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In 2012, following more than a decade of significant decline, the number of American children in foster care began rising. Between 2012 and 2016, the number of children in foster care nationally has increased by more than 10 percent. There is broad agreement that the ongoing opioid epidemic has been a primary contributor to those increases. Now, a recent research brief issued by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and...

“In Kenya they have a greeting , and that greeting is, ‘How are the children?’’’ said Pastor Patricia Sealy during a panel on day one of the inaugural National Children of Incarcerated Parents conference in Phoenix. If the children are well, then all is well, Seely explained. For those at the conference, the concern is that the children could be well if the American criminal justice system made efforts to be family focused. Attracting around 300 attendees from all over the U.S. and a handful...

Would you describe yourself as a compassionate person? Even if you don’t necessarily see yourself that way, I bet you’re compassionate at least some of the time (e.g., when you’re well-rested and not in a hurry), or with certain people in your life (e.g., with your closest friends). Compassion can be thought of as a mental state or an orientation towards suffering (your own or others’) that includes four components : Bringing attention or awareness to recognizing that there is suffering...

Sound, music and guided imagery have played an important role in my healing. I honestly don’t think healing would have happened in the absence of sound therapy. I have been taking doses of healing sounds in the morning, afternoon, evening and night.

For many children, the transition to a traditional elementary school setting, whether it be from home or a pre-school environment, represents a radical discontinuity - not just in terms of their physical environment, but on multiple levels, including values, behavioral and learning expectations, teacher attitudes, emotional support, etc. What if, in line with the latest neuroscientific discoveries about brain maturation, we were to re-envision early childhood education as commencing at birth...

Register Today! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trauma-informed-schools-mini-conference-20-things-kids-with-trauma-wish-their-teachers-knew-tickets-45485378993 A full program description with registration link is attached. :)Melissa

When Paul Kugelman was a kid, he had no shortage of friends. But as he grew older and entered middle age, his social world narrowed. "It was a very lonely time. I did go to work and I did have interactions at work, and I cherished those," he says. "But you know, at the end of the day it was just me." Kugelman's story isn't unusual: researchers say it can be difficult for men to hold on to friendships as they age. And the problem may begin in adolescence. New York University psychology...

The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee unanimously approved The Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 Act on April 24. Significant provisions were included from the Heitkamp-Durbin Trauma-Informed Care for Children and Families Act (S. 774), including creation of a task force on trauma, and grants for trauma-informed schools.

On April 21-22 nd , a group of about 60 representatives of tribes, non-profit organizations, reservation schools, and others gathered at the Wellington Ranch, a lovely oasis in the middle of the Gila River Reservation in Arizona, to discuss and experience traditional and western practices for healing historical and childhood trauma. The agenda nourished both the brain and the spiritual side, the combination that is needed in order to combat historical and childhood trauma that pervades so...

Many years ago, I found a dead body. It was a man I had been dating for a few months, who had turned out to have even more problems than I knew when I met him. He showed up at my house high on something one night and I made him leave. I told him we could talk about it in the morning and locked the door, unplugged the phone, went to sleep. In the morning I stopped by his apartment as promised. The door was unlocked so I went in and found him, face down. As I write this, my heart is pounding,...

When caregivers are better informed about trauma their clients have experienced, they can create better outcomes for their clients. Representatives from organizations around the Panhandle attended a workshop on Friday to learn more about trauma informed care and the positive impacts it can create. Through lectures, videos and group work, participants got an understanding of how trauma affects the developing brain. [For more on this story by IRENE NORTH, go to...

For the past 18 months, many political scientists have been seized by one question: Less-educated whites were President Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters. But why, exactly? Was their vote some sort of cri de coeur about a changing economy that had left them behind ? Or was the motivating sentiment something more complex and, frankly, something harder for policy makers to address? After analyzing in-depth survey data from 2012 and 2016, the University of Pennsylvania political scientist...