Tagged With "Cracked Up"
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The Camden story: A physician and a priest plant seeds of repair
Simultaneously making changes at the organizational level and building alliances across sectors for larger system change, Father Jeff Putthoff, SJ, and Dr. Jeffrey Brenner realized they had to dig deeper — beyond symptoms to root causes —...
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The City of Philadelphia wants to help its frontline workers better deal with trauma [generocity.org]
A PGW worker is killed by an explosion in 2016 and his coworkers are still dealing with the emotional toll more than two years later. A longtime school nurse calls it quits when the school police officer who broke up fights between students has a heart attack and dies. A parole officer tries to deal with the personal emotional toll when one of his parolees commits a rape and a murder. These are a few of the tales of secondary traumatic stress — the stress that results from indirect exposure...
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The Latest from Philadelphia Region (archives)
June 2014 PHILADELPHIA ACES CONNECTION MEET-UP: TALKING ACES WITH JAMES ENCINAS Come to this informal gathering at the Friends Center on Thursday, 6/26/14 from 4 - 6pm, to meet others in the Philadelphia region who are interested in ACEs, trauma,...
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The opioid epidemic is so bad that librarians are learning how to treat overdoses [CNN.com]
Philadelphia (CNN) A crowd hovered over the man lying on the grass as his skin turned purple. Chera Kowalski crouched next to his limp body, a small syringe in her gloved hand. Squeeze. The antidote filled the man's nostril. The purple faded. Then it came back. Kowalski's heart raced. "We only gave him one, and he needs another!" she called to a security guard in McPherson Square Park, a tranquil patch of green in one of this city's roughest neighborhoods. "He's dying," said a bystander,...
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The Philadelphia ACE Task Force Launches its New Website!
Fellow Philadelphians! Have you ever wanted to learn more about the movement in Philadelphia to become a trauma-informed city? The Philadelphia ACE Task Force (PATF) has a new web resource for you! On Monday, August 15th, the PATF launched its new website, www.philadelphiaACEs.org , to keep you informed about our current and past projects, events, and resources for families, community members, providers, and policy makers. Website Highlights Learn about the Philadelphia Expanded ACE Survey,...
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The Philadelphia Inquirer: The Game Changers, a group of young trauma survivors, heal themselves to help others
Thick-shouldered and reserved, almost guarded, but always polite, Nasir was the youngest and quietest member of the Community Health Worker Peer Project, a group of young black and Hispanic men who have suffered great trauma and who are now learning, in a course at Drexel University, to recognize and treat trauma in others.
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The Philadelphia story: Education and activism converge in "ACEs epicenter"
The women and men gathered for a training on trauma and resilience were recovery counselors and social workers, charter-school teachers and prison administrators. But to Stephen Paesani, the child and adolescent training specialist who was leading the...
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The Question I Never Want to Hear: The Story Behind Storiez
https://safekidsstories.com/the-question-i-never-want-to-hear-430577e096de#.z5sai487j The caterers bustle about in the luxurious conference room, arranging utensils and igniting food warmers. I drop my bags beside the media cart and acquaint myself with the electronic equipment, fiddling with buttons and cords. My presentation slides appear on the massive projection screen. I smile. I have never presented in a room this large. I look around at the vacant tables that will soon be filled with...
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The Year Philadelphia Hired Diversity Consultants [Next City]
I’m wearing an octopus-shaped hat and clutching a beer when I hear a drumbeat strike up alongside a wailing sax. Ahead of me, a troupe of musicians in bright, feathered costumes with plumage nearly as wide as the narrow street attempts to clear a space and perform a quick number. The crowd surges all around, freely drinking in the open and casually walking up and down to watch the different ensembles in this informal parade. Every house along the way has a front row seat and partiers lean...
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Therapist Resource Guide - Pediatric Medical Traumatic Stress
Working with children and families experiencing medical traumatic stress: A resource guide for mental health professionals What do mental health professionals need to know about pediatric medical traumatic stress? How can mental health professionals improve their collaboration with medical providers around pediatric medical traumatic stress? What resources and tools are available for professionals working with children and families who have experienced pediatric medical traumatic stress?
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This former Philadelphia cop had an incredibly simple plan to keep kids out of prison. Don’t arrest them. (washingtonpost.com)
Kevin Bethel didn’t become a police officer to lock up children. But it was under his watch as deputy police commissioner that Philadelphia’s school to-prison pipeline was in full effect. Now retired, Bethel is on a mission to keep children out of prison, with a police-led school diversion program that is showing impressive results. “My issue became, what is the trauma of me taking a 10-year-old child, for example, the minimum age for us, putting him in handcuffs, and taking him out of the...
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This shamefully ignored school shooting is why kids should walk out for 18 minutes, not 17 [philly.com]
It was a moment of sheer terror that surely none of the hundreds of kids flooding the corridors for the end of the school day will ever forget. One moment, 17-year-old Courtlin Arrington — already accepted to college for the fall, with dreams of becoming a nurse — was seen with another teen student, a wide receiver on the football team. Then came a loud pop as a bullet went right through Courtlin’s heart , ending her life way too short of adulthood. “The last thing I told them was ‘I love...
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This social worker is using creative storytelling to help her young clients deal with trauma
Generosity Article Healing from trauma via personal narrative is a hot topic , but Dr. Meagan Corrado noticed a glaring disconnect in the literature. Corrado places the genesis of her own approach, now called Storiez , between finishing her master’s degree in social services at Bryn Mawr College in 2009 and launching her doctorate degree in social work degree at Penn, which she completed this year. “The literature and the training I was going to was saying, ‘The trauma narrative is so...
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“Tim Howard: Growing up with Tourette syndrome and my love of football”
It has been a long-standing assumption that physical activity positively impacts children and their development. Physically, youth are at a lower risk for developing Type II Diabetes as well as becoming obese. Emotionally, the endorphins...
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Trauma Informed Policy Change in New Jersey [www.njtvonline.org]
New legislation in New Jersey will now require police officers to get sexual assault training every 3 years. Efforts to enact this legislation were spearheaded by the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NJCASA) and based on applying a trauma informed lens to sexual assault. In an interview about the legislation, Patricia Teffenhart, Executive Director of NJCASA explains: Sexual assault is highly traumatic thing that happens to people. It’s actually recognized as the second most...
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Trauma-Informed Social Justice: Q&A with Dr. Bukuloa Ogunkua
Cissy's Note: I work with people who challenge systems and policies, who reform or start non-profits, and who see hope and promise where others see despair or destruction. While some folks shake their heads or shrug indifferently in the face of injustice and suffering, others organize, mobilize, and channel their time and energy towards making a change. Maybe a physician hosts an annual conference bringing trauma-informed approaches to medical practice. Perhaps a woman shares ACEs 101...
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Turning chores into classrooms: New grocery store experiment hopes to inspire learning (whyy.org)
If you’re grocery shopping in Philadelphia over the next year you might run into a cherubic cartoon character named A.J. Though his wide smile and trendy haircut impart a sense of whimsy, A.J. has a serious task. He wants to transform your daily supermarket trip into a learning laboratory. A.J. is the face of “Talk It Up,” a pilot project aimed at inspiring interaction among parents and kids. At strategically placed sites across 10 grocery stores in Philadelphia, A.J. appears on small,...
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United Way to fund four-part Trauma Series: Apply Now!
United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey is funding a four-part trauma series of college courses (graduate or undergraduate) leading to a certificate in Trauma Studies in Infancy and Early Childhood from Saint...
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Using the trauma narrative to share young people’s Storiez through art [generocity.org]
“Trauma-informed care” is a common theme in impact work. But after therapist Meagan Corrado completed her MSW degree, she looked for programs that could clearly explain how to help people share their “trauma narratives” and found none. So, in 2015, she made one herself . What she came up with is Storiez , an intervention that helps inner-city youth “reflect on their past experiences, positive and negative” and “creatively express them,” she said. The end goal is for the program participants...
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Victorious: A Story of Resilience
A colleague and dear friend of mine, Marc Dones, authored a piece on t3Threads about his experiences with trauma and the delicate road to recognizing resilience. He speaks candidly about the lifelong task of managing one's memories,...
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What If There Was a City Official Whose Only Job Was to Make Philly Better for Kids?
The case for a children’s czar in Philadelphia. This summer, the Scattergood Foundation — a behavioral health nonprofit — partnered with data analytics firm Azavea to produce a report on the well-being of children in Philadelphia. The project used a raft of public data to map risk factors that affect the city’s kids — exposure to shootings, family poverty, and educational attainment, for example — as well as the quality of local “assets” that help mitigate those risk factors, like schools,...
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What makes us safe: Facing trauma, gun violence, and hatred
An onslaught of violence begs the question: What makes us safe? Should we run and hide, should we become heavily armed, should we only speak with people who look like us? It would be easy to frame recent hate crimes in Monsey , Pittsburgh , and San Diego solely as anti-Semitic. It is that and more. Hateful attacks against Jews indicate a “rot in democracy” and call for systemic reform, according to History Professor Dr. Deborah Lipstadt. I began thinking about safety over 25 years ago when a...
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What Philadelphia can learn from its history of citizen-led park projects [Spoke Magazine]
The article that follows, by Jim Saska, written for Spoke Magazine , describes what it has taken to create more green spaces in Philadelphia and how the City stacks up against other cities on this topic. Are there lessons we can learn about visioning, engaging residents, persistence and more that can be applied to our work to create a trauma-informed and resilient Philadelphia? Read the article and share your thoughts J ohn Randolph was paddling a canoe on the lower Schuylkill when...
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Why We Need to Root for the Philadelphia Eagles
Next week the Philadelphia Eagles are going to the Super Bowl, and while some of us already have plans to cheer them on from our living rooms, there is another opportunity for us to show them our support. Eagles players and coach Jeffrey Lurie are waging a battle to ensure criminal justice reform and bringing an end to racial inequality. These issues are at the heart of much of our community trauma, and we need to uplift the work of the Eagles to help our communities heal. The New York Times...
Ask the Community
Camden Trauma Summit Help Needed
We are having a Trauma Summit on October 6th and 7th. Exciting as we will have Bob Block, MD and Sandy Bloom, MD at the summit. It should be great! As part of the 2 day affair, we wanted to showcase work that others are doing...
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Comments on 'up-stander' intervention when a parent appears to be abusive?
A video of a Dad apparently abusing his daughter in a department store is bringing attention to the question of when it is appropriate for observers to intervene. I've been asked to write a post on this for the Healthy Kids blog at philly.com and think it would be most meaningful to include quotes from Philly area colleagues. Want to share a brief, quotable thought ? Please reply by Friday and include your name and title if the editors use your comment. Thank you! Reference links:...
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Feedback for School District of Philadelphia
At the Philadelphia ACE Task Force Community of Practice Meeting on October 18th, 2017, representatives from the School District of Philadelphia presented their plan for Trauma-Informed Schools. Please use this space to provide any feedback for the School District. Key questions include: What did you like? What would you change? What would be your recommendations for next steps? Their presentation and our full meeting minutes are attached for your reference.
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Keynote: "A Culture of Health"
' ' .. Summary of "Keynote" by CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, at conference in Colorado. An outline of Risa Lavizzo-Mourey's vision of "A Culture of Health". Success requires a "seismic" shift beginning "ground up", as a grassroots idea. See...
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Research on Effectiveness of TIC in Camden
Hello, everyone! Hopeworks N Camden is embarking on formal academic study of the difference that our implementation of Trauma Informed Care has had on our outcomes with youth. We are lucky in that we have strong "before" and "after" datasets. Natasha Fletcher, of the Center for Urban Research and Education, is leading the study. I have posted a brief summary of the study below. Who is excited by this? Who would like to continue to hear more about our progress in this? We think it is a really...
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Wondering about datasets to use for an advanced research methods class
Good afternoon everyone, My name is Luke Butler, and I am just entering the Philadelphia ACES Connection community after attending the ACEs and Education meet-up this past Tuesday. I am a current graduate student in Penn's Master's in Public...
Calendar Event
Film Screening: The Carousel Never Stops Turning
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J-TEN: Trauma, Neurobiology and Sensory Interventions
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"Las Madres de Berks" Film Screening
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"Las Madres de Berks" Film Screening
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"Las Madres de Berks" Film Screening
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Meet-Up: ACEs and Education
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On the Road to Resilience: Mapping Your Family's Journey
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Portraits of Professional Caregivers Screening
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Strengthening Families Philadelphia Summit
Blog Post
End the cycles of trauma and poverty for Philly families | Perspective [philly.com]
A new study published in JAMA Psychiatry is shedding light on intergenerational trauma, adding to the growing body of evidence that the impact of trauma can be passed down from one generation to the next. While the research stems from Scandinavia more than 75 years ago, it has critically important implications for Philadelphia, a city challenged by high rates of deep poverty and violence, contributing to trauma exposure among its residents. During World War II, tens of thousands of children...
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Experiences with Childhood Trauma impact everyone, regardless of fame, fortune, beauty or status
The “lifestyles of the rich and famous” are often times a discussion piece for a variety of reasons – the latest celebrity fashion; who divorced who; what photo is “breaking the internet” this week. However, how...
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Father Jeff: Camden still has a lot of healing to do [Philly.com]
This past Friday, Brian Williams from NBC Nightly News did a segment on the positive changes the police have been making in Camden since the last time he was there in 2013, when Camden made national news for being the murder capital of the...
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Fighting the trauma that afflicts too many Philly children [philly.com]
Warm weather often brings a rise in crime and violence to Philadelphia, just as students and families head outdoors to enjoy a brief respite from the rigor of the school year and winter’s cold. The dichotomy of this phenomenon is upsetting, yet unsurprising. The reality is that so many children in our city do not reach their potential. It is undoubtedly a struggle to grow up in a city with the highest poverty rate of the nation’s 10 largest cities, persistent violent crime, and poor...
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Focusing awareness, understanding on helping traumatized kids heal [NewsWorks.org]
The goal is a lofty one — to transform the city of Philadelphia. Organizers of Greater Philadelphia Trauma Training Conference are going about it one professional at a time. The event, which wraps up Friday at Thomas Jefferson University, is intended to help those in different professional fields become more aware of how to work with children who've experienced trauma. The 450 or professionals who attended Thursday's session represented the juvenile justice world, health care and education,...