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The kids noticed, discussed and laughed as I tried many silly warm welcomes, so they can lead their own warm welcome to the children who would be arriving later. They named the workshop, made a workshop outline, making sure to ask about allergies (used Sunflower seed butter instead of nut butters). We smelled, and tasted everything both separately and together to notice flavor combinations and our preferences. # cyouthlead # sbtilp . # fjmyers # judynelson # mindfultrauma -informed #...

The Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs) Survey has been used across the country, and to nobody’s surprise, we find significant parts of the population likely suffering some sort of trauma after enduring one or more adverse childhood experiences. If you stood in front of a kindergarten classroom, you could estimate that every fourth child--more than a quarter of the students (and their parents)--could endure at least one adverse childhood experience which means living in households where...

You thought you were “over it.” Then you had your kids and you were reliving your childhood abuse through flashbacks and panic attacks. You are not alone and healing is possible.

Did you know that kids growing up in poverty hear 30 million fewer words by age 3? Chances are, if you're the type of person who reads a newspaper or listens to NPR, you've heard that statistic before . Since 1992, this finding has, with unusual power, shaped the way educators, parents and policymakers think about educating poor children. But did you know that the number comes from just one study, begun almost 40 years ago, with just 42 families? That some people argue it contained a...

HOUSTON — For years, she slept with a gun under her pillow, living in fear of a boyfriend who beat her, controlled her life and threatened to kill her and her children. Domenica, who came to this country illegally from Mexico in 1995 and became part of the booming immigrant community in Houston, said her partner was a United States citizen, and often reminded her that she could be deported if she went to the police. “He told me nobody would help me, because I don’t have papers,” said...

I have spent countless nights like this, lying awake, anticipating life, trying to escape imprisonment through my mind’s eye. I imagine the things I will do once I’m free. Flashes of me laughing with family and friends at a cookout or enjoying the company of a beautiful woman play out in my mind like a silent movie. I remember the images, so different from these, that swam through my mind on my first night in prison. Hopelessness describes it best. Sorrow, self-pity, and regret stood in the...

Two mayors deliver their annual state of the city addresses. They both acknowledge imperfect crime records and tout their hiring of police officers. They both prioritize revitalizing their streets. And they both talk about increasing the density of core neighborhoods. Put them in a room together, and they agree about most things. But there’s one topic they frame very differently: Their relationship with their colleagues in state and federal government. “We are living in interesting times,”...

The notion of a deep divide between thriving, affluent, and progressive urban areas and declining, impoverished, and conservative rural areas has become a central trope—if not the central trope—in American culture, especially since Donald Trump was elected. But not all of rural America is in decline. In fact, significant parts of it are thriving, while others have economies in transition. Understanding these distinctions is crucial to understanding the places that truly are in decline.

Public health campaigns have proved a rare double success in American health care over the decades: They have drastically increased life spans, and often paid for themselves. Given that, it’s surprising that spending on public health today is so low, Aaron Carroll and Austin Frakt recently wrote in The Upshot. They are planning a follow-up article, consulting experts on which public health interventions would get the most bang for the buck in this era. But first we asked readers which health...

OK, so you've just left the hospital with your newborn baby. You're relieved, because the baby is healthy, your heart overflows with love and you're excited to begin this new chapter in your life. Then, most parents will tell you, on the way home a strange feeling sets in. It's as if you went to sleep in one world and woke up in another, a world that seems familiar but slightly off-key. As you gaze into the eyes of this fragile new being, it hits you: "What have I done?" And, more...

PTSD: Why Does It Happen? How Survivors Can Heal A traumatic event is something no one is prepared to deal with. You may feel your mind and body are in a state of shock from the experience. You may have nightmares, feel jumpy, or find yourself re-playing the event in your mind. You may even feel disconnected from the world around you. What happened was traumatic, and any person would feel shaken up. This is natural and human. For people who have enough resilience, the intense state of alarm...

In our book Anna, Age Eight, we ask readers to be courageous and reflect on a challenging reality. "Far away from you, on the other side of town, or the other side of the tracks, children live out perfectly miserable lives. If you’re a social worker, of course, this is what you face every day. If, on the other hand, you are like the rest of the American public, you take notice once in a while, perhaps engaging in a bit of head shaking. But for the most part, these boys and girls are out of...