Blog

By Emma Lowe, Photo: elliskj/Pixabay, Next City, February 13, 2023 Regional Carrillo could walk to his last job in five minutes. In most places, it would be a pleasant commute. But in Phoenix, where summer days routinely top 110 degrees Fahrenheit (and can feel like 150), it’s far from a walk in the park — especially when there are no trees or shade along the way. “When people move to Arizona, they don’t think we have any climate crisis,” Carrillo, a school teacher, says. “No, we don’t have...

By Azeen Ghorayshi, Photo: Amber Bracken, The New York Times, February 13, 2023 Aidan’s tics erupted one day after school in early 2021, about a month after the long pandemic lockdown had ended. The 16-year-old convulsed while walking into the house, head snapping and arms swinging, sometimes letting out high-pitched whistles and whoops. Aidan’s parents looked up from the living room couch with alarm. They had been worried about the teenager’s ratcheting anxiety — related to Covid, gender...

By Erika Filter, National Press Foundation, January 24, 2023 Children who arrive in the U.S. with their families can experience multiple layers of challenges, including mental and emotional trauma, poverty, etc. Monica Romo, a senior program coordinator with the University of Texas at Austin’s Girasol program, trains the staffers of organizations that support immigrant families’ mental health. She explained what constitutes trauma, where it comes from, and how navigate it to The Future of...

By Donna St. George, Photo: Caitlin O’Hara/The Washington Post, The Washington Post, February 13, 2023 Teen girls across the United States are “engulfed in a growing wave of violence and trauma,” according to federal researchers who released data Monday showing increases in rape and sexual violence, as well as record levels of feeling sad or hopeless. Nearly 1 in 3 high school girls reported in 2021 that they seriously considered suicide — up nearly 60 percent from a decade ago — according...

Are you ready to transform your school to become a trauma-informed and healing-centered environment? Join us for the second annual PACEsConnection virtual Trauma-Informed School Leadership Institute. This institute is tailored explicitly for school leaders and leadership teams who want to understand the HOW of trauma-informed schools. Speakers will include current, and former building leaders engaged in the work and other national experts supporting schools through this transformation...

When caring adults are safe and available for children impacted by the disease of addiction, they bring them hope, support, and ultimately healing. COA Awareness Week breaks the silence that engulfs and traps kids and teens living with parental addiction and offers the chance for children at risk to become children of promise. We know that the trauma of this devastating adverse childhood experience (ACE) is so often accompanied by additional ACES such as child abuse and neglect. Join us...

By Joanna Cheek, Photo: Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press, The Toronto Star, February 4, 2023 On Jan. 28, 2020, Jennifer Kagan brought an emergency motion to court to suspend or supervise her ex-husband’s access to their four-year-old daughter, Keira. “I pleaded with judges that my ex-husband was abusive and dangerous,” the Ontario physician said. He had abducted their daughter, regularly breached court orders and was caught trying to deceive the court, she said. There were 53 court orders in...

By Thomas Dee, Photo: Sarah Blake Morgan/AP Photo, The Conversation, February 9, 2023 Student learning took a big hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. Just how much is only becoming clear nearly three years after the World Health Organization declared the pandemic and nearly all U.S. public schools pivoted to online instruction for at least several months in March 2020. However, the data guiding the nation’s efforts to help kids catch up does not generally include the students who experienced...

By Aimee Picchi, Image: Screenshot from article, CBS News, February 10, 2023 A "hunger cliff" is looming for millions of Americans, with 32 states set to slash food-stamp benefits beginning in March. The cuts will impact more than 30 million people who are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, in those states, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Among the states where recipients are facing cuts are California and Texas, which have greatest...

By Hannah Saunders, State of Reform, February 6, 2023 A new partnership will make mental telehealth services available to over one million students in K-12 public schools in Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), LA Care Health Plan, Health Net, and the LA County Department of Mental Health will use school-based telehealth company, Hazel Health , to provide free mental health support for students, creating shorter wait times to connect with qualified...

“This has been a really good talk on some of the variables related to/associated with the negative holistic health and wellness impacts of historical trauma upon BIPOC Communities. This a great intro-segue into the much larger dialogue of deconstructing and healing from ‘The Conditioning’ we all knowingly or unknowingly are experiencing. Thank you for your service,” remarked one attendant during PACEs Connections’ recent Historical Trauma in the American Northwest event. Facilitated by...

By Barbara J. King, Photo: Michael Probst/AP, National Public Radio, February 9, 2023 Climate activist Greta Thunberg who, at age 15, led school strikes every Friday in her home country of Sweden — a practice that caught on globally — has now, at 20, managed to bring together more than 100 scientists, environmental activists, journalists and writers to lay out exactly how and why it's clear that the climate crisis is happening. Impressively, in The Climate Book, Thunberg and team — which...