January 2020

There is hope for the future. That may seem like a broad statement, but it is true. If the future is our children and our children have potential, the future is in good hands. Let’s start with the bad news first. Toxic stress physically damages a child’s developing brain, according to neuroscientists and pediatricians. The good news - science has proven that through neuroplasticity, the brain has the capacity for resilience. One way to find out the risks for a child or community is through...

The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office held their first meeting to talk about a program that would help children dealing with trauma in our school districts. Sheriff Vic Regalado says they met with the Healthy Minds organization Thursday discussing the program called Handle With Care. The Sheriff says Oklahoma has one of the highest rates of childhood trauma and unfortunately, he says there are studies that point to these children later on partaking in criminal behavior. He says the goal is to be...

ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) have made their way into the mainstream over the past couple of years, even showing up in a segment that Oprah did for 60 Minutes . And because ACEs have a profound effect on children, the concept has been taken up in the world of education. Approaching education with an understanding of the physiological, social, emotional, and academic impacts of trauma and adversity on our students is driving changes in our systems. However, these changes are not...

NORMAN — The story of a convict and his dog unfolded on a Norman stage Tuesday as playwright and producer Peter Zhmutski directed actors, moved props and rewrote lines for “Marvin’s Shining Star,” a teleplay aimed at helping children of incarcerated parents. Filming of the play wraps up this week and once production is finished, creators hope to distribute it throughout Oklahoma schools, along with the script, set design instructions, and follow-up questions for students so they can produce...

Our next stop on the Raising Resilient Oklahomans Hope Rising Tour with First Lady Sarah Stitt will be in Duncan on Thursday, January 16th with two viewing options - 11:00 - 1:00 - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/resilience-the-science-of-hope-tickets-86820489421?aff=ebdssbcitybrowse and 5:30 - 7:30 - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/resilience-the-science-of-hope-evening-showing-tickets-86835109149?aff=ebdssbdestsearch . Each showing will feature a panel of local professionals moderated by...

NORMAN — Jeremy Elledge thinks he can change Oklahoma. From where he sits, that’s a tall order. Elledge works in mental health services in a state that's top in the nation for childhood trauma. Oklahoma leads in female incarceration and heart disease mortality, and has high rates of child abuse and divorce, lending to the cycles of trauma that impact the state’s youngest residents, the Tulsa World reports. But Elledge wants to stop that cycle. For the last two years, he’s been traveling the...

As more and more schools adopt social and emotional learning standards and realize that students’ college and career success depends strongly on their social, emotional, and character development (SECD), teachers are looking for guidance as to how to bring SECD into their classrooms every day. Whether or not your class has a systematic curriculum, students benefit when SECD is part of academics and classroom conversations and procedures. Members of our Rutgers SECD Lab have the good fortune...