Tagged With "depression help"
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5 Skills to Add to Your Emotional Toolbox [psychologytoday.com]
As a child and adolescent clinical psychologist , I'm a huge fan of using metaphors and analogies when I'm explaining a wide range of psychological facts. I've found that no matter the age, metaphors and analogies are just easier to process. Therefore, whenever I'm talking to someone else about what I do in therapy , I really enjoying referencing an imaginary emotional toolbox. In simple words, my job is to help whoever walks into my office refine that emotional toolbox. Together, we: Find...
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5 Tips to Get You Through the Kavanaugh Investigation (No Matter What Are Your Politics)
Current events this week are extremely triggering and traumatic for many. Here are a few tips from a trauma psychotherapist.
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5 Ways to Heal the Traumatized Brain (Part 4) [blogs.psychcentral.com]
"Someone who has experienced trauma also has gifts to offer all of us- in their depth, in their knowledge of our universal vulnerability, and their experience of the power of compassion.”- Sharon Salzberg What a week. You’d have to be living under a rock if you haven’t at all tuned in to the tumultuous news cycle in the US. Those that are survivors of trauma (specifically sexual assault and other forms of abuse) are incredibly triggered, and those that provide psychotherapy for trauma...
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5 Ways to Heal the Traumatized Brain (Part 4) [blogs.psychcentral.com/]
“Someone who has experienced trauma also has gifts to offer all of us- in their depth, in their knowledge of our universal vulnerability, and their experience of the power of compassion.”- Sharon Salzberg What a week. You’d have to be living under a rock if you haven’t at all tuned in to the tumultuous news cycle in the US. Those that are survivors of trauma (specifically sexual assault and other forms of abuse) are incredibly triggered, and those that provide psychotherapy for trauma...
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A Day At a Time
We are not strangers to unusual challenges in the addiction’s world. We have lived with chaos and unmanageability before and we have learned to use program principals to create calm in a storm. We have also learned to accept and even embrace challenges as part of our spiritual growth. And we have found that embracing those challenges has ultimately led to our being happier, stronger and more resilient people. This current moment in time however, is giving “practicing these principles in all...
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A Guide to Executive Function [developingchild.harvard.edu]
Executive function and self-regulation skills are like an air traffic control system in the brain—they help us manage information, make decisions, and plan ahead. We need these skills at every stage of life, and while no one is born with them, we are all born with the potential to develop them. But, how do we do that? The Center on the Developing Child created this Guide to Executive Function to walk you through everything you need to know about these skills and how to develop and practice...
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Addiction Isn't the Problem, It's the Symptom [pesi.com]
Note: You may receive an unsolicited invite to a class when downloading the article. By Gabor Mate, PESI, May 2, 2020 Have you ever wondered, as I have, how someone with an addiction could go through 21 detox centers and 5 treatment facilities, yet continue to relapse? It wasn’t until I started working in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside—one of the most concentrated areas of drug use, mental illness, and poverty in North America—that I realized... The reason these treatments do NOT work is...
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Announcing CRI's Newest Trainings- July and September!
CRI is excited to announce new trainings! We will have online trainings in July, and an in-person training in September. July Online Trainings CRI Course 1 LIVE WEBCAST: Trauma-Informed Training A dynamic 2 part six-hour LIVE WEBCAST course, Course 1 introduces CRI’s capacity-building framework for building resilience, KISS. Knowledge, Insight, Strategies and Structure describes our community’s learning and movement from theory to practice and how to implement evidence-based strategies into...
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"Breaking the Silence" Warriors of HOPE Series Concludes This Sunday with a 2-Hour LIVE Worldwide Webcast Event!
The “Breaking the Silence with Dr. Gregory Williams” radio program will be featuring a SPECIAL LIVE 2-HOUR WORLDWIDE WEBCAST this Sunday evening, May 10 th from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM Central Time. This event will be a special conclusion to their WARRIORS OF HOPE series featuring all the guest from the entire series together for one life-changing webcast. The guests are some of the most sought after authors, experts and speakers on the various topics of trauma, abuse, and resilience in the...
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Building Tolerance and Empathy through Music (upliftconnect.com)
Society categorizes music in genres to help identify the aspects of life reflected in that sound–classical, rap, new age, metal, rock, blues, country, etc. It’s natural to listen to genres that feel most familiar to us. It takes courage to use music as a method of self-discovery; to honestly feel the feelings resonating within your body as you listen to new styles of music. Listening in small doses, almost like musical homeopathy, increased my tolerance and appreciation for this new genre.
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‘Burnout is real’: The importance of engaging in self-care practices when faced with secondary trauma [whyy.org]
Chera Kowalski remembers working at McPherson Square Library when overdoses became a more common occurrence in Kensington. It was 2015, and Philadelphia saw 696 overdose deaths that year — a 52% increase from just two years before — eighty percent of which involved opioids. There were more than twice as many overdose deaths than homicides. At the time, library staff didn’t have naloxone — an opioid overdose reversal medication — or the training to administer it. The best staff members could...
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Calming Your Anxious Mind Through Rhythmic Movement
5 Rhythmic Movement Practices That Can Calm Our Anxious Mind
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Can EFT Play in Integral Role in Helping Victims of Sexual Assault? New Research Says YES
“Sexual injury (assault or otherwise) can lie at the heart of a multitude of presenting client issues, ranging from money blocks to physical health problems to a “fear of being seen” as well as more obvious concerns like intimacy challenges.” Alina Frank, author of How to Want Sex Again This is not an easy topic to discuss, but it is an important one. It is a topic that as EFT professionals we continue to need to further understand and make a difference in helping people to heal from. It...
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Cancer as a survivor
Many people use the phrase CPTSD to stand for PTSD from complex trauma. To me, C-PTSD means cancer and PTSD. I have cancer and I’m a trauma survivor. I’m a survivor with cancer but not yet a cancer survivor. Will I be a survivor squared?
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Care for Yourself, So You Can Care for Others
December can be a busy and stressful time for everyone. Please see the message below from the Office of Head Start, reminding you to take care of yourself and giving some helpful daily tips- Safe Foundations, Healthy Futures Campaign Care for Yourself, So You Can Care for Others December 2018 December can be a particularly hard time to take care of yourself. You may be busy, over-scheduled, stressed about finances, or worried about family. This month, the Safe Foundations, Healthy Futures...
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Caught the Coronavirus Blues? Research Shows that Music Medicine is a Powerful Antidote (wakeup-world.com)
English acoustic-physics pioneer, John Stuart Reid, explains how Music Medicine can banish the blues (and fear) associated with the corona virus, while boosting our immune system to help vanquish any pathogen. The simple antidote for low spirits and fear, which Nature provided for us, is music. Not just any music, but music that calms us and brings us joy. Nature’s “music” for our ancient ancestors was provided in a variety of ways, such as psithurism (the sound of the wind in the trees and...
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Children & Families COVID19 Resilience Brief 5: Music For Healing
Click on the pdf link for the full child-friendly article.
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Community Wisdom on Sleep (www.tarabrach.com)
This is a really nice resource shared on Tara Brach's website. It has links to meditation as well as ways others have found to improve sleep or manage sleep issues.
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CPTSD: How to Transform Fear, and Develop INNER STRENGTH
Now that the pandemic has us all in a crisis situation, we’re about to find out to find out who falls apart in a crisis, and who rises up to serve, lead and encourage others. The ones who shine are not always who we expected — have you noticed this? Here in California we’ve been sheltering in place for over two weeks now. Everywhere in the world, we’re trying to figure out how best to respond to the pandemic, how best to care for ourselves and the people we love. It’s a work in progress. For...
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Crafting Provides Cross-Body Therapy Which Helps Mental Health [blogs.psychcentral.com]
I recently had the opportunity to chat with Sharyn of Homespun Dreams about how she uses craft as therapy. She lives with both anxiety and chronic pain. She enjoys crochet, knitting, sewing, tatting, and other crafts, sometimes mixing them together in one project. She also happens to have a nursing degree so she understands the benefits of crafting from both a personal and professional perspective. It was through her that I learned about the idea of crafting as cross-body therapy. What is...
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Defining Resilience Series: Step 5 - Healthy Habit Formation
Transforming our habits is a powerful tool we can utilize as we continue along our healing journey.
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Defining Resilience Series: Step 6 - Find a Guiding Hand to Hold
I am in love with the idea of utilizing our own healing experiences to help those who are looking for guidance and a comforting hand to hold. I know when I was in despair, I was flailing in my efforts to find answers.
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Depression & Moving Past Your Past [hopetocope.com]
When your present life feels limited by things that happened in your childhood, it’s time to find the tools and techniques to help you thrive. For better or worse, things that happen to us in childhood can shape our reactions as adults—in ways we’re not always aware of. When Katie ended up unemployed last year, she got mired in beliefs she’d absorbed as a girl linking solvency to self-worth. “To be foolish with money, in my father’s eyes, was one of the greatest sins,” she says. “To not be...
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Developing Super Powers: Using Resilience Strategies to Cope with Negative Experiences. Introducing CRI's Newest Book!
“I believe that everyone, especially a child, deserves to know how their brains are shaped by environment, to then understand their capacity for building proactive protective factors. We all deserve to be super heroes as we do the best we can to consciously live life well. ” - Teri Barila The superheroes we learn about in comics, movies, and TV shows swoop in to save the world with their incredible powers, to shield people from harm. But in our world, no matter how much we wish to protect...
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Donna Jackson Nakazawa on bringing down the stress-threat response
Cissy's note: Donna Jackson Nakazawa has graciously allowed me to cross-post some of her current and future Facebook page posts here in the Practicing Resilience for Self-Care and Healing community on ACEs Connection . Hello Friends. As a SciComm journalist with 30 years of reporting and 6 books under my belt, which focus on how our stress response governs our immune health, I’ve been thinking about what I have learned, and how I might help you quiet your body and mind during this # pandemic...
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Donna Jackson Nakazawa on dislodging the trauma headspace & making micro-changes
Cissy's note: Two more posts from Donna Jackson Nakazawa's Facebook page posts which she has graciously allowed to be shared here on ACEs Connection . For more, read Donna Jackson Nakazawa's new book, The Angel and the Assassin: The Tiny Brain Cell that Changed the Course of Medicine and follow her on Facebook , Twitter , and Instagram
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Dr. Bessel van der Kolk offers tips on how to help children and adults cope with Covid-19
Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of the bestselling book, "The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma," offers specific ways in which parents and caregivers can help children (and themselves) cope with the new (or residual) feelings of trauma that Covid-19 ignites. For more information visit Dr. van der Kolk's website at: https://www.besselvanderkolk.com/ For a calming experience with Licia Sky, (Recommended by Dr. van der Kolk in this video) you can register for...
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Dr. Felitti Describes Future of ACE on TV Show with Dr. Alman
Scared? Since childhood, S. T. has been anxious & scared of dying. He learned helplessness from his mother. He learned self-punishment from his father. From the outside, he lived a successful life; good job, married & kids. Inside he was divided between constant self-doubt & an ongoing secret life of escaping into porn. He spent decades like this. One day he decided to get help. He started by talking to someone he trusted at church. He got referred to me. Not surprisingly, it can...
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Effective way to do Meditation
The most effective way to do meditation is to take your mind to the zero thought state. Meditation should not be something in which you try to make you mind silent. Your mind shall become silent automatically with the help of your subconscious mind power. We have written some posts on the basics of meditation and zero thought of mind . We really appreciate you if you read our blog once. And if you have any opinion please let us know. I know in the community of ace connection, there's a lot...
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Effective way to do Meditation
The most effective way to do meditation is to take your mind to the zero thought state. Meditation should not be something in which you try to make you mind silent. Your mind shall become silent automatically with the help of your subconscious mind power. We have written some posts on the basics of meditation and zero thought of mind . We really appreciate you if you read our blog once. And if you have any opinion please let us know. I know in the community of ace connection, there's a lot...
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Elaine Miller-Karas Helps Bring the Dalai Lama's Vision to Light
Elaine Miller-Karas, executive director and co-founder of the Trauma Resource Institute, has been invited to attend the launch in New Delhi, India, of a special program initiated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Miller-Karas is one of the key developers of the Trauma Resiliency Model® (TRM) and the Community Resiliency Model® (CRM) – biological-based models designed to help people recover from toxic stress. Miller-Karas has shepherded the Trauma Resource Institute since its birth in 2006 into...
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Elation: The Amazing Effect of Witnessing Acts of Kindness (wakeup-world.com)
It’s the fantastic warm, elevated feeling we get when we witness acts of kindness. Even the most simple altruistic acts might give you a touch of this: a passer-by giving his packed lunch to a homeless man, a stranger offering to help a blind person cross the road, or a subway passenger giving up his seat for a old lady. In this way, witnessing altruistic acts can be a source of what Abraham Maslow called ‘peak experiences’ — those moments of awe, wonder and a sense of ‘rightness’ which make...
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Erasing My ACES
Why I hid ACES from my medical records in order to receive equal treatment.
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Explore Ways to Ground and Calm
Hi Everyone: As many of you already know (especially for those of you who are living in the San Francisco Bay area), I am now under a shelter-in-place directive until April 7th. This was announced yesterday afternoon, so a major readjustment was required very quickly. There are times when I feel disoriented with the speed of change and the adaptations I need to make to my daily routine. One major change was that I can no longer swim! As many of you know it is the love of my life and an...
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Five Ways Mindfulness Meditation Is Good for Your Health [greatergood.berkeley.edu]
According to thousands of years of tradition, Buddhists meditate to understand themselves and their connections to all beings. By doing so, they hope to be released from suffering and ultimately gain enlightenment. In recent decades, researchers have been gaining insight into the benefits of practicing this ancient tradition. By studying more secular versions of mindfulness meditation, they’ve found that learning to pay attention to our current experiences and accept them without judgment...
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Flashback Halting Guide: 10 Tips to Halt Flashbacks for Yourself or a Loved One
Flashback Halting Guide: 10 Tips to Halt Flashbacks for Yourself or a Loved One. Includes a link to a printable Flashback Halting Guide
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Free Live &Online - Daily Meditation & Support Groups [mindfulleader.org]
From Mindful Leader, March 22, 2020 To help keep us connected while we are isolated, help us stay calm during a time of great anxiety, to give us an opportunity to care for one another, and to be together, we are providing free live & online - daily meditation & support groups multiple times throughout the day. Every weekday, Monday - Friday, from Monday, March 23rd - Friday, May 1st at the times listed below we will offer 30 minute live & online - daily meditation & support...
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Free Mind Matters Online Series -- Build skills to overcome anxiety and increase resilience
In appreciation of and support for the tremendous work you are doing under challenging circumstances, Dibble will be hosting a free, 12-week Mind Matters online series with Dr. Carolyn Curtis and Dixie Zittlow. Unprecedented times, such as these, are stressful and call for everyone to think about ways to help others and themselves. Thus, we see this as an opportunity to offer free, professional development and help you and your staff practice self-care. Join us as we teach the Mind Matters...
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Free resources for cultivating mindfulness & restoring calm (Sounds True)
Resilience in Challenging Times A care package for the Sounds True community In response to the growing uncertainty and heightened stress during this unprecedented time, we have created this special digital care package to help you navigate the coming days with mindfulness, compassion, and presence. Please share and enjoy these free resources—we can all use some support! We will be regularly updating this page with new offerings. If you’d like to receive email notifications, please sign up...
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Free Virtual Cafes brought to you by the Philadelphia ACE Task Force Pass this invitation along! [philadelphiaace.org]
From Philadelphia ACE Task Force, May 8, 2020 Has your workplace incorporated the science of Stress Reduction & Mindfulness into its Wellness Program? "Incorporating Mindfulness Into Your Work and Life: During COVID-19 and Beyond" Tuesday, May 12, 3:30 - 4:30 pm Eastern Time This interactive presentation will begin with a brief introduction around the science of mindfulness & will provide an overview of various mindfulness practices with ways to implement strategies in your personal...
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From Compassion Fatigue to Healing Centered Engagement: Turning Trauma Informed Values into Action
To pave the way for a truly strengths-based approach to full healing and recovery for both service users and burned out staff, we must educate them on (1) the central role of primal body responses to trauma (past and present), and (2) the early development of adaptive thoughts and behaviors in response to
traumatic experience.
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From One Survivor to Another, Helping Survivors of Human Trafficking Escape and Stay Safe [sandiegotribune.com]
By Lisa Deaderick, The San Diego Tribune, December 22, 2019 Marjorie Saylor remembers a woman who was looking for help leaving her trafficker. The woman was pregnant and waiting for a bed at a shelter to open up, but she had to wait on the street, alone and in the cold. Her trafficker found her and took her with him. “I never heard from her again. She only had a week left to go before her bed opened up, but the two weeks she toughed it out waiting on the street kept her in harm’s reach,”...
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Fuzzy Slippers: How Do Self-Care as a Trauma Survivor
When I recommend the need for self-care to trauma survivors, they say it can feel like a chore. Some of them even roll their eyes and tell me, “You mean you want me to take care of myself? Ugh. Who has time for that?!” It’s tempting for any person to undervalue self-care. But for trauma survivors, resistance to self-care has much deeper roots. Healing takes a focused, gentle approach. Self-Care as a Practice of Welcoming Your Needs Many trauma survivors learned to do without self-care...
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Great pandemic resilience building activities for youth by ITRC CA steering committee member Lil Milagro Henriquez
I hope everyone is staying safe during these perilous times. I wanted to share some of the resources that Mycelium Youth Network is putting together. I'm extremely proud of the programming that we've put together and the community partners that we're working with for these projects. We've put together comprehensive youth and adult programming all designed with mental, socio-emotional, and physical resilience in mind. A full listing of classes can be accessed on our website . All of our youth...
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Hanging on to Hope
In a conversation this morning, like I know many are having, the question of staying hopeful amidst the pain and suffering so many are experiencing in this pandemic came up. It made me think of author Pauline Boss and her book Loss, Trauma and Resilience: Therapeutic Work with Ambiguous Loss. When first introduced to this book many years ago, I was intrigued with the term "ambiguous loss" and found that several events in my life fit Boss' statement that those who suffer losses without...
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Healing from Codependency and the Freedom that Awaits
There is no healing without recognition of that which needs to be healed. Someone who has clogged arteries cannot heal those clogged arteries if they are unaware they have clogged arteries. To heal mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, or cognitively first requires an acknowledgment of some kind of deficit or wound. In order to acknowledge a wound one must become conscious or self-aware of such wound.
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Helping Families Stay Regulated during a Pandemic
As our communities struggle to do what is needed to keep people safe and families work to find a new a “normal” while caring for and educating children at home full time – it can be a lot to handle. Child psychologist and trauma expert, Dr. Bruce Perry offered 8 tips for helping children stay regulated in this recent article from Psychology Today . Dr. Perry was also a part of this video resource for parents, Staying sane while Parenting with Shelter-in-Place! For service providers who would...
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How a Men's Group Helps Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse
By Bert Pepper MD., March 18, 2020, Psychology Today How a men's group helped survivors deal with secrets of the past. When I was a young psychiatrist, I worked with Vietnam veterans traumatized by what happened to them, what they had seen, and what they had done. As I treated these veterans and studied PTSD , I realized that what I was learning could apply to help women. The first rape crisis units and shelters for battered women opened in the 1970s, at which time we also began learning...
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How Creative Writing Can Increase Students’ Resilience [greatergood.berkeley.edu]
Many of my seventh-grade students do not arrive at school ready to learn. Their families often face financial hardship and live in cramped quarters, which makes it difficult to focus on homework. The responsibility for cooking and taking care of younger siblings while parents work often falls on these twelve year olds’ small shoulders. Domestic violence and abuse are also not uncommon. To help traumatized students overcome their personal and academic challenges, one of our first jobs as...
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How do you cope? Self-regulation "favorites" from our children! (video)
In a recent chapel time, our children were given the opportunity to "pay if forward" by helping create the video below. You see, part of the lesson was about thanksgiving and generosity, and that generosity is NOT just about sharing money. It's about being the type of people who share compassion and the wisdom that has been gained through difficulty. The children were encouraged to know that they could help other children handle their big feelings in healthy ways by sharing what they had...