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Just beautiful. Check out the images and art! Mamas Day is a celebration of all mamas, everywhere! We know that mamahood is not one size fits all. But most popular images of mothers exclude mamas based on their sexual orientation, race, income, immigration status and more. And Mother’s Day, one of the biggest commercial holidays in the United States, often reinforces traditional ideas of family and motherhood that there's only one way to be a family. That's why we created "Mamas Day" in 2011...

There are many ways in which this artificial "Hallmark" holiday can be hard. There is a perception that everyone is celebrating, that everyone has a mother and that the mother we have (or had) was the image of perfection -- our mentor, our source of guidance, our rock, our stability. For many of us, that is or was not the mother we had. And, many of us tried to be better and different mothers ourselves -- sometimes with enormous success and sometimes with less positive outcomes. We had...

Frank Farry is a state representative in the 142nd Legislative District in Pennsylvania, as well as a volunteer firefighter. He created a crisis hotline to provide support for first responders. Courtesy Pennsylvania House of Representatives/Courtesy Pennsylvania House of Representatives The people who leap into action first during crises — police, firefighters and paramedics — have established hotlines in many places for fellow emergency workers who find that they need help too. One of the...

An article by Jocelyn Simonson - and a great way to celebrate mother's day. “Money kept them in. Black love got them out.” That is the slogan of Mama’s Bail Out Day , an effort of grass-roots organizations from across the country to bail out mothers and other caretakers who are sitting in jail simply because they cannot afford to pay bail. From Oakland, Calif., to Montgomery, Ala., to New York City, nearly two dozen organizations affiliated with public defenders, local Black Lives Matter...

This new resource from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network is hot off the presses! This Guide was developed for youth who have experienced—or know someone who has experienced—Complex Trauma. Older youth, adolescents, and young adults can explore the information in this Guide on their own to help them better understand Complex Trauma and the effects. Clinicians, caregivers, and other adults can also use the Guide to have conversations with youth about Complex Trauma and about the...

Drinking among U.S. high school students has plummeted in recent years, a new government report shows. High schoolers who say they drink dropped from about half of students in 1991 down to around one out of three in 2015, an analysis of data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals. Binge drinking also declined among high school students, from about 32 percent of all students in 1999 to about 18 percent in 2015, the report found. Binge drinking involves consuming five...

Earlier this year, we urged the Trump administration to continue federal investments in juvenile justice. In the last three decades, the field has benefited greatly from federal support of research, innovative programming and evidence-based approaches designed to improve outcomes for youth, families and communities. After co-hosting a national conference in April that explored how research is shaping youth policy and practice across the U.S., we are convinced more than ever that the wisest...

Understanding the primal period, from preconception through the first year of life is vital for anyone who works therapeutically with people, including infants, children, families or adults. The intensive includes doing many shorter exercises in triads, with hands on support, as well as cognitive learning, including handouts, videos and live teaching.

I read this article shared by the Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health Care. It's written by Murad Moosa Khan. To me, it's about the healing power of stories, sharing and truth-telling. It's about the power of witnessing. Donna Jackson Nakazawa writes beautifully about the healing power of listening, in general and in particular about being asked about ACEs. But still, there's so much fear about asking people about ACEs, hesitation and worry and anxiety about if or how to do so.

Principal Macquline King-Morris stepped out of the way of two lines of students heading to the Courtenay Language Arts Center gym. But the stream of elementary-school kids rerouted themselves to deliver hugs, high fives, and huge grins. Creating a pre-k-8 school where every student feels welcome is at the top of King-Morris’s list of priorities. With a student population that is 48 percent black, 35 percent Hispanic, 9 percent white, and 6 percent Asian, Courtenay is one of the most diverse...

Each night before “Greg” goes to bed he brushes and flosses his teeth. Then he double-checks the instructions on the dark brown bottle his nurse gave him before he unscrews the cap and tips five drops of a light-amber, oily liquid onto a spoon. The brew, glistening from the light of the bathroom fixture, is tasteless and has no odor he can detect. But it’s chock-full of bacteria. He sloshes the substance around in his mouth and swallows. Greg hopes that while he sleeps the foreign microbes...

This report from Child Trends and the National Center for Children in Poverty includes a review of the prevalence of early childhood trauma and its effects. The report offers promising strategies for child care and preschool programs looking to help young children who have endured trauma, and presents recommendations for policymakers to support trauma-informed early care. [For more of this story go to https://www.childtrends.org/publications/ecetrauma/]