Tagged With "safe schools"
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ACEs Connection launches Cooperative of Communities
The ACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities launches today. We want to continue to contribute to the ACEs movement for as long as it takes to create a worldwide healing-centered culture based on ACEs science. We want that to take hold in this world in the same way electricity has — we only notice it if it isn’t there.
First, a clarification: Nothing on ACEsConnection.com changes! Membership remains free! Everything our current 300+ communities use stays free, and remains free for new ones.
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ACEs Connection's Inclusion Tool makes sure nobody's left out
We developed ACEs Connection's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Tool — called the Inclusion Tool, for short — to ensure that ACEs initiatives across the world focus on being inclusive when forming a steering committee, recruiting leaders, providing education about ACEs science, recruiting members, or providing resources and services within their communities. The more inclusive your ACEs initiative is, the more diverse it will be, giving your initiative a real shot at achieving equity and...
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ACTION NEEDED: Expanding Access to School Breakfast in Philadelphia
As the nation’s poorest big city, it is common knowledge that tens of thousands of students struggle with food insecurity. The federal Community Eligibility Program makes it easy to provide every student in Philadelphia with free breakfast and lunch. Unfortunately, too many of Philadelphia’s students attend schools that don’t prioritize increasing access to these meals. Students who eat school breakfast perform better in school than children who don't, yet: Only 39.6% of public school...
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After reversing more than 100 overdoses, the trauma is starting to take a toll on me [kensingtonvoice.com]
As a citizen who has reversed more than 100 overdoses, every now and then I have a cry that is so uncontrollable, and painful, and deep, that I wonder if I will ever stop crying. Recently, I experienced one of those cries. It was after reversing a young man who was overdosing who looked just like my son. He was 16 or 17 years old, still with his school ID around his neck. It took three doses of Narcan — the overdose reversal medication — to bring him back. Surprisingly, he wanted me to call...
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American Acad of Pediatrics Policy Statement - Immigration policies need to be trauma-informed [www.medpagetoday.com]
The American Academy of Pediatricians has made a bold statement about the proposed DHS policy to separate children from their parents and the use of detention - clearly linking these policies to their potential to traumatize children. To that end, children should never be separated from a parent unless it is for the child's safety, and the Department of Homeland Security should discontinue the use of family detention and use community-based alternatives to detention to treat immigrant...
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Academic Pediatrics publishes case study on Philadelphia ACE Task Force
On Tuesday, September 5th, 2017, Academic Pediatrics released a special issue highlighting a comprehensive research and policy agenda for addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and promoting well-being. The issue features an article, Developing a Community-Wide Initiative to Address Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress: A Case Study of The Philadelphia ACE Task Force." Authored by the Task Force's three co-chairs, Lee Pachter (lead), Sandra Bloom, and Joel Fein, along with staff...
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An Evidence-Based Indictment of Inaction
If schools are to be guided by data, the data says that 2 of 3 children experience at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE): children of all incomes, all colors, all social levels, all educational levels. It is all of us. Is your school trauma-informed?
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An Important Event for Anyone in Higher Education in the Philadelphia Region
The Need for Trauma-Informed Curricula at Institutions of Higher Learning: A Call to Action On October 20th, Children's Crisis Treatment Center , The Philadelphia University Community and Trauma Counseling Program and the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey are hosting a very special and important conversation for any one who is involved in training the next generation of service professionals - nurses, doctors, social workers, teachers, lawyers, community health...
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Artists in the ACE and Resilience Movement: Creative Avenues to Change
They began with a song and ended with a poem. In-between, there were photographs and giant graphic renderings, movement exercises and a “human pulse” formed when 90 people stood in a circle and squeezed each other’s hands. At a June summit in Whatcom County, Washington, titled “Our Resilient Community: A Community Conversation on Resilience and Equity,” the arts played a starring role. Kristi Slette, executive director of the Whatcom Family and Community Network, one of two Washington sites...
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As awareness of childhood trauma rises, new free therapy program launches for Philly students [whyy.org]
The fire that destroyed her dad’s third-floor apartment is the scariest thing that’s ever happened to 8-year-old Dakota Johnson. It was five-thirty in the morning. Someone on the first floor of the building had fallen asleep smoking. Dakota and her dad, Kenneth Johnson, woke up to the sound of the fire alarm. First it seemed like it might be just a small blaze, but when Johnson opened the door to the apartment, smoke and soot rushed in. Dakota was too scared to crawl out into the hallway, so...
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Be part of a breathtaking tipping point !
. Education Equity for trauma-impacted children: from failing funding to fair funding. Be part of the solution! Background A heartfelt tip of the hat to the Basic Education Funding Commission (BEFC) of...
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Can Changing How We Talk About Childhood Toxic Stress Influence Policy? [drexelnow.edu]
How do you get people to support public policies that help children thrive? Do you emphasize the possible health consequences of child abuse, or do you emphasize the financial consequences for society as a whole? If you focus on consequences, does this messaging have the unintended consequence of creating prejudices towards vulnerable children and their families? When it comes to informing and persuading, how we deliver a message matters as much as the message itself. With a $500,000 grant...
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Case Statement on Trauma Informed Approaches
Attached is a Case Statement on Trauma Informed Approaches--it is a review of the Greater Harrisburg Area's and beyond's ACE scores, the outcomes of these ACEs and some ideas of how to resolve the negative consequences of this crisis of epidemic proportions. Please use it to advance the cause of moving from the bad news of ACEs towards the good news of becoming trauma informed and resilient. I would also welcome your comments, questions and recommendations! Thank you.
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Childhood Trauma and Its Effects: Implications for Police
Another great piece shared by Philadelphia Taskforce member, Risa Mandell. By Richard G. Dudley, Jr., M.D. Repeated exposure to traumatic events during childhood can have dramatic and long-lasting effects. During the past 20 years, there has been an...
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Children's ADHD symptoms similar to those for chronic stress
Childhood poverty causes anxiety that can alter brain areas responsible for language, reading, and executive functions. All of this can resultin behaviors that are easily misinterpreted as learning issues and attention deficit hyperactivity...
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Children’s Behavior Health Clinic Integrates ACEs Screening To Tailor Treatment
When children and their parents first visit Northeast Treatment Centers (NET) Children’s Behavior Health Services in Philadelphia, they fill out a 10-question survey about their adverse childhood experiences so that therapists can tailor...
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'Children's Recovery from Adverse Experiences: Is it luck or something else?' Panel Discussion and 2015 Mayoral Forum
Children’s Crisis Treatment Center (CCTC) and The Scattergood Foundation invite you to join us for a compelling discussion on April 9th: Children's Recovery from Adverse Experiences: Is it luck or som ething else? The unrelenting...
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City's Office of Education releases findings from community school meetings [Philly Voice]
Strengthen city support for schools. Empower parents and community members. Increase access to and opportunities for neighborhood resources. Those are the three most important things that Philadelphia residents want from Mayor Jim Kenney's community schools initiative, findings based on months of discussions with stakeholders and the Mayor's Office of Education. On Wednesday the office released a report on its findings after 14 roundtable discussions with principals, teachers, students,...
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Clergy embrace trauma informed training in Greater Philadelphia region
An exceptional all-day “Trauma-Informed Training for Clergy” event was held in Philadelphia in May 2017, organized by JSR Educational Enrichment Strategies, Inc. Founder and President Doris Smith-Ribner, Retired PA State Appeals Court Judge. Judge Smith-Ribner recognized the need for this training particularly for those on the front lines of dealing with the impacts of trauma and its prevalence within Philadelphia—the Clergy. Here is her report from that meeting. Highly-regarded trauma...
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CLICK FOR RESOURCES: TRAUMA-INFORMED EDUCATION
These trauma-informed education resources are linked to narrative illustrations of the same topic at LucidWitness.com. The narratives are designed to be used as 'Public Service Announcements' in social media, to help grow broad, general-public awareness of developmental trauma.
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Coming soon: Philly School District families will have access to grief counseling, coronavirus support [inquirer.com]
For Philadelphia students and families having trouble coping with the loss of months of in-person school amid the trauma of a pandemic and a changing world, help is on the way. On Monday, the Philadelphia School District and Uplift, the Center for Grieving Children, will launch the Philly HopeLine, a hotline that will connect district children and families to grief support services, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said at a news conference Thursday. The resource comes in response to a...
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COMMENTARY: Preventing Childhood Trauma is Key [Courier Post Online]
It’s spring break time in South Jersey, and in the tonier towns such as Haddonfield and Moorestown last week, the streets were eerily quiet. Families with school-age kids left the premises for warmer climes, including Florida, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Two middle school girls were heard conversing. “We go to Disney at least once a year,” said one. “Well, we can only afford to go every other year,” said the other, with a note of shame in her voice. For more on this story, by Rebecca Bryan,...
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Community Health Worker Peer (CHWP) Training Academy
The Drexel University Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice | Healing Hurt People - In partnership with the Drexel University Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships, Philadelphia Works and The Behavioral Health Training and Education Network presents: Community Health Worker Peer (CHWP) Training Academy Do you know what it is like to be impacted by violence in your neighborhood? Do you want to help people heal from their injuries? We invite you to learn more about becoming a...
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Community Health Worker Peer Training/Certified Peer Specialist Training Academy
Training Opportunity Do you know what it is like to be impacted by violence in your neighborhood? Do you want to use your experiences to help other people heal from their injuries? We invite you to learn more about becoming a Community Health Worker Peer/Certified Peer Specialist! The Drexel University Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice is currently seeking applicants for our 9-week Community Health Worker Peer (CHWP)/Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) Training Academy . This program,...
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Could we have a revolution in Philadelphia Schools?
School District of Philadelphia staff - teachers, counselors and administrators - have been filling every available opening in the Institute for Family Professionals' trauma trainings that are offered to the school district and others through funding from United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. Rebecca Pepper Sinkler- former editor of The New York Times Book Review and editor of SafeKidsStories shares the perspective of staff who attended in "Could We Have a...
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Creating Community-Driven Messages that “Catch On” in Philadelphia
How do you create a story so powerful that no matter who is spreading the message, it moves through communities, almost like a virus? This very question is the focus of an upcoming project in Philadelphia. After the Atlantic Health...
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Defending Childhood
Common Sense Millions of injured children whose pleas are not being heard are waiting at the intersection of the “Defending Childhood” Report from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Congress’s rewrite...
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DeLauro, Murray Introduce Children’s Recovery From Trauma Act
Press release orginially posted on Congresswoman DeLauro's Homepage Washington, D.C. - June 3rd, 2015, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced the Children’s Recovery from Trauma Act ,...
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District finds that creating more trauma-informed schools requires a change of culture [thenotebook.org]
“The world of thinking about trauma, the importance of school climate and social-emotional learning is 20, 30, 40 years behind the world of instruction." Joanna Schwartz, a 2nd-grade teacher at Eliza B. Kirkbride Elementary School, was about to take a scheduled break and desperately needed a place to have peace and quiet. But the only place she could find was a broom closet. A few years earlier, in another school, Schwartz said teachers were baffled by a 3rd grader who continually fell...
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Documentary about Trauma and Resilience in Philadelphia Schools wins Award [thenotebook.org]
Glen's Village , the Notebook's 30-minute documentary film and multimedia reporting project on childhood trauma and Philadelphia's public school system, was named a finalist for an Education Writer's Association award for education reporting in the single-topic news or feature category for small newsrooms. The film, directed by journalists Dorian Geiger and Paul Jablow , follows the journey of Glen Casey , a resilient young Philadelphian who overcame violence, drugs, and family turmoil as a...
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Dr. Lee Pachter & Dr. Tina Cheng of Philadelphia ACE Taskforce Comment on Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases in JAMA
Dr. Lee Pachter from the Department of Pediatrics, St Christopher’s Hospital for Children, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Dr. Tina Cheng from the Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, are both members...
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Penn study finds teen trauma raises depression risk in menopause [phillyvoice.com]
Women who experience multiple traumatic events and chronic stress during their teenage years face a higher risk of depression during menopause than those who don't—even without a history of depression, according to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. In a study conducted by the Perelman School of Medicine, the first of its kind to focus on the role of childhood adversity in the onset of major depressive disorder (MDD) during menopause, researchers concluded that hormonal changes...
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Penn trauma surgeons: Racial disparity 'profound' in Philly gun violence [www.phillyvoice.com]
A group of surgeons and epidemiologists at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine are calling for more research on firearm injuries and the establishment of a national database to track them, citing racial disparity among Philadelphia victims as the "elephant in the room" of gun violence. Trauma surgeons partnered with colleagues at the Penn Injury Science Center to build on previous research about patterns of gun violence in Philadelphia neighborhoods. Their research,...
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Pennsylvania AG Josh Shapiro: “Protecting Students Is a Must” [phillymag.com]
On Monday night, Drexel University’s Creese Student Center was the site of the second roundtable discussion in Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro ’s ongoing series on college campus safety. Shapiro launched the initiative in August with the broad goal of preventing drug and alcohol abuse, sexual assault, and tragedies stemming from mental health issues on the campuses of colleges and universities statewide. “When parents take their kids to college and drive off in their minivans, of...
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Philadelphia ACE Task Force Full Body Meeting
The Philadelphia ACE Task Force held their full body meeting on September 26 th , 2016. The meeting began with a brief community meeting – the group was generally energized and excited. Philadelphia ACE Task Force Staff did a report out on the launch of the website: philadelphiaACEs.org on August 15 th . In a little over a month, the website had over 700 views from all over the US and from outside the country. The website had been visited every day since the launch and many spent a good deal...
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Philadelphia ACE Task Force Workforce Development Work Group Meeting
The Workforce Development Work Group met on Wednesday, January 20 th at Friends Center in Philadelphia, PA. The group began with updates of recent work, including work that had been done in 2015, which was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. This work was focused on encouraging graduate level programs incorporate ACE-related information into their curricula. The work resulted in local and national environmental scans as well as a training in trauma-informed care for Temple...
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Philadelphia ACE Task Force Workforce Development Work Group Meeting
The Workforce Development Work Group met on Wednesday, March 16 th , 2016 at the United Way Building in Philadelphia. The group began with a reflection about the last full Philadelphia ACE Task Force (PATF) meeting and were excited about future opportunities for impactful work throughout the city and region. Following this discussion, the group discussed some current projects of the Work Group, including the development of focus groups with teachers in the School District of Philadelphia and...
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Philadelphia ACE Task Force Workforce Development Work Group Meeting
The Workforce Development Workgroup of the Philadelphia ACE Task Force met on Wednesday, May 18 th at the United Way. There were several members in the room who were either new or who have not been able to attend meeting recently so the group caught up on current work. The group began with an update from the subcommittee that is working to develop focus groups with teachers and administrators in from the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) to better understand how they are using...
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Philadelphia ACE Task Force Workforce Development Work Group Meeting
The Workforce Development Workgroup met on Wednesday, June 15 th at the Unite Way building. The group began with an overview of the focus group project with the School District of Philadelphia and an update for next steps. The subcommittee focused on this work is aiming to begin these focus groups in July, pending approval from the School District and University of Pennsylvania. The group then moved on to discuss the planning of an event focused on integrating information about ACEs, trauma,...
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Philadelphia ACE Task Force Workforce Development Workgroup Meeting
The Workforce Development Workgroup met on Wednesday, September 21 st . The group had not met in several months so they used their time to update each other on their ongoing projects. They began with a review of the training database that was developed for the Philadelphia ACE Task Force website . This database holds information about regional trainings and is searchable by target audience, available credits, and whether or not the training is offered for free. Members asked how to highlight...
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Philadelphia ACE Task Force Workforce Development Workgroup Meeting
The Workforce Development Workgroup met on Wednesday, October 19 th . The group began with an update on the work that is being done with the School District of Philadelphia to conduct focus groups with teachers to better understand the facilitators and barriers to implementing trauma-informed tools in the classroom. It is the goal of the subcommittee working on this project to have IRB approval by December of this year so that recruitment for focus groups can begin in January 2017 and the...
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Philadelphia ACE Task Force Workforce Development Workgroup Meeting
The Workforce Development Workgroup met on November 16 th , 2016. The meeting began with introductions and a summary of the ACE Task Force and the history of the work-to-date for this workgroup. There were several new members and guests at this meeting. Workgroup leaders then provided an overview of work that had been done in the past month, including a updates on the work with the School District of Philadelphia and reflection from the ACEs in Higher Education event. Members reported that...
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Philadelphia ACEs Virtual Connection Meet-Up: "Education"
On Tuesday, August 19 th , 2014, the first day of my Advanced Level Field Placement as an M.S.W. Student at Temple University, I participated in the second Philadelphia ACEs Virtual Connection Group “Meet-Up” at the Friends Center...
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Philadelphia Physicians Present ACEs to Medical Licensing Board
Psychiatrist Sandra Bloom , Co-chair of the Philadelphia ACE Task Force and Associate Professor of at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University, and...
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Philadelphia Premiere of Paper Tigers to be shown at Philadelphia ACE Film Festival - REGISTRATION IS OPEN
The Philadelphia ACE Task Force along with sponsors including the Scattergood Foundation , the Health Federation of Philadelphia , Behavioral Health Training and Education Network and Exude , will host Philadelphia's first ACE Film Festival on Wednesday, January 27th, from 12:30 - 5:30 at WHYY Studios in Philadephia. The Festival will feature two powerful films - the Philadelphia premiere of Paper Tige rs by James Redford takes an intimate look into the lives of selected...
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Philadelphia Principal Linda Cliatt-Wayman transforms Strawberry Mansion High School [Modern Heros]
Meet Principal Linda Cliatt-Wayman, who tells about her journey to work with the students and teachers to bring peace and learning to Philadelphia's Strawberry Mansion High Shool. "With passion and perseverance, Linda Cliatt-Wayman, principal of Strawberry Mansion High School, rescued one of the most dangerous schools in the country. Listen and share her incredible story of resilience and transformation" here in this 7-minute video . Philadelphia ACE Task Force members who have worked on...
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Philadelphia school offers program on teaching traumatized children
Cheyney University, the Pennsylvania's state-owned historically black university is launching a new program this summer to train teachers on the ins and outs of helping traumatized children to learn. The certificate program “Trauma-informed Education,” or TIES will be offered at Cheyney's Center City campus in Philadelphia. Its launch comes as Cheyney, which boasts an identity as the nation's oldest historically black post-secondary education institution, struggles to climb out of a downward...
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Philadelphia symposium addresses traumatized youth [montgomerynews.com]
CECIL B. MOORE >> Trauma has a way of changing the brain. With much new research on how one gets traumatized, how trauma is passed down from one generation to the next and the consequences for children who experience it, all can seem like gloom and doom. That is where the Our Kids are Not Broken: Empowering the Traumatized Youth event came in. This was a three-hour session held at the Gesu School, 1700 W. Thompson St., Friday, Nov. 3. The focus of the event was to discuss ways to...