Tagged With "Handle With Care"

TRENTON – Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and Interim Education Commissioner Kevin Dehmer today announced a new Statewide “Handle With Care” Program to support schoolchildren throughout New Jersey who have experienced traumatic events in their lives. “Handle With Care” (HWC) is designed to promote partnerships between law enforcement and schools to help provide a safe and supportive academic environment for children exposed to traumatic events known as “adverse childhood experiences,” or...

Responding to a surge in student anxiety and depression — exacerbated by the pandemic — a state commission has called for California schools to move quickly to become “wellness centers” addressing mental and physical health needs among K-12 students and their families. Through agreements with nonprofits and government health agencies, schools would offer psychological services, basic medical care and other services to help families navigate trauma and other challenges, according to a...

What are ACEs? ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm children's developing brains so profoundly that the effects show up decades later; they cause much of chronic disease, most mental illness, and are at the root of most violence. ...

Every Monday and Thursday since the pandemic started in March I do a video "Mental Health Check-In" on Facebook Live. The goal is to increase mental health literacy and to end the stigma of discussing mental illness. Additionally, I'd like for us to move away from the term "mental illness" and towards trauma-informed language in which we understand that illness of the mind, body, and spirit are deeply intertwined with the physical and emotional experiences—not just events we remember—but the...

By Susan K. Livio | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com For nearly 10 months, police officers, firefighters and medical professionals have reported to work risking exposure to the coronavirus, enduring the emotional toll of witnessing so much suffering. To meet the unique needs of first responders and health care workers, the state Department of Human Services and Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care announced this week it will operate helplines staffed by crisis counselors. Law enforcement...

A survey across 25 states reported that about 61% of adults had experienced at least one type of adverse childhood experience (ACE) (1) . Exposure to ACEs can have lasting and adverse effects on health, well-being, and opportunity. ACEs can increase the risks of injury, transmitted infections, maternal and child health problems, and leading causes of death, like heart diseases, diabetes, and suicide. ACEs and associated conditions can also cause toxic stress, altering an individual’s brain...

As California’s new program to screen Medi-Cal patients for adverse childhood experiences (which are termed “ACEs”) gets underway, experts at UC San Francisco are trying to ensure that the adults and children who report trauma get the help they need. Experts now believe it’s most effective to treat the whole family when traumas occur. But any successful program would need to overcome fragmented payment systems, which usually dictate separate and poorly coordinated care for children and...

Chronic diseases are common among African Americans, but the extent to which research has focused on addressing chronic diseases across multiple members of African American families is unclear. This systematic scoping review summarizes the characteristics of research addressing coexisting chronic conditions among African American families, including guiding theories, conditions studied, types of relationships, study outcomes, and intervention research.

By Justina Schlund and Amanda Fitzgerald Stress is nothing new to school counselors . But as they continue to shoulder the tremendous responsibility of helping young people heal from the momentous events of the past year and ongoing traumas, education leaders need to renew a focus on school counselors’ well-being. Although nearly all educators are experiencing heightened stress and anxiety, school counselors are often the first ones called in to help address crises and traumatic experiences.

Growing up with trauma inextricably linked to racism in southern Illinois, working as a state employee in Minnesota, training folks about ACEs and diversity and equity in several states—these are just a few of the life experiences Dave Ellis brings to the work he is now doing as Executive Director of the New Jersey Office of Resilience. Seven months ago Ellis took the job to head the Office of Resilience with the assurance that there would be a deep and meaningful focus on community...

School counselors are “shouldering the tremendous responsibility of helping young people heal from the momentous events of the past year and ongoing traumas,” write Justina Schlund and Amanda Fitzgerald for ASCD’s In Service blog , and school leaders, they say, should prioritize counselors’ wellbeing. But there’s no doubt that the stress of this disrupted school year is impacting all educators, and even under more normal circumstances, teachers are besieged by stressful, taxing conditions...

When parents take their children to a pediatrician for a wellness check, they expect to get reports on their children’s healthy development—if they’re growing properly, eating and sleeping well, or in need of vaccines. They probably don’t expect to get a prescription for kindness. But at Senders Pediatrics, a private practice in Cleveland, Ohio, and one of the Greater Good Science Center’s 16 Parenting Initiative grantees, this is exactly what parents are getting. The clinic’s parent...

When we imagine a caregiver, we often picture a woman: a mother caring for young children, spouse, and the daily household chores, a daughter nursing a father with disabilities, or a female child care provider. Historically, women have been expected to serve as primary providers of “caretaking” work, whether it’s parenting or caring for an aging family member or paid work in positions typically associated with women such as child-care providers, nurses, or health aide. Alternativley, men are...

On behalf of the mental health and substance use treatment organizations we support across the country, we are proud to recognize Mental Health Month in May and support behavioral health care all year long. We hope these resources will help you now and in the future! Mental Health Facts & Figures Here are some data points you can use to speak to the scope of mental health: 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year. 1 in 20 U.S. adults experience serious mental illness each...

As we head into our full CRC curriculum this January, we invite current and future CRC Accelerator participants to join us with collective care and self care in mind.

Nationally recognized days of awareness remind us of important civil and human rights movements led by Black and African-American communities and social justice advocates. February puts leadership, education, access, justice, policy, and governance under the spotlight. Through a PACEs science lens, this month is an opportunity to consider trauma-informed transformation through a PACEs science lens as the way forward.