Latchkey Urchins are kids who grew up unsupervised or without attentive emotional care. Latchkey Urchins & Friends Podcast delves into trauma and childhood emotional neglect topics weekly through survivor and expert interviews. We bring a touch of humor to these normally heavy topics—laughing about life's never-ending struggles, even as we quest to create a future free from violence.
In this week's episode, cohosts Anne and Alison (me!) interview @Adrian Alexander and @Juleus Ghunta, community managers of the ACEs Caribbean Community, raising awareness of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and promoting Protective Factors, Positive Experiences, Hope, and Resilience throughout the Caribbean. They are working to inform and transform their region to see more empowered, trauma-informed, and resilient people, families, communities, organisations, and nations. Adrian and Juleus share about their trauma-informed anti-violence work in the Caribbean, including healing the wounds of boy children, who often are overlooked when we focus on gender-based violence. Juleus shares an excerpt from his recent book and poetry so good that it will capture even those who are thinking “I’m just not into poetry.”
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We are also celebrating the release this year of Juleus' latest children's book, Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows: A Story about ACEs and Hope.
Juleus Ghunta is a Chevening Scholar, children’s writer, a member of Jamaica’s National Task Force on Character Education, and an advocate in the Caribbean’s Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) movement. Ghunta holds a BA in Media from The University of the West Indies, Mona, and an MA in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford, UK. His work explores the links between toxic stress and academic underachievement, and the varied effects of false positivity and emotional invalidation on the choices and hopes of survivors of complex trauma. His poems and essays on ACEs have appeared in 30+ journals across 16 countries. His picture book, Tata and the Big Bad Bull, was published by CaribbeanReads in 2018, and he is the co-editor of the December 2019 and March 2020 issues of Interviewing the Caribbean (The UWI Press), focused on children’s literature and ACEs in the Caribbean. He is also the co-editor of a special issue of PREE magazine on ACEs and storytelling (Dec. 2021). Ghunta’s new book, Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows: A Story About ACEs and Hope, was published by CaribbeanReads on December 31, 2021. His Notebook of Words and Ideas, which features prominently in Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows, will be published by Dreamright in 2022.
Adrian Alexander, ACEs movement community leader based in Trinidad and Tobago.
“I came across information about ACEs while researching the effects and causes of Trauma. I was drawn to it when I realised that ACEs and resilience science can help persons to understand and overcome trauma experienced in childhood. This is a game changer for those of us who work with persons in conflict with the law and those who are survivors of abuse and crime. Moreover, it instils Hope that we can prevent childhood trauma by empowering families to better protect youth from adverse experiences.”
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Reactions to this episode from our listeners so far:
- "That is the best poem I have ever heard."
- "These poems are giving me chills."
- "Thank you so much!!
Growing up and living in Australia, I have never heard the subject of healing the wounds of boy children addressed in relation to gender based violence. I feel heard." - 🤯
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