Blog

Parenting a child with emotional disturbance or another mental health issue, being a foster parent, and adopting a child from a trauma background... all of these can seem like living in tornado alley! (view the video and you'll understand the reference!) I am so thankful for my friendship and partnership in mission with ML Rutherford, our Residential Operations Manager in Helena, Montana. A while back we sat down and talked heart-to-heart about the difficulties that face parents and care...

The Arkansas Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resilience Workgroup partnered with the University of Arkansas - Little Rock Master of Public Administration's (MPA) spring 2018 capstone class to conduct research and analysis to help guide the workgroup's strategic planning process. Several members of ACEs Connection graciously agreed to be interviewed by the students. We want to say thank you to everyone from ACEs Connection who lent their experience and insight for this project. The class of...

Editor's note: Our publisher Leonard Witt is doing an Ask Me Anything today at 11 a.m. ET . Tune in on Reddit NEW YORK — After it happened, the beating, the arrest, the sudden violence on the way to school, the high school sophomore wasn’t the same. She was afraid to leave school alone. Whenever she saw a police officer on the street she felt panicky. She would call her mother, who would try her best to calm her down. She avoided the spot where it happened, taking the long way to school. She...

Jane Guttman’s “ Kids in Jail: A Portrait of Life Without Mercy ” gives poetic voice to children who are trapped in the catacombs of society with little hope of resurrection. It is a gut-wrenching, graceful and dignified look at lives that are painfully scarred by conditions and circumstances that were preordained out of neglect, abuse, poverty, chance or a combination of all these elements. It is not a light or easy read, but a necessary read. I had to put the book down on several occasions...

"For the last 14 years I had been a stay at home mom and a soccer mom of three kids," says Lori Alhadeff. "On Valentine's Day my daughter was brutally shot down and murdered and I became a school safety activist." That day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, when a 19-year-old former student killed Alyssa Alhadeff and 16 other people, changed many lives. And it pushed the question of school safety once again to the front and center. [For more on this story by ANYA KAMENETZ, go to...

ACEs, Adversity's Impact Mother's attitude to baby during pregnancy may have implications for child's development Video: Weight gain and trauma: Is there a connection? with Emily Rosen Parents’ scars from childhood trauma can affect their kids’ health, researchers find How childhood trauma contributes to skyrocketing suicide rates Social rejection is painful and can lead to violence Study on social interactions could improve understanding of mental health risks To prevent trauma in our...

Since first hearing about trauma-informed care in 2014, and then setting out on a journey to bring this education to my community, I’m constantly amazed at how this message is being embraced in Johnson City, Tennessee. After partnering with Dr. Andi Clements from the East Tennessee State University Psychology Department, in a little over 2 years we have trained over 2,500 professionals! This growing number of passionate advocates includes staff within the public schools, the state...

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can have extraordinarily damaging impacts on a growing child. The National Association for Children of Addiction (NACoA) has a keen understanding of such childhood impacts based on 35 years of work with children who have suffered from parental addiction, and our grounding in a growing body of research related to childhood trauma. NACoA’s Board of Directors and staff are populated with experts from a variety of health, legal, and allied professions...

The Greater Bay Area Child Abuse Prevention Council Coalition www.bayareapreventchildabuse.org June 21, 2018 IT IS CHILD ABUSE, NOT IMMIGRATION POLICY The systemic separation of children from their families is government sanctioned child abuse. As we first learned about the immigration policy being enacted on our southern border, we were concerned. Because we can no longer stand by, we must add our voices to the doctors, clergy, parents, and Americans who are outraged at these actions. On...

The fact that rural, economically disadvantaged parts of the country broke heavily for the Republican candidate in the 2016 election is well known. But Medicare data indicate that voters in areas that went for Trump weren't just hurting economically — many of them were receiving prescriptions for opioid painkillers. The findings were published Friday in the medical journal JAMA Network Open.Researchers found a geographic relationship between support for Trump and prescriptions for opioid...

“Maya Angelou’s book, ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ was definitely that pivotal moment for me,” Sharrica said. “I think about how she responded to the tragedy in her life by turning in. It was profound to me because when you don’t have anything or anybody else – you can turn in.” How does one find peace within themselves? There is a lot of discussion right now about mindful meditation, communing with nature and that old standby, the power of positive thinking. But sometimes it’s hard to...

The Trump administration is making good on a pledge to remap the entire executive branch, announcing a sweeping plan on Thursday that would reorder federal agencies. A draft proposal that circulated widely this week would eliminate some cabinet-level agencies and consolidate others, privatize the nation’s mortgage securities market, and introduce a new federal agency with the word “welfare” in its name. The White House’s plans are so broad—and the changes to public assistance programs so...