietal cortex, an area of the brain involved in awareness of self and others as well as attention processing, seems to be a common element among individuals who have experienced a variety of spiritual experiences, according to a study published online May 29 in the journal Cerebral Cortex . “ Spiritual experiences are...
Blog Post
Why we need both God and medicine to overcome trauma [America Jesuit Review]
As part of the Ignatian Colleagues Program , a leadership opportunity for lay administrators and faculty at Jesuit institutions, I read the Rev. Bryan Massingale’s Racial Justice and the Catholic Church . Father Massingale writes that if Catholics see systems or processes that are unfair to certain populations, God calls us to change them to be more equitable. To do anything less is a sin. After reading it, I felt God calling me to use my position as the president of Marquette University to...
Blog Post
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
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
The Impact of a Trauma-Informed Approach on Inner City Students
Here is a great article about the impact of our trauma-informed care on a young man from Chicago. Article - http://www.worldmag.com/2014/09/growing_on_the_farm Our organization has received the West Regional Hope for Effective...
Reply
Re: Faith Based Organizations Paragraph on the new Wikipedia Site
Hi, Dale. Thanks for adding this section! Could you change this sentence: The founder of this ministry was [motivatedhttp://acestoohigh.com/2012/03/13/ex-pastor-marries-science-bible-studies-to-heal-wounds-of-childhood-trauma/ motivated] to create a Bible study for Small groups. ....to read: The founder of this ministry combined the epidemiology of ACEs, the neurobiology of toxic stress and the Bible into a workbook and 12-week course that's being used by clergy in several states. And could...
Comment
Re: You know I really believe!!!
Tina, Thanks so much for sharing your story. Nearly every week someone tells me how their childhood was nearly unbearable were it not for a little old lady who took him or her to Sunday School or took them into her home. Churches have a huge impact, but I'm afraid most pastors are unaware of how a traumatic childhood affects people. I recently read an article in a magazine intended for pastors about "high maintenance" people in church. It spent time bemoaning how some people take advantage...
Comment
Re: You know I really believe!!!
Originally Posted by Dave Lockridge: Tina, Thanks so much for sharing your story. Nearly every week someone tells me how their childhood was nearly unbearable were it not for a little old lady who took him or her to Sunday School or took them into her home. Churches have a huge impact, but I'm afraid most pastors are unaware of how a traumatic childhood affects people. I recently read an article in a magazine intended for pastors about "high maintenance" people in church. It spent time...
Comment
Re: Why you faith community should know about ACEs - from Helenair.com
Thanks bunches. I get Child Trend's news but must have missed this one. Too much to read and keep up with at times.
Comment
Re: Something to Consider... for the next time you teach or preach on worry
Excellent points, Sandy... just another affirmation of how valuable this online community can be, as your words challenge and fuel me and encourage me at the same time! Vulnerability, TRUE vulnerability, is very hard in spiritual leadership... I have had church members get visibly agitated my times I have dipped my toe in these waters (years ago... pre-ACE Study), because their image (read: idol) of a minister was someone that was a spiritual superhero that didn't bleed... especially not...
Comment
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
Comment
Re: New ACEs Bible Study release "Family. It's Complicated"
I thank all of you for your support and helping to spread the word about this bible study. Many single copies were purchased yesterday. After folks have had a chance to review the study I believe it will be promoted within many faith-based communities. For those folks that read from ebook, I believe that version will be available sooner on amazon. Can't guarantee that but that is my understanding. I'm working with a publisher that is new to me and so I'm trying to navigate their system.
Reply
Re: Anyone working on Jewish approaches to ACEs and Resilience?
HI Marilyn, I have developed a 3 phase, 12 stage model that is spiritually integrated to addresses trauma, including ACEs. I've published, "Break Every Stinking Chain! Healing for Hidden Wounds" which is available on Amazon.com. I also offer training for providers who want to offer the book/workbook in their community for Phase 1 and for counselors who want to offer Phases 2 & 3. I spend a lot of time on ACEs in my book and included an assessment I developed, The Simple Trauma Source...
Reply
Re: Worth Forwarding - "Caught between the Amygdala and a Hard Place" - by Karyn Purvis, Ph.D. & David Cross, Ph.D.
I think ALL who share a concern about ACEs, regardless of our personal score, have a contribution to make to this endeavor. I remember learning of a SAMHSA meeting about "Lived Experience" which was about to be convened, and there were no Consumer Survivor "Seats at the Table", and an ally in Washington, D.C. went to a few members of Congress who wrote the DHHS Secretary, requesting seats at the table for Consumers/Survivors/Persons with Lived Experience/Person's at risk of becoming a...
Comment
Re: Peek Inside a Classroom: Jasmine
Thank you for such an insightful article. I wish every teacher, child care worker and church leader would read this post. You have explained what is happening in that child's brain very well. Why can't we as a nation figure this out?
Comment
Re: 12 Myths of the Science of ACEs
Please pass this information along to Jan Stevens. I was so excited to read all the very interesting information in the article below. Our agency does quite a bit of work around framing messages. One of the things that we have learned from participating with and using the guidance from FrameWorks Institute is that delivering messages through a “Myth/Fact” format undermines the message. Folks typically remember the Myth and attribute it to the source providing it rather than remembering the...
Comment
Re: An ACES Presentation as a Sermon
Hi Folks! I'm attaching two documents that I used to deliver the teaching I mentioned in the post above. There is a Powerpoint file that I used on the Sunday that I've converted to a PDF. And the script that accompanies the Powerpoint is also in a PDF document. This presentation and the supporting documents are a 'work in progress.' As Ronnie and I present this to other churches and ministries in the area, I'm sure that it will evolve. We are doing our best to share this important material...
Comment
Re: An ACES Presentation as a Sermon
Dale, You are continuing to do such great work...not just directly with those in your programs, but by sharing your material so generously. Thank you so much. I was thinking about how each of us reacts to ACEs when we first hear about them--immediately trying to see where we fit in the survey. Have you read anything written about this? Such as specific calls for action depending on where you fit...hi score, low score, children have high score but you don't, etc. I hope you are well. I can...
Comment
Re: An ACES Presentation as a Sermon
Thanks for the encouragement Donna! To answer your question, I have not yet developed such a 'next step' document, etc. In doing a quick search I found this - My ACES are too high, now what Is this the kind of thing that you are talking about, but from a faith perspective? And thanks for the encouragement to self care. I'm on it.... with God's help! ~ Dale
Comment
Re: An ACES Presentation as a Sermon
Daun, it seems that my reference to Kauffman, 2016 came from this internet page - https://www.youthranch.org/edu...onal-impacts-of-aces It's clear to me now that the complete reference is not included. And I see you may be the referenced author. Do you have an accurate reference source that should be used? And attached is a PPT slide with a completed table of Biblical Principles for Risk Factors.
Reply
Re: Child abuse can be found in every culture and religion
Hi Dave, There is research that shows the more conservative the religion, the more frequent the incidence of incest. I found this hard to believe at first, but as the years went on and it was accepted on all levels, I have come to understand it better. In the first years, researchers thought it might be related to" all the taboos conservatives place on sex". That view was written in several articles I read back then. More lately, it has become to be linked to the concept of male-headship,...
Comment
Re: The Need for Trauma-informed Education During Seminary
Kimberly, I'd be interested also. I'll email you. My work has been with children's ministers and I speak at several national children's minister's conferences. They get concerned when a child's behavior is out of control. They get concerned when there are bruises. They get concerned when a child is leaning toward suicide and makes it known. I've been working with churches for over 10 years and I feel like I'm saying the same thing over and over but no one is really listening. I've given out...
Blog Post
What Do Coronavirus Racial Disparities Look Like State by State [npr.org]
By Maria Godoy and Daniel Wood, National Public Radio, May 30, 2020 In April, New Orleans health officials realized their drive-through testing strategy for the coronavirus wasn't working. The reason? Census tract data revealed hot spots for the virus were located in predominantly low-income African-American neighborhoods where many residents lacked cars. In response, officials have changed their strategy, sending mobile testing vans to some of those areas, says Thomas LaVeist , dean of...
Blog Post
North American Libraries Send Strong Message of Inclusion, Commitment to Racial and Social Equity, to Their Communities (Urban Library Council)
June 1, 2020, Urban Libraries Council Newsroom Blog. In a strong act of commitment to a more equitable society, 164 public libraries across North America signed the Urban Libraries Council’s Statement on Race and Social Equity . This statement serves as a baseline upon which libraries can build policies and actions that make their communities more inclusive and just. [ Please click here to read more. ]
Blog Post
Advancing Racial Equity Webinar Series [apha.org]
By Tia Taylor Williams, American Public Health Association, May 2020 Alarming disparities within the COVID-19 pandemic — such as higher hospitalizations and death rates among African Americans — are sadly predictable and highlight the urgent need to address the root causes of health inequities. APHA is hosting this four-part webinar series to give an in-depth look at racism as a driving force of the social determinants of health and equity. The series will explore efforts to address systems,...
Blog Post
Black Immigrant Pastors in US Share Similar Experiences of Racism (VOANEWS)
By Elizabeth Lee, June 10, 2020, voanews.com LOS ANGELES - Steve Adarkwa grew up in Ghana. What he saw on television shaped his image of America. “Beautiful streets (and) beautiful people. I'd never seen racism before because I was coming from a country where everything was African,” Adarkwa remembered. Living in the United States as a black man shattered the glamorized image portrayed on TV. “I actually saw the intensity of racism or racial divide in this country,” said Adarkwa. He said he...
Blog Post
Racism's Effect on Health, and the Heartbreak of Being a Black Parent Right Now: California's Surgeon General Speaks [kqed.org]
By KQED Science, KQED, June 14, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic and the recent killing of George Floyd have brought longstanding racial inequities into sharp focus. One of those disparities concerns the high rate of coronavirus transmission among people of color. To talk about the intersection of race and health, KQED's Brian Watt spoke last week with California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, who is known for her pioneering work on the role that childhood stress and trauma play on...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
The psychological benefits of prayer: What science says about the mind-soul connection (CNN)
Kristen Rogers, June 17, 2020, CNN. Carol Kochon prayed during her husband's 42-day hospitalization for Covid-19. Susceptible to lung infections, Rob Kochon had been feeling sick and developing shortness of breath for about four days when he was was admitted to a Florida hospital on Tuesday, March 17. He was diagnosed with double pneumonia. The next day, a coronavirus test came back positive. On Friday, Rob was relocated downtown to AdventHealth Orlando so he could be intubated. On March 29,...
Blog Post
Coronavirus: Chaplains Toiling on the Frontlines (BBC news)
By Barbara Plett Usher, July 12, 2020, bbc.co.uk. From FaceTiming worried families to helping doctors and nurses with "combat fatigue", spiritual care workers in hospitals have been thrust onto the pandemic's frontlines. Rocky Walker has come closer to death as a hospital chaplain in the coronavirus pandemic than he did as a soldier in the 1991 Gulf War. "It was very scary, very dangerous," he says. "Working in the ICUs and seeing all that suffering and seeing families being decimated by...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
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,...
Comment
Re: Trauma-informed policing: Learn how three highly experienced community leaders strengthen ties between police and community
How wonderful to read about initiatives and programs that are actually making a difference in the lives of children. This is how change will come to homes and communities.
Blog Post
‘Death by structural poverty’: US south struggles against Covid-19 [theguardian.com]
Monica McCasklill, left, and her daughter Kena Johnson, at their home in Greenwood, Missisppi. They respectively lost their grandmother and great grandmother, Ethel Huntley, to Covid-19. Huntley lived in a nearby nursing home and the family allege failings in her primary care. Photograph: Rory Doyle/The Guardian. By Oliver Laughland, The Guardian, August 5, 2020 Poor access to healthcare, failed political leadership and the endurance of segregation and racism have contributed to a surge in...
Blog Post
A Shadow ACE in Christian Babycare
As a former La Leche League Leader I became familiar with the teachings of Gary Ezzo (“Raising Kids God’s Way,” "On Becoming Babywise") in the early 1990’s. Leaders in my area began getting a lot of phone calls on our warm line that followed the same basic story: a baby not thriving and a case of very low milk supply despite the Mom’s exclusive breastfeeding and a strong desire to breastfeed. It gradually emerged that a local church had begun promoting a rigid rules-based practice of baby...
Comment
Re: A Shadow ACE in Christian Babycare
Thank you! I was one of those 90's Moms who was basically told that NOT using this technique was unbiblical. There were many of us...and yet it didn't feel right. I had a "mentor" at church who told me to get my twins (first born) to nap I had to leave them in dirty diapers so that they would "learn" to self soothe and sleep on a regular schedule. So many other "lessons" this woman tried to teach me (and I read the book multiple times). I felt like my education (I have an MA in Developmental...
Blog Post
Does racism make us sick? Amid a national reckoning, the question gains new importance [sfchronicle.com]
By Tatiana Sanchez, San Francisco Chronicle, August 24, 2020 Elaine Shelly has lived with multiple sclerosis for 30 years. But she said she still panics whenever she has to see a new neurologist because of racial discrimination she’s experienced in the past. Even getting a proper diagnosis for her illness was a battle. “I’d go to these neurologists who would tell me that Black people don’t get M.S. and that I must be mentally ill,” said Shelly, 63, of San Leandro. A former print journalist,...
Blog Post
Four ways faith leaders can shift to trauma-informed ministry (ChristianCentury)
By Danielle Tumminio Hanson, September 22, 2020, Christian Century. When everyone is traumatized, caregiving takes on new dimensions. These days, we live in an environment of widespread individual and collective trauma. The pandemic wears on, causing heightened anxiety about who is safe, where it is safe, and which air is safe to breathe. High unemployment and economic worries continue. Racial injustice persists. The killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others serves as a haunting...
Blog Post
Pope Francis Calls For Same-Sex Civil Union Law In New Documentary (npr.org)
Pope Francis has called for legislation to protect same-sex couples, according to comments he made in a new documentary that mark a break from Catholic doctrine. "Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family. They are children of God and have a right to a family," the pope said in an interview in the documentary Francesco , which premiered Wednesday at the Rome Film Festival. "What we have to create is a civil union law. That way they are legally covered." Shortly after becoming pope...
Blog Post
"A Better Normal" Community Discussion Series- Our Reckoning with Race and Equity at ACEs Connection
Register for A Better Normal- Our reckoning with race and equity at ACEs Connection
Blog Post
Our Outdoor School: A Place of Hope, Joy & Resiliency (Jewish Boston)
By Lucy Banerji, October 22, 2020, Temple Shalom of Newton Nursery School. We believe that nature and an outdoor education are a wonderful platform for learning about Jewish ways of living Reopening schools requires brave and careful thinking. Here at Temple Shalom Nursery School, we have found our courage in the wisdom of Jewish tradition and its core values: community, resilience and joy. We believe that nature and an outdoor education are a wonderful platform for learning about Jewish...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
The Gentle Art of Blessing (dailygood.org)
On awakening, bless this day, for it is already full of unseen good which your blessings will call forth; for to bless is to acknowledge the unlimited good that is embedded in the very texture of the universe and awaiting each and all. On meeting and talking to people, bless them in their health, their work, their joy, their relationships to God, themselves, and others. Bless them in their abundance, their finances…bless them in every conceivable way, for such blessings not only sow seeds of...
Blog Post
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...
Blog Post
How Housing Fared at the Ballot [nextcity.org]
By Jared Brey, Next City, November 10, 2020 The presidential election was still far from being decided last week when Ruy Arango, chair of the “No Eviction Without Representation” (NEWR) campaign in Boulder, Colorado, told Boulder Beat that he’d seen enough. Ballot measure 2B, which would levy a tax on landlords to fund legal representation for tenants facing eviction, was ahead by a healthy margin. Arango and the NEWR campaign were “pretty confident” it would pass, and he was going to bed,...
Blog Post
Liberty church helps trauma victims heal (The Vindicator)
By Bob Coupland, November 28, 2020, TribToday.com. LIBERTY — Members of New Life Christian Fellowship Church are working with local agencies to help any traumatized residents, especially those suffering through the coronavirus pandemic, achieve resiliency. The church recently held a four-week seminar with people of various professions — including clergy, teaching, administrative and law enforcement personnel — to discuss the effects of adverse childhood experiences to a person’s overall...
Blog Post
ACEs Champion: The reintroduction of Michael Hayes — from ACEs awakening to ACEs community service
It wasn’t until his fifth prison term in a North Carolina county jail — his fourth conviction for driving under the influence — that Michael Hayes volunteered to take an ACE survey that changed his life. The 48-year-old father of six sons and one daughter had spent a number of years in and out of prison. During his last term, to get some time out of the cell where he spent 16 hours a day, he volunteered to attend a class offered by RHA Health Services, a nonprofit that incorporates the...
Blog Post
Committed: How a 6-Year-Old Revealed Florida's Dysfunctional System of Baker Acting Kids [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
By JacqueLynn Hatter, Center for Health Journalism, December 13, 2020 The number of children who are taken for involuntary psychiatric evaluations in Florida increases every year. This is the first story in a five-part series about how the state's Baker Act affects children. Each day in Florida, about 100 kids are involuntarily committed for psychiatric exams under the state's Baker Act. The law was not designed for children, yet over the past few years, the number of minors taken for mental...
Blog Post
ACEs Connection/CTIPP Southeastern Leaders’ call: State updates, funding information, and “mind-blowing” information about helping people out of poverty
Southeastern ACEs Connection and national CTIPP leaders on the quarterly leader call welcomed guest speaker Rebecca Lewis-Pankratz (top left) for their quarterly call. Also among those present were (top row l-r) Carey Sipp, Jesse Kohler, Jesse Hardin, (second row, l-r) Patti Tiberi, Mebane Boyd, Jen Drake-Croft, Dan Press, (third row, l-r) Mimi Graham, Christopher Freeze, Margaret Stagmeier, (fourth row, l-r) Emily Marsh, Liz Peterson, Alyssa Koziarski and Janet Pozmantier. Also present was...