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An animated short film released in 2016 that is 68 minutes in length and deals with childhood trauma. The main character, Icare (French for Icarus), who is nicknamed Zucchini by his single, alcoholic, abusive mother, accidentally causes her death and becomes an orphan who is sent to live in a foster home with other troubled children. The movie allows these children to express their feelings of pure loss and trauma, their loneliness and isolation from their families, and their attempts to...

Last week Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy and first lady Cathy Malloy hosted a two-day conference called “Reimagining Justice” that invited people from around the country to explore the impact of crime and mass incarceration. As someone who works on juvenile justice reform in Connecticut, I was delighted to see the Malloys’ leadership on these issues. But I was also torn. As the conference started there was a March for Justice in Hartford, just a short way from the convention center where all...

The 2017 Resilience Summit is available. View it HERE Student Resilience Track Highlights: • Promoting Resilience in Children in the Aftermath of School Crisis • Trauma Informed Strategies for ACE’s • Strategies to Integrate and Align Systems of Care to Promote Child Wellbeing • Supporting the holistic behavioral and mental health needs of students • Response and Recovery from Community Tragedy • A Systems Approach for School-Based Trauma Interventions • Genetic and Environmental Resilience...

For the last four years I’ve been teaching in what the Post-Dispatch recently called one of Missouri’s “worst-performing schools.” Mike Petrilli from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute was quoted as saying that “if you have schools that are broken forever or are dysfunctional, or are part of a dysfunctional school system, I’m just skeptical that sending a little money is going to bring the kind of change states need.” I disagree. Anyone can see that public allocations combined with private...

Not every child looks forward to summer vacation the same way that their peers do. Not every child counts down those last few minutes until the final school bell rings for the year. While the majority of their peers are looking forward to a summer of grilling out, family vacations, and lazy afternoons by the pool – the abused child leaves school knowing that the next three months of their life are going to be anything but fun and relaxing. [For more of this story, written by Sarah Burleton,...

Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams wants to be her state’s first Democratic governor in over a decade. Thus far, the gubernatorial candidate, who moonlights as a romance novelist, has dedicated her time in political office to increasing voter turnout in the state. Abrams created the voter-registration nonprofit New Georgia Project . (In 2014, the organization faced allegations of voter fraud leveled by Abrams’ opponent. The investigation technically remains open but has not resulted...

KATHMANDU: We have a tendency to continuously drift between the present and the past. Rarely do we live for the present, without really regretting the past or being anxious about the future. Similarly, qualities of our lives are dependent upon external variables. For instance, if something does not go according to our plan or goes haywire, we get disturbed inside and shelter negative emotions that impact the lives, sapping our energy in the process. The grind of day-to-day life takes a toll,...

Most nights , Ana Rodriguez wakes up in a panic; she consistently dreams U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are knocking on her door. As an undocumented immigrant who was brought to the U.S. as a child, Rodriguez has spent the last several months constantly battling fear and anxiety about her future as federal immigration policies have shifted under President Trump’s administration. She worries about running into ICE officers, who could question her immigration status...

Nearly 20 years ago, the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study changed how we understand trauma’s effect on children. It analyzed the cumulative and long-term impact of abuse and trauma suffered during childhood. The ACE Study inspired countless studies, intervention innovations, training and program assessments aimed at helping our kids be healthy, safe and successful. [For more of this story, written by Tami Silverman, go to ...

More than two-thirds of incarcerated women in America reported having a history of mental health problems — a far higher percentage than their male counterparts, according to a study released Thursday by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Although the prevalence of mental health disorders among people in prisons and jails is a well-known problem, the dramatic gender disparity exposed in the new report has been less discussed. [For more of this story, written by Manuel Villa, go to ...

NTHP is for when there is conflict between who we truly are and who we have become. We all have them; negative patterns that creep into our lives that prevent us from realizing our full potential. It could be anything from a chronic condition; an addiction, or simply failing to live the joyful life we know we are capable of. This shows us we are somehow out of alignment with our authentic self. The Neuro Trauma Healing Process is a person centered process that allows direct contact with the...

When the horrors of child maltreatment, torture, sexual abuse, or starvation strike our community, we tend to quickly look for someone to blame. The recent deaths of two 16-year-old girls in Central Iowa, Natalie Finn and Sabrina Ray, underscore the value each of us has in weaving a safety net that strengthens families and protects Iowa kids. We all have a role to play in the development of our children. This includes becoming involved in situations where children’s well-being is or can be...