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When we feel bad, we often turn to others for help and support. And when others come to us in pain, we do our best to help them feel better. This natural cycle seems to be part of the human experience. Now, two new studies suggest that trying to make people feel better not only supports them—it allows us to practice emotional skills that may help us with our own problems. While negative emotions feel isolating and personal, the best way to deal with them may be profoundly social. Both...

A recent and excellent article in the New York Times observes the powerful interaction between a service member who suffers trauma and the service dog who provides empathy and can even sense tension and anger before outsiders (and perhaps even the handler) can. The article appears at: https://nyti.ms/2sDCprx and is aptly titled "The Empathetic Dog." In a comment I posted on the NYTimes cite, I observed that many children who have high ACEs experience anger and stress and anxiety and have no...

This 30-minute presentation by State of Alaska epidemiologist Dr. Jared Parrish provides a unique “big picture” image of cumulative child maltreatment over the life course.

Panel on national policy implications (l to r) Dr. Garth Graham, president, Aetna Foundation; Wendy Ellis, project director, Building Community Resilience Collaborative, GWU; Stuart M. Butler, The Brookings Institution ____________________________________________________________ After decades of working at the national level on health and mental policy in Washington, DC, I find myself looking for ways to get involved locally—the closer to home the better, and the more tangible the work, the...

Monkeys were taught in an experiment to hand over pebbles in exchange for cucumber slices. They were happy with this deal. Then the researcher randomly offered one monkey — in sight of a second — an even better deal: a grape for a pebble. Monkeys love grapes, so this fellow was thrilled. The researcher then returned to the second monkey, but presented just a cucumber for the pebble. Now, this offer was insulting. In some cases the monkey would throw the cucumber back at the primatologist in...

You should get some exercise, eat healthy, and sleep enough. You should be supportive of your friends. You should do what you’re passionate about. We’ve all gotten such well-meaning advice, and it’s good advice. But there’s one problem: People rarely tell us how to achieve these worthy goals. Luckily, there is a new book that gives you the “how,” and will help you not just survive, but thrive. U Thrive: How to Succeed in College (and Life) by Daniel Lerner and Alan Schlechter—two New York...

It’s impossible to discuss reducing incarceration without acknowledging that the bulk of imprisonment happens in local jails. Federal penitentiary rates have dropped since peaking in 2009—though, under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, that may soon change . State prison rates have come down “modestly” overall, reports the Sentencing Project , and some states can boast double-digit decreases since the turn of the century. City and county jails, meanwhile, have been bloating. Roughly two-thirds...

On a Tuesday in late May, Antonio Franklin sits in a makeshift classroom in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood, ten years to the day after he stepped foot inside Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk to serve nine years for aggravated assault against a cop. Pencil in hand, he looks on as instructor Ismail Abdurrashid fills a whiteboard with algebra equations. A year ago, Franklin left prison. Now, at 31, he’s brushing up on high-school-level math with about a dozen other...

Low-income public housing providers are tasked with the responsibility to foster communities where people who have experienced tremendous adversity and poverty can find stability, healing, and opportunity to build a future for themselves and their families. My work in public housing is as a Resident Services Coordinator where I meet with new residents who, while on our nine year waitlist, are likely to have experienced multiple periods of homelessness. New residents, having finally gotten...

Missy Hart grew up in Redwood City, Calif. — in gangs, on the street, in the foster care system and in institutions. "Where I'm from," the 26-year-old says, "you're constantly in alert mode, like fight or flight." But at age 13, when she was incarcerated in juvenile hall for using marijuana, she found herself closing her eyes and letting her guard down in a room full of rival gang members. Back then, she says, yoga was just another mandatory activity, run by a Bay Area program called The Art...

In order to create a long lasting impact, Equity for Common Good in Eastern Oregon created a practical, yet transformational, plan to advance equity by meeting communities where they are and allowing them to set the pace. The very intent of this project is to allow local communities do their own their work in advancing equity. Often in rural, remote, and isolated communities, people feel pressured from outside organizations to take on initiatives that are not their own. After in-depth...

Hi all, I am a new member of ACEs Connection and wanted to share my Master's Thesis, should you be interested. My paper moves from a review of the ACE study and related research that centralizes childhood trauma's negative lifelong physical and mental health effects for many people, to a comparative study of CBT vs. attachment-informed, somatic treatments for these symptoms. The abstract is copied below and the paper is attached. Please feel free to take a look, and to contact me should you...