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For two hours, the guest speaker talked about various traumas children may experience and how they can impact a person for the rest of his or her life. But Allison Sampson–Jackson also shared a message of hope. She stressed that those who have been abused or neglected—or have seen loved ones put in jail or struggle with substance abuse and mental health issues—can develop skills to retrain the way the brain responds. Those traumatized don’t have to face higher incidences of suicide or poor...

Ohio, a state where 4,329 people died of drug overdoses in 2016 , a death rate second only to neighboring West Virginia, is taking the fight against the opioid epidemic into the classroom with a new style of drug-abuse-prevention education. Ohio’s plan, controversial in a state that prizes local control over schools, features lessons that begin in kindergarten. Instead of relying on scare tactics about drug use or campaigns that recite facts about drugs’ toll on the body, teachers are...

As the judge climbed the watchtower stairs in Pelican Bay prison, he heard muffled gunshots below. When he reached the top, he looked into the prison yard and saw bodies lying in the dirt. One was his law clerk, spreadeagled on the ground in his suit, alongside dozens of inmates. Guards stood over them, guns aimed. “My clerk was thinking he’s gonna die and this is his last day on earth,” Judge Thelton Henderson recalled. What appeared to be the taming of a riot was actually an audacious...

For almost 40 years, the rate at which Americans have started new businesses has been in a steady decline. This is bad news, since new firms drive the high-wage jobs and market competition that our economy desperately needs. Racial and socioeconomic disparities in business ownership further stifle entrepreneurship and threaten the long-term economic health of our cities and our economy. But a silver lining may have come in one of the most unexpected of places: the Trump administration’s tax...

The rate of maternal mortality in the United States, already higher than in other wealthy countries, has risen by more than half since 1990. The grim increase is largely because of alarmingly high rates among black women, who nationally are three times as likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth as white women. In New York City, the numbers are even more staggering. Black women here are 12 times as likely to die from childbirth-related causes as white women. They experience severe,...

April 5th began in the usual way at the Southeastern Provision meat-processing plant, in Bean Station, Tennessee—some workers were breaking down carcasses on the production line, while others cleaned the floors—until, around 9 a.m., a helicopter began circling above the plant. Moments later, a fleet of cars pulled up outside. Agents from the I.R.S., Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ice), and the Tennessee Highway Patrol emerged, and proceeded to arrest ninety-seven people, most of them...

In 2016, a greater percentage of babies were born at low birthweight in Jackson County, Colorado, than anywhere else in the country. That might not seem like such a big deal these days, with modern technology powerful enough to nurse babies who are born months premature back to health. But according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s annual County Health Rankings Report, we should think twice before dismissing the importance of underweight babies. Indeed, the 2018 Key Findings Report...

Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley has worked in the DA's office for over thirty years. She is nationally known for her revolutionary work on behalf of Domestic Violence survivors, and for sexually exploited people, especially children. In this conversation, Nancy speaks candidly about the motivations for her work, how she practices self care and her commitment to learning from victims and survivors.

Melaragno: In the chapter “Healing from Trauma, Owning Yourself,” you cover six important ways to connect with what is going on inside oneself: managing hyper-arousal, mindfulness, relationships, communal rhythms and synchrony, touch, and taking action. van der Kolk: Well, let’s start with the fact that we are collective creatures. We don’t exist as individuals. Our brain is meant to be in synchrony with other brains. Interaction with other brains fundamentally shapes who we are. When we...

Thought I'd let folk in the southern part of the world know about this up and coming conference, in case you haven't come across it. I went to the 2016 conference and it was amazing. A blend of trauma informed practice, neuroscience and indigenous wisdom. "The theme of the 2018 International Childhood Conference , Trust, Love and Betrayal is at the core of the experience of childhood trauma and ultimately the relationships which can offer safety, hope and resolution. 18 internationally...

The one place I hate going most is where the sexual abuse I experienced continues to be played out time and time again; a doctor's exam table. There isn't a memory I have where the appointment wasn't invasive or traumatizing. I think the first being from around the age of three. I was completely naked with my legs spread-eagle on a gurney as a nurse inserted her gloved finger into me. A few years later my already prevalent freeze response left me defenseless from a male doctor who lifted the...

[Editor's note: This message is from Jenny Nulf, educational and marketing outreach coordinator with TUGG, which distributes Resilience and Paper Tigers.] We are so humbled that Oprah recently spoke on 60 Minutes about ACEs and trauma informed care, divulging how vital it is to understand and treat children with it. Speaking with Tim Grove and Dr. Bruce Perry, as well as victims of ACEs, Oprah succinctly informed about one of the most important and personal topics she's ever covered, calling...