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San Mateo County (CA)

San Mateo County ACEs Connection is a community for all who are invested in creating a trauma-informed and resilient San Mateo County. This is a space to share resources, information, successes, and challenges related to addressing trauma and building resiliency, particularly in young children and their families.

Tagged With "Resilient Beginnings Collaborative"

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ACEs champion pediatricians talk about life and practice in a COVID-19 world

Laurie Udesky ·
With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers everywhere are changing how they care for their patients. I asked a few members of the ACEs in Pediatrics community what they’re doing differently. Dr. R.J Gillespie, pediatrician at The Children’s Clinic in Portland, OR. Dr. R.J. Gillespie Gillespie says that, as much as possible, they’re switching to virtual visits, which allows them “to comfort and reassure our patients face-to-face as much as possible without risking their...
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Positive Childhood Experiences offset ACEs: Q & A with Dr. Robert Sege about HOPE

Laurie Udesky ·
Tufts University medical professor Dr. Robert Sege directs the Center for Community-Engaged Medicine and is nationally known for his research on effective health systems approaches that address social determinants of health. He is also the principal investigator for the HOPE framework (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences).The HOPE framework is based on research that shows how positive childhood experiences can mitigate the effects of adverse childhood experiences. Sege and colleagues...
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Register now: Free ACEs Connection Webinar on the Human Impact of Climate Change

Carey Sipp ·
A year after 85 people died in the wildfire that swept through Paradise, CA, and nearby towns, one of the town’s survivors will talk about how she and others are using resilience practices in their recovery from the trauma. On Wednesday, Nov. 13, Paradise resident Kelly Doty will have a conversation with Elaine Miller-Karas, who developed the Community Resiliency Model (CRM). Doty, who lost her home in the fire, and Miller-Karas will discuss resilience education skills designed to help...
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Report reveals how foster care, juvenile and adult justice systems traumatize youth, calls for policy shifts

Laurie Udesky ·
YWFC sponsored Sister Warriors meeting When she was 15 years old, Lucero Herrera was put in a rehab program by San Francisco’s Juvenile Court because she was getting drunk regularly. And in doing so, the court failed to explore the root of her drinking. Had they done so, she said, they would have found that anger and trauma were lurking underneath, driven by her ACEs: adverse childhood experiences. Lucero Herrera "Why did they put me in a drug program when I had an anger problem? I went...
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Researchers Call for Quality-Improvement Changes in Medi-Cal Plans [chcf.org]

By Xenia Shih Bion, California Health Care Foundation, October 7, 2019 California should move swiftly to improve the quality of care in the managed care plans that serve 80% of Medi-Cal’s nearly 14 million enrollees, according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Led by Professor of Medicine Andrew Bindman, MD, with support from CHCF, the researchers examined 41 quality measures and found that more than half of the quality measures stayed the same or declined...
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San Mateo (CA) launches county initiative to tackle ACEs and build resilience

Laurie Udesky ·
Attendees at the San Mateo event participate in ice-breaking exercise When you’re working with people who've had a lot of childhood and adult adversity, it’s hard for you to believe that anyone else can have a bad day, says Laura van Dernoot Lipsky. “Your neighbor or your best friend says: ‘I’ve had a bad day.’ And you think, ‘Oh, I’m sorry you had a bad day; were you sex trafficked today? No, you were not!'” Laura van Dernoot Lipsky Van Dernoot Lipsky, the author of Trauma Stewardship: An...
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Screening for Childhood Trauma

Stefanie Demong ·
Dr. Ken Epstein has been in the social services sector for nearly four decades and has witnessed firsthand the long-term effects of trauma. As both the son and father of fellow social workers, the work runs in his blood. Now, he’s helping Bay Area health clinics screen for and address childhood trauma through the Resilient Beginnings Collaborative (RBC), led by Center for Care Innovations (CCI) and made possible by Genentech.
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Solano County launches its ACEs and resilience initiative inviting all to take action

Laurie Udesky ·
Elizabeth Huntley recalls the day when her family’s life was turned upside down. “One day my mom woke up and she packed up all of our clothes, all five of us…and she took me and my younger sister who had the same father… down to my paternal grandmother’s house…and she left us there. She took my middle sister to a town near Birmingham, Ala., and left her there. She took my only brother and an older sister back to Huntsville and left them at a sister’s house. Then she went back to that housing...
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Solano County's (CA) ACEs initiative, a robust community effort, makes room for input from all

Laurie Udesky ·
In a house called “Johanna’s House” on a tree-lined side street in Vallejo, Calif., four women are filling out the adverse childhood experiences (ACE) survey given to them by Maria Guevara, the founder of Vallejo Together, an organization that serves homeless residents in Vallejo. The house was named for Johanna Dilag, a homeless woman who was found dead along with her dog.
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Suisun Elementary (CA) makes ACEs science intrinsic to everyday life

Laurie Udesky ·
Students start each day with meditation During her first year as principal of Suisun Elementary in Suisun City, Calif., in 2014 Ann Marie Neubert suspended 102 students — out of a student population of 550 —for disrupting their classes. It was a serious problem, but the school’s teachers didn’t know what to do. “[Teachers] felt like they were using all the tools in their toolbox and it wasn’t changing behavior,” she recalls. Ann Marie Neubert Too many students were spending too much time out...
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Toxic Stress, Behavioral Health, and the Next Major Era in Public Health
 by Mental Health America

To view the document, click on the following link:  http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/issues/toxic-stress-behavioral-health-and-next-major-era-public-health      
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Trauma education and mindfulness help youth living amid gun violence

Laurie Udesky ·
Armon Hurst, 2nd from left, first row, Teens on Target, courtesy of YouthAlive! Eighteen-year-old Armon Hurst serves as vice president of the student body at Castlemont High School in Oakland, Calif. He has a 4.0 grade point average, is an avid baseball player, and is slated to go to college next year. But until a few years ago, Hurst would find himself waking from nightmares in the middle of the night. It was difficult to concentrate at school, and he wasn’t eating well. Armon Hurst “There...
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Want to see the play about treating youth trauma, TRIGGER, in your area?

Donielle Prince ·
A groundbreaking new play about trauma, TRIGGER, was most recently featured at part of the training and inspiration provided to community members participating in the 4CA Policymaker Education Day on July 11, 2017 in Sacramento at the state Capitol.
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WEBINAR: Fostering Equity: Creating Shared Understanding for Building Community Resilience

Wendy Ellis ·
Struggling with how to Foster Equity Conversations in Community? Join the national partners of the Building Community Resilience Networks as we share our lessons learned in fostering equity as a strategy to prevent childhood adversity and build community resilience. Wednesday, February 26th 12pm-1:15pm Eastern More info at go.gwu.edu/EquityWebinar As a nation we have agonized over how to approach conversations on race, racism, inequity and racial justice. Too often we have opted to attempt...
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ACEs Science Champions Series: Why this financial coach integrates ACEs-based training

Sylvia Paull ·
In foreground, Dr. Donielle Prince (l) and Saundra Davis (r) ____________________________ Saundra Davis, a financial coach and consultant who trains other coaches on building resilience among the working poor, knew she had met her partner in helping people deal with their “money disorders” when she first met Dr. Donielle Prince in Sacramento at a black women’s gathering in 2015. Dr. Prince works with ACEs Connection as its San Francisco Bay Area regional community facilitator. She also...
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Building Children’s Resilience

Rajni Dronamraju ·
Genentech is excited to launch a new philanthropic initiative, The Resilience Effect , to address childhood adversity and its long-term effects on health. For more than 40 years, our company has pursued groundbreaking science to improve the lives of people facing serious and life-threatening diseases. That’s why, when we learned about the emerging science behind the effects of toxic stress and the connection between early adverse childhood experiences and diseases later in life, we knew we...
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DULCE helps pediatricians in Oakland, CA, prevent toxic stress in newborns

Laurie Udesky ·
On a recent day in early March, Laura Lopez met a former patient of hers in the waiting room of Highland Hospital’s pediatric clinic in Oakland, CA. The patient had forgotten her Medi-Cal card and called Lopez asking for help. But in the brief conversation, Lopez, a family specialist with the DULCE program, learned about some dire changes in the patient’s life. Laura Lopez “Without me even asking, she shared with me that she had separated from her partner, that she needs to apply for food...
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Early childhood educators learn new ways to spot trauma triggers, build resilience in preschoolers

Laurie Udesky ·
A hug may be comforting to many children, but for a child who has experienced trauma it may not feel safe. That’s an example used by Julie Kurtz, co-director of trauma informed practices in early childhood education at the WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies (CCFS), as she begins a trauma training session. Her audience, preschool teachers and staff of the San Francisco-based Wu Yee Children’s Services at San Francisco’s Women’s Building, listen attentively.
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How collaboration helps clinic in San Mateo County, CA, tackle ACEs in children

Laurie Udesky ·
Dr. Elizabeth Grady is a pediatrician at the South San Francisco Clinic, a community clinic of San Mateo Medical Center. She and Susana Flores , a senior public health nurse with San Mateo County Health, spoke with me about how the clinic and other health agencies in San Mateo have been able to craft ways to work together to prevent and heal toxic stress in children. Grady also talked about how she and Flores have been working with the Resilient Beginnings Collaborative (RBC), a group of...
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How do these pediatricians do ACEs screening? Early adopters tell all.

Laurie Udesky ·
Last week, three pediatricians — with a combined experience of 15 years integrating ACEs science into their practices — reflected on the urgency they felt several years ago that prompted them to begin screening patients for childhood adversity and resilience when there was practically no guidance at all. Along their journey, they accumulated a list of lessons learned for other pediatricians and family clinics to use. The three pediatricians participated in the ACEs Connection webinar,...
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How to Implement Trauma-informed Care to Build Resilience to Childhood Trauma [ChildTrends.org]

Mai Le ·
Children who are exposed to traumatic life events are at significant risk for developing serious and long-lasting problems across multiple areas of development. [1] , [2] , [3] , [4] However, children are far more likely to exhibit resilience to childhood trauma when child-serving programs, institutions, and service systems understand the impact of childhood trauma, share common ways to talk and think about trauma, and thoroughly integrate effective practices and policies to address it—an...
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Kaiser family medicine clinic launches 4-question ACE survey pilot for adults

Laurie Udesky ·
In July, medical residents in family medicine at Kaiser Permanente in San Jose, CA, began screening adult patients for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). But it’s an ACE survey with a twist: it’s shorter, not the 10-question survey of the original CDC-Kaiser Permanente ACE Study , according to Dr. Kathryn Ridout who is leading the pilot along with Dr. Francis Chu and Dr. Alec Uy . Why a shorter ACE survey? Dr. Kathryn Ridout “When we were doing our initial discussions with stakeholders in...
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New organization calls all pediatricians to end crisis that's "hiding in plain sight"

Laurie Udesky ·
When the question of screening patients for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) was first raised a couple of years ago, Santa Barbara pediatrician Andria Ruth had mixed feelings about it.
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New Publication in Health Promotion Practice Journal Provides a Framework for Action on ACEs

Aditi Srivastav ·
Advocates, leaders, and professionals in the child health and well-being space have identified a need for concrete steps for building resilience to prevent ACEs. Current frameworks focused on ACEs fall short of including a multilevel approach, considering the role of health equity in well-being, and providing concrete, tangible steps for implementation across the life span. The empower action model addresses childhood adversity as a root cause of disease by building resilience across...
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Not 'Just in Your Head': California Rolls Out Mental Health Guides for Coping With Coronavirus [kqed.org]

Mai Le ·
By Marisa Lagos Apr 7 Gov. Gavin Newsom opened his daily briefing Tuesday on the status of the coronavirus pandemic in California a bit differently than normal: With a mantra he says his mother used to repeat. "She said, 'Stand guard at the door of your mind,'" Newsom said. "Honestly, it took me a decade-plus to figure out what she was ultimately saying. But she was focused on, more than anything else, our capacity to be resilient and to meet challenges head-on, our capacity as human beings...
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Notes from the inaugural meeting of the new ACN community, for those who live/work/recreate/love in Berkeley

Donielle Prince ·
Title Photo: (L) Donielle Prince, post author and ACN Bay Area Community Facilitator; (R) Nicole Powell, Branch Librarian at North Branch, Berkeley Public Library at the first gathering for an ACN trauma informed community collaborative in Berkeley. Meeting notes and future plans are described in this post.
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NPPC shares lessons learned and results from ACEs screening pilot sites

Laurie Udesky ·
For Dr. Mercie Digangi, a pediatrician at Kaiser Southern California in Downey, CA, ACEs screening provided a crystal clear before-and-after in how she changed treatment plans for her pediatric patients, she explained to attendees of a December 2 webinar organized by the National Pediatric Practice Community on ACEs (NPPC) and cosponsored by ACEs Connection. Dr. Mercie Digangi One case that turned ACEs screening into a never-go-back moment for her was a three-year-old who was speech-delayed.
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Re: Race Counts: San Mateo Data

Donielle Prince ·
It's so important to understand this demographic overview, as a baseline for change. I see so many ways that understanding ACEs and how to build resilience could begin to make a difference in these statistics.
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Becoming Upended: Teaching and Learning about Race and Racism with Young Children and Their Families [naeyc.org]

Mai Le ·
KIRSTEN COLE, DIANDRA VERWAYNE Young Children May 2018 Vol. 73, No. 2 At the beginning of the year in Ms. Verwayne’s kindergarten class, the children are working on an All About Me project. They begin by drawing pictures of themselves based on observations of their reflections in a mirror. Next, the teacher provides them with sentence starters asking them to describe their hair color and texture, their skin color, and their eye color. In this racially and ethnically diverse class, the...
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Modifying Silk Ring Theory for Allyship [medium.com]

Mai Le ·
Namira Islam Anani April 16, 2018 In early 2015, during my father’s battle with cancer, I came across this 2013 gem of an article by Susan Silk and Barry Goldman in the LA Times on “how not to say the wrong thing” to someone undergoing a medical crisis. They called it the “‘Ring Theory’ on kvetching” and mentioned that it’s applicable to many different forms of crises. The article is short and well-worth the read, but here’s the first of two excerpts I’m focusing on for this exercise in...
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It's Time to Move Beyond Buzzwords and Radically Re-imagine Schools [edweek.org]

Mai Le ·
"Woke" language is not a substitute for the deep work anti-racism requires By Jamilah Pitts June 16, 2020 Educators have to move beyond the buzzwords and trends circulating today if we are seeking to truly transform schools. The terms “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion” simply are not enough. And I fear now that the radicalism tied to anti-racist work is being watered down. Educational trendy buzzwords pave a destructive road for the commodification of otherwise transformative action.
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ACEs Aware Grantees By County

Donielle Prince ·
ACEs Connection will begin highlighting ACEs and Resilience initiatives by county. We're starting this effort off by listing the recent ACEs Aware grantees by county.
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How Can Local Government Address Systemic Racism? [governing.com]

Mai Le ·
Peniel Joseph, one of the nation’s leading civil rights scholars, has studied and written about the history of race and democracy. He has some ideas on how cities and urban areas can begin to dismantle racism. CARL SMITH, SENIOR STAFF WRITER | JULY 23, 2020 Peniel E. Joseph, Ph.D ., is the founder of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a joint professorship in the LBJ School of Public Affairs, as the Barbara Jordan Chair in Ethics and...
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The Resilient Beginnings Network Is Taking Grant Applications!

Diana Hembree ·
Interested SF Bay Area safety net organizations can apply for funding to participate in this three-year program on resilience and trauma-informed care.
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HOW LABELING BOOKS AS “DIVERSE” REINFORCES WHITE SUPREMACY [leeandlow.com]

Mai Le ·
In this guest post, librarian Alexandria Brown discusses the issues with labeling books as “diverse” and other ways we can build and promote a more equitable library collection. Every so often, the question of whether or not to add a spine label designating “diverse” books makes the rounds. Many condemn the practice, but lots of library staff persist in labeling. Like most diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues in librarianship, many of my colleagues are still operating within a white...
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Nonprofit and philanthropy and our bad habit of “both-siding” inequity and injustice [nonprofitaf.com]

Mai Le ·
Posted on August 31, 2020 by Vu Happy Monday, everyone, or as happy as it can be given that it’s 2020 and we’re all likely in a computer simulation run by a sadistic toddler. An announcement before we begin today’s serious post: The Community-Centric Fundraising (CCF) Slack community is growing and now has over 800 members. People are connecting to one another and starting to form local CCF groups across the world. So join , and I hope to see you there! Speaking of CCF , since the launch of...
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How Health Departments Can Address Police Violence As a Public Health Issue [humanimpact.org]

Mai Le ·
September 2020 The health impacts of policing and incarceration are well documented. On average, 1,000 people are killed by police in the US each year, with Black and Indigenous people being 2 to 3 times more likely to be killed by police than White people. Even in the absence of physical violence, stops by police — or the constant threat of stops by police — are associated with adverse mental health outcomes , including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, especially for...
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We Are Resilient brings practical, science-based resilience skills to healthcare providers and staff

Meri McCoy-Thompson ·
Dovetail Learning has launched its next round of We Are Resilient™ trainings. We Are Resilient is a practical hands-on approach to strengthening resilience , designed to aid screeners, healthcare providers, and staff to be more comfortable addressing ACEs and trauma and provide trauma-informed care. The training helps providers manage their own vicarious trauma and provides anticipatory guidance to support patients /caregivers in strengthening their own resilience skills. Training choices...
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PBS NewsHour Special: Invisible Scars on Childhood Trauma & How to Survive Starts Monday, Dec. 14th

Christine Cissy White ·
Some of us here at ACEs Connection were interviewed on film and/or on background and we are eager to watch this four-part series.
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Road Map for Ending Domestic Violence in California: A Life Course Approach to Prevention

Virginia Duplessis ·
Futures Without Violence (FUTURES) is excited to share A Road Map for Ending Domestic Violence in California: A Life Course Approach to Prevention with the ACEs Connection community. The Road Map , a policy paper supported by Blue Shield of California Foundation, draws upon our work at FUTURES as well as research and study on best practices for preventing violence. It presents four evidenced-based prevention and intervention strategies to prevent and end domestic violence in California:...
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Confronting Racism, Overcoming COVID-19, & Advancing Health Equity [calbudget.org]

Mai Le ·
February 2021 · By Adriana Ramos-Yamamoto and Monica Davalos The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the depths and reach of racism on the health of children, families, and individuals, with communities of color in California experiencing higher rates of illness, death, and overall hardship due to the virus. This devastation must be the catalyst for California policymakers to acknowledge that racism has caused lasting and negative impacts on communities of color. While some local policymakers...
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Resources for Teaching About Race and Racism With The New York Times [nytimes.com]

Mai Le ·
A curated collection of over 75 lesson plans, writing prompts, short films and graphs relating to racism and racial justice. By Nicole Daniels , Michael Gonchar and Natalie Proulx March 4, 2021 The summer of 2020 was not the first time that urgent conversations about race and racism were happening in homes, classrooms and workplaces. But the energy of the Black Lives Matter protests, believed by many to be the largest in U.S. history , was unparalleled. Though the demands and chants may have...
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Congress approves $1.9 trillion stimulus package, with “revolutionary” child poverty reduction provisions

The House of Representatives passed the Senate-amended version of the $1.9 trillion stimulus package—the American Rescue Plan ( H.R. 1319 )—on March 10, giving President Biden his first major legislative achievement. The phased-in increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025 was dropped prior to Senate consideration because the parliamentarian ruled it was not consistent with budget reconciliation rules. President Biden will address the nation on Thursday evening (8:00 ET) to mark the...
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New Resource: Strategies for Trauma-Informed School Communities

Elena Costa ·
The California Essentials for Childhood Initiative is excited to share a newly developed attached, “Strategies for Trauma-Informed School Communities: Practices to Improve Resiliency in School-Aged Children and Address Adverse Childhood Experiences”. This new resource is intended to assist state and local public health programs, child-serving systems, non-profits, and philanthropic organizations in their efforts to educate about the need for trauma-informed school policies and practices that...
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Resilience: Strengthening and Supporting California Families [calwic.org]

Natalie Audage ·
From California WIC Association, March 2021 At the Resilience Conference we will come together as cyber collaborators, teachers, and learners, finding our new normal, resilient as ever, continuing to Strengthen and Support California Families! Gather with us for CWA’s 29th Conference & Trade Show. Highlights: An interactive online experience over five convenient half and full days Topics areas: Begin Early to Nurture Child Heath (with a specific focus on nutrition and breastfeeding)...
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Childcare providers use two- generational approach to help preschoolers from being expelled

Laurie Udesky ·
It’s shocking: Preschoolers are three times more likely to be expelled than children in elementary, middle and high school, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Boys are four times more likely than girls to be kicked out, and African American children are twice as likely as Latinx and White children. One organization with childcare centers and mental health providers in Kentucky and Ohio began a long journey 15 years ago, when they began hearing about...
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Childcare providers use two- generational approach to help preschoolers from being expelled

Laurie Udesky ·
It’s shocking: Preschoolers are three times more likely to be expelled than children in elementary, middle and high school, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Boys are four times more likely than girls to be kicked out, and African American children are twice as likely as Latinx and White children. One organization with childcare centers and mental health providers in Kentucky and Ohio began a long journey 15 years ago, when they began hearing about...
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Upcoming Peer-to-Peer and Network of Care Events

Lorry Leigh Belhumeur ·
Western Youth Services is hosting various Peer-to-Peer and Network of Care Events for May and June 2021.
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Peer-led organization offers San Francisco's unhoused food, work, dignity and more

Laurie Udesky ·
He is sprawled out on the sidewalk, motionless, flushed cheeks framed by high cheekbones. He’s slender, probably in his mid-20s, his straight, coal black hair pulled back, and his orange t-shirt twisted up over his stomach. “He’s OD’ing on fentanyl!” shouts a guy holding a skateboard.
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How Childhood Traumas Influence Us Now

Susan Morris ·
IF WE CAN FACE OUR TRAUMAS, WE LESSEN THE RISK FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS, CHRONIC ILLNESS, AND MORE By Sue Morris We all enter the world a blank slate, free of thoughts and ideas. Who we eventually become is determined by the upbringing and experiences that fill that slate. We don’t get to choose who will raise us. We don’t control whether they’ll be caring and loving or distant and rejective. If you were born lucky, a home could be a pillar of strength. Supportive, safe, nurturing, and...
 
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