Tagged With "Trauma-informed systems"
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School counselors take on at-home trauma in the classroom [WHYY]
Cristo Rey faculty get one full day a week to collaborate and strategize about how to meet the specific needs of individual students. (Bas Slabbers/for WHYY) By Kevin McCorry School counselor Pam Turner-Bunyon had been warned: This new, incoming student had a dark profile and was prone to very erratic behavior. "When he first came to us, he ran out of the building, the first day — the very first day — instead of coming in, he ran," she said. Turner-Bunyon learned what happened and...
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School District of Philadelphia Open Position: Director Trauma Informed Practices
Please help to spread the word about this vital opening in our city's school district. https://ats4.searchsoft.net/ats/job_board_form?op=view&JOB_ID=4600169492&REPRESENTATIVE_COMPANY_ID=00002581&COMPANY_ID=00002581
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Seed, Soil & Light: A Young Revolutionary's Journey (dailygood.org)
Three to four houses had recently burned down in Tommy Joshua’s North Philadelphia neighborhood. In an empty lot behind his home, Tommy came to figure out the origins. The youth of the neighborhood used that space to hop around on the furniture, play with the debris, and kick the wood. From an early age, Tommy questioned the suffering in the world. His earliest memories are of the broken school system, dysfunctional families, and homelessness. He turned to his mother for answers and she...
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Speak Out For Safe Schools! The Talk to Your State Senator Statewide Video Contest
School Violence - In the age of social media and the 24-hour news cycle, the topic has gained more and more attention. Although members of the national media tend to focus on gun violence, the percent of school children who are affected by school shootings remains very small; not a great comfort to those who experience such a tragic event. Instead, it is far more likely for students to be affected in their day-to-day lives by other threats or acts of hostility that make them feel unsafe.
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Study of Trauma Informed Transition at Hopeworks
Please check out this amazing research study about Hopeworks and our transition to a trauma informed model prepared by Rutgers Center for Urban Research and Education! Special thanks to Dr. Natasha Fletcher and New Jersey Health Initiatives for making this study possible!
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Teaching Adult Wary Children and Youth
Secure, trusting bonds are essential if young people are to grow, learn, and thrive (Baumeister, 2011; Brendtro, Brokenleg, & Van Bockern, 2005; Shulevitz, 2013). Today there are literally millions of young people disconnected and living in violent communities with over stressed families and schools that are depersonalized. They traverse dangerous communities and the ecology in which they live is one of extreme levels of toxic stress. The most troubled and troubling kids display...
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Re: Leaning into Conversations about Race and Trauma
Aniela, Thank you for bringing your personal and professional reflections and such critical questions to the surface of the group. I also believe the issue of race and trauma needs to be constantly unpacked- at individual, agency, and community wide levels- in order for healing to be possible, and I appreciate the examples you provided on how to question the work we do. This is a great discussion topic for the broader ACEs Connection network. Please consider also posting it as a general...
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Re: "The Raising of America Project": New Documentary That Highlights ACEs
This is an excellent series that highlights the work in a way that is both accessible and illuminating. Thanks for posting this, Shoshana and glad to see the representation from the Philadelphia area work.
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Re: It’s As Simple As Following the Manual… Or Is It?
Love the post, Kate! As a longtime "builder" of IKEA furniture and a big talker about the need for trauma-informed tools for all sectors, you are spot on with you blog post! Good luck with your new job and hopefully there are resources on ACN that can help. And if you don't find them, reach out to the community and I bet someone has been struggling with something similar.
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Re: It’s As Simple As Following the Manual… Or Is It?
Hi Kate - Welcome to the Philadelphia/Camden area and what a great blog! I look forward to meeting you . Leslie
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Re: CLICK FOR RESOURCES: TRAUMA-INFORMED EDUCATION
Daun Kauffman thank you for your site! An excellent source of resources and information!!
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Re: Philadelphia ACE Task Force Workforce Development Work Group Meeting
I would like to have Strength Based Trauma Informed Leadership Programs included in the resources guide. We are leading the way on integrating trauma informed practices in existing community programs. One example of an intervention we have spearheaded are interactive coping skill cards for children in after school programs. Along with our trainings, teen leadership programs, etc. Thanks for heading such an important group.. All my best, Judy On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 9:38 AM, ACEsConnection...
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Re: Philadelphia ACE Task Force Workforce Development Work Group Meeting
We're looking forward to seeing the guide, Caitlin! And check out the ACEs in Education group for other resources.
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Re: Trauma and Parenting groups
Leslie, Thank you very much. Yes, I think I will go with the "How Brains are Built" video. Mike O'Bryan recommended it. My thoughts were the same about the TEDtalk. I am leaning towards a discussion about ways we as parents can create a system of support for our children and ourselves to reduce the impacts of trauma, even if the families are in a very stressful situation already. If anyone has any thoughts, please, I welcome them all!
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Re: What Philadelphia can learn from its history of citizen-led park projects [Spoke Magazine]
Thanks for posting this Leslie- I think looking at models of how other groups have tackled large issues in Philadelphia can be very helpful as we build our strategy to create a trauma informed city. To me, a few things specifically caught my attention: Planting compelling visions in people’s heads As we begin to engage with more people outside of the trauma sphere, what are the ‘renderings’ of a trauma-informed city we want people to see? In some ways this will be more difficult because the...
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Re: One year after Parkland, Philly students, teachers say more counselors needed to deal with trauma from gun violence [whyy.org]
I fully agree, as a school nurse working at John Moffet School. We see students everyday who are impacted emotionally and physically by gun violence, and one or two other traumas that have occurred in their lives as well. These children need our help. As a healthcare provided I support the findings of the ACE study performed in Philadelphia may years ago. Our community members health outcomes have been affected by trauma, and will continue to be if they are not given support, information and...
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Re: PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL, EDUCATION COMMITTEE Hearing on Standardized Testing NOTES
Thank you for presenting this testimony to City Council. I'd love to know how they reacted, and what type of questions they may have had for you.
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Re: PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL, EDUCATION COMMITTEE Hearing on Standardized Testing NOTES
Hello Nick, City Council reacted with much interest, and maybe a little surprise, and (I am hoping) eventually some follow through and action. Time will tell. Their questions to-date are all about statistics, or quantitative research learning. I take the fact that they are even asking questions, as a hopeful positive signal. Daun
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Re: PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL, EDUCATION COMMITTEE Hearing on Standardized Testing NOTES
Thanks, Daun. This does sound hopeful; I wonder if if/how our ACES community can help maintain some momentum with keeping local politicians engaged?
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Re: PHILADELPHIA CITY COUNCIL, EDUCATION COMMITTEE Hearing on Standardized Testing NOTES
Great question ! Not sure yet. Thinking . . . I'm a little sensitive about being too aggressive, too fast.
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Re: Developing a Trauma-Informed Public Policy Guide
This is a very exciting project! Thank you for tackling such an important process and opening it up to all members! A question that is coming up in our city/county ACEs Connection groups is how to effectively engage local Board of Supervisors through awareness building, advocacy, and funding for trauma-informed systems change, with the additional intent of advancing to statewide policy change. Since your project addresses many issues of system/organizational change, I also wanted to make...
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Re: Developing a Trauma-Informed Public Policy Guide
Thought you all might be interested in this awesome report from WA state! http://extension.wsu.edu/ahec/...Blodgett%20Final.pdf
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Re: Developing a Trauma-Informed Public Policy Guide
Thank you for sharing Alicia. Very interesting and I am looking forward to diving deeper in to it all.
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Re: An open letter to Governor Wolf:
Daun, This letter is an incredible example of how we should and can engage in policy change while educating our elected officials and the general public. The way in which you outlined the role of childhood trauma, in particular ACEs, and the implications for education, is incredible! Thank you so much for providing such a great example for those of us wanting to engage in trauma informed policy work!
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Re: Article on Trauma-Informed Juvenile Justice
Thanks for posting this, Caitlin. If you haven't seen them, two stories by Ed Finkel about the juvenile justice system might interest you. https://www.pacesconnection.com/...a-informed-practices https://www.pacesconnection.com/...te-trauma-informed-1 Cheers, Jane
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Re: Real Resilience is now a PODCAST
Thanks for this post and the often untold stories of women & their children whose lives are changed by incarceration of a loved one, and who have to work to fund the costs of incarceration. Your video is a powerful introduction to what led to the podcasts. This led me to look for more on the ACE of incarceration and what is going on in our geographic area right now.
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Re: American Acad of Pediatrics Policy Statement - Immigration policies need to be trauma-informed [www.medpagetoday.com]
I'm praying Cheri Honkala won -- poverty and homelessness is an ACE. I was a homeless adolescent and in couch surfing, I was raped. Homelessness is an ACE.
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Re: Call for Submissions: Third Annual Philadelphia Trauma Training Conference
When will we be informed of registration for this conference.
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Re: The City of Philadelphia wants to help its frontline workers better deal with trauma [generocity.org]
As a nurse for 30 years , I have felt the affects of secondary stress. I am very thankful that this area is being studied and hopeful that all professionals who encounter secondary stress will be understood, embraced and assisted to deal with the effects.
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Re: This social worker is using creative storytelling to help her young clients deal with trauma
From one Bryn Mawr GSSWSR grad to another, I really appreciate this new tool. I just purchased your book from Amazon. I look forward to using it for my practice with children who have experienced trauma and their families at the Children's Clinic in Northampton, MA.
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Local Affiliates Accelerate ACEs-and-Resilience Movement in Montana
In Toole County, Montana, deputy sheriffs call a school counselor, from their patrol cars, after responding to a traumatic incident—a domestic abuse call, an overdose, an arrest—that involves a child. “Handle with care,” they tell the counselor, and they give the child’s name. The counselor passes that information to teachers: a quiet heads-up that the student might be hungry or sleepy, tearful, angry or distracted by whatever happened at home. “My teachers love it,” says Mary Miller, chair...
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‘Building Wealth and Health Network’ Reduces Food Insecurity Without Providing Food [drexel.edu]
As the coronavirus pandemic forces so many to reckon with growing food insecurity and increased health challenges, the Building Wealth and Health Network program of Drexel University’s Center for Hunger-Free Communities is reducing food insecurity and improving mental health – without distributing any food or medicine. How? By focusing on group experiences that promote healing and help people save money and take control over their own finances. Parents of young children, who completed the...
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General board hearing Thursday likely to focus on school officers and reopening plans [thenotebook.org]
The Philadelphia Board of Education is holding an open public hearing Thursday afternoon, one of two that it is required by the City Charter to conduct annually on general topics. The three-hour meeting, which starts at 4 p.m., has no agenda except hearing from speakers. Student activists plan to renew their calls for police-free schools. Many others have registered to air their concerns about the conditions under which schools will resume in the fall, said Board President Joyce Wilkerson.
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Philly school board hearing report: speakers seek fewer police, more support services [thenotebook.org]
Teachers, counselors, parents, and national activists added their voices to students’ call for “police-free schools” at a general public hearing held by Philadelphia’s Board of Education on Thursday. The board holds two of these hearings annually, as the City Charter mandates; the only agenda for the meetings is to hear speakers. At the hearing and at a virtual “rally” held during the hour before, members of the Philadelphia Student Union and their allies repeatedly said that reform of the...
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Wolf Administration Releases ‘Trauma-Informed PA’ Plan with Recommendations and Steps for the Commonwealth and Providers to Become Trauma-Informed [PA Governor Tom Wolf Press Release]
July 27, 2020 As a companion to Governor Tom Wolf’s multi-agency effort and anti-stigma initiative, Reach Out PA: Your Mental Health Matters, the Office of Advocacy and Reform (OAR) is releasing the “Trauma-Informed PA” plan to guide the commonwealth and service providers statewide on what it means to be trauma-informed and healing-centered in PA. This plan is the result of four months of work from OAR and the Trauma-Informed PA Think Tank, formed in February. The think tank was made up of...
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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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ACE Impact Team Aligns Efforts to Help Newark Residents Reach Greatest Potential
Five years of convening Newark’s ACE Impact Team has taught Keri Logosso-Misurell a crucial lesson: Fight the urge to reinvent the wheel.
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Pathway for Trauma is Pathway for Resilience: Fresno Network's Message Inspires Hope
In Fresno, volunteers from local churches were already working with the schools, mentoring kids and running weekend recreation programs. Community-based non-profits were in conversation with educators; pastors were talking to social-service providers. The problems were clear: nearly 30% of Fresno’s residents living in poverty (the rate tops 40% for Black residents), with a 20-year gap in life expectancy between the richest and poorest parts of this sharply segregated city. For several years,...
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In-person classes have stopped. Shootings haven’t. So Philly schools are taking trauma support online [billypenn.com]
When students came to class in person, the private St. Malachy School in North Philadelphia was equipped with a robust emotional support program to help kids deal with trauma. The 11th and Thompson building offered its 275 students access to a space called the Peace Room. It was stocked with bean bag chairs, books, music, snacks — even an elliptical, in case they needed to get some energy out. There were two full-time staffers working the room at all times, one of whom is a counselor. When...
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Data-Driven, Cross-Sector: Bounce Coalition Boosts Trauma-Informed Change in Kentucky
Student suspension rates dropped. Teacher retention rose. Membership in the PTA swelled from zero to more than 200. More kids said in a survey that there was at least one adult at school whom they could talk to if they had a problem. The data—a comparison of the Bounce Coalition’s pilot school and one with similar demographics—told the Kentucky resilience-boosting group that they were on the right track. The Bounce Coalition formed in 2014; the catalyst was a grant from the Foundation for a...
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Youth-Led Advocacy Creates Healing Opportunities in Baltimore City
After a shooting at a historic Baltimore high school in February 2019—a 25-year-old man, angry about the school’s treatment of his sister, who was a student there, shot a special education assistant with a Smith and Wesson handgun—conversation in the city centered on whether school resource officers should be armed. Students said that was the wrong question. When City Council’s education and youth committee, chaired by council member Zeke Cohen, held hearings on school violence following the...
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'A Better Normal:' Can universal ACEs screening be equitable? -- Concerns and solutions
Can universal ACEs screening be equitable? A conversation about concerns and solutions. When: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2-3:30 pm PDT/5-6:30 pm EDT This webinar explores what it takes to ensure that equity is built into the process of screening and providing support for families who have experienced trauma and want help. REGISTER HERE Background At the beginning of this year, California, through the ACEs Aware initiative began rolling out universal screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs),...
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Spreading the Science: Michigan's NEAR Collaborative Aims to Infuse ACEs Science into State Departments and Agencies
Mary Mueller likes to call herself an “opportunistic infection.” What that means is that Mueller, project coordinator for trauma-informed systems in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), is determined to share the science of ACEs and resilience wherever she goes. After Mueller attended the state’s first ACE master trainer two day session hosted by the Michigan ACE Initiative , she wanted to bring the foundational science shared by ACE Interface back home—to her MDHHS...
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"NEAR Science in Partnership with Communities": Local ACEs Collaboratives Grow Across Minnesota
The third annual gathering of Minnesota ACEs collaboratives—“Growing Resilient Communities: Collaboratives Addressing ACEs”—began with a sober recitation of inequities: We acknowledge that the wealth of this country was built on stolen land and with enslaved and underpaid labor of African American, Native, and Immigrant people…We acknowledge that the recent global uprising, which was sparked by the murder of George Floyd right here in Minnesota, paired with the COVID-19 pandemic, makes for a...
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“Unite in a Common Cause”: Minnesota Tribal Communities Use NEAR Science to Address Trauma and Promote Healing
As the Minnesota trainers expected—and welcomed—the ACE trainings in tribal settings began late and lasted for hours: multiple generations of people from the White Earth and Fond du Lac communities gathering around simmering Crock-Pots of food, sharing stories, standing in line to talk with the trainers afterward. Once, a White Earth elder was the only person to show up for a presentation, recalls Linsey McMurrin, Director of Prevention Initiatives and Tribal Projects for FamilyWise Services...
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100% Community Initiative Builds Vital Services So New Mexico Kids Can Thrive
The deaths of several New Mexico children in recent years—a 13-year-old whose father was accused of fatally torturing him; an eight-year-old who was kicked to death by her mother; a girl raped, strangled and stabbed by her mother’s boyfriend the night before her 10th birthday—drew horror, outrage and scrutiny of the state’s child welfare system. Those incidents drove child welfare and public health specialists Katherine Ortega Courtney and Dominic Cappello to examine the data. Cappello and...
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Listening, Learning and Showing Up: Central Oregon's TRACEs Focuses on Root Causes of Trauma
TRACEs’ work group on youth and children in foster care spent a good portion of the last year’s monthly meetings examining holes in the system: How would foster families be affected by changes in funding from the Oregon Department of Human Services? What would it mean for kids if Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) positions were cut? Most important, what did foster children and youth, their families of origin and their foster families need in order to thrive? “We put together a...
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Nashville’s Purposeful Twist on ACEs: All Children Excel
In 2015, the pieces that became ACE Nashville began to fall into place. A five-year Community Health Improvement Plan included the support of mental and emotional health as one of its three goals. A core team of individuals from the Metro Public Health Department (MPHD), Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee and the Family Center, a non-profit focused on breaking generational cycles of child trauma, began to meet weekly. And a citywide “consensus workshop” in April of that year—drawing 44...