Blog

When you’re the parent of young children, the park can become the center of your universe. It’s your outing for the day, your escape from the inevitable mess of your home, where you’re still figuring out how to keep all the new kid-induced laundry clean and toys out from underfoot. It’s a chance for social interaction with other parents and a pocket of time to just sit and breathe in the fresh air, or maybe push your son on the swing or climb on the monkey bars with your daughter. And those...

This special series focuses on important community issues, innovative solutions to societal challenges, and people and non-profit groups making an impact through technology. Pull up the Facing Homelessness page on Facebook and you might learn that Eric and Michelle have been living out of RVs for two years, and Michelle has a brain tumor. Or that Steve went to Garfield High School in Seattle and became homeless five years ago after a divorce. He’s trying to get a truck driving license, and...

A new pilot study suggests that group art therapy may significantly help improve the mental health of refugee children. The research is published in the journalVulnerable Children and Youth Studies. The findings show that approximately one week after participating in the art program, refugee children experienced notable improvements in trauma, depression , and trait- anxiety symptoms (general tendency to be anxious). Previous research has consistently shown that refugee children are at high...

In fact, between Oregon, Paris, and San Bernadino, it’s time to add how to talk about gun violence to our parenting repertoire. I don’t claim to have all the answers—no one does, but here are eight tips to answer kids’ tough questions. A couple of weeks ago, my 7-year-old had an anonymous threat of gun violence directed at his school district. Nothing came of the threat, and the teachers, school administrators, and authorities reacted swiftly and bravely. But getting emails with FBI updates...

Communities across the United States are using data to help set goals, measure progress and provide better services that will ultimately improve residents' health. “Where have we been? Where are we going? How can we get there?” These are the questions facing communities who want to make health a right, not a privilege, for all of their residents. And they can’t answer these questions without one critical tool: data. As a former community coach with the Roadmaps to Health Action Center, I was...

Six-month-old Mason had a big smile that showed in his photo. But in July 2015, his parents took the Laurens County boy to a hospital with severe head injuries. He was placed on life support but died the next day. Authorities said his father had admitted to abusing the infant and he was charged with homicide by child abuse. The mother was charged with unlawful neglect of a child. The father eventually plead guilty and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, court records show. The mother pled...

A local initiative is bringing awareness to research that shows traumatic childhood experiences such as poverty, sexual abuse and drug addiction can lead to lifelong challenges in mental, social and physical health. Representatives of the school district, borough and police department, as well as several other organizations, have come together to form the Pottstown Trauma Informed Community Connection. The steering committee was created to decrease some of the violent and chronic health...

This teaching by the Dalai Lama explains how the Buddhist teachings of mindfulness and compassion lead inevitably to feelings of self-confidence and kindness. Developing Compassion Before we can generate compassion and love, it is important to have a clear understanding of what we understand compassion and love to be. In simple terms, compassion and love can be defined as positive thoughts and feelings that give rise to such essential things in life as hope, courage, determination and inner...

Note: A link to all of the Rick Hanson podcasts appear in the Parenting with ACEs Group as resources under Toolkits/Guides and Webinars. If you know of some great resources that might benefits members of this group, please share them with me. Thanks! Oh how I love Rick Hanson. I love how he helps my healing and my parenting. He's taught me so much about the ABC's of being human, being compassionate with fear and healing with mindfulness. He has a series of free podcast talks, Being Well , on...

Almost any news story on the Academy Awards in the last year has been focused on one thing: #OscarsSoWhite. After last year’s much-derided nominees list (where all 20 nominated actors were white for the second year in a row), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences pledged radical action. Members who had been dormant in the film industry were demoted to non-voting emeritus status, while Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs vowed to transform the makeup of incoming voters. That’s...

A strong middle class is, for many people, central to the American idea. There are other core values too, of course—freedom, political representation, individualism, etc.—but an economy in which families can feel economic security, live comfortably, and build up wealth is definitely on the list. But that’s not the economy America has today. The middle class is getting smaller by the year: According to Pew, the percent of adults in solidly middle-income households has fallen to 50 percent in...

A new plan unveiled by Elkhart County staff Wednesday calls for a major reconfiguration in how children, particularly those with potential health issues, should be treated in the county’s juvenile justice system. The project calls for building a Juvenile Resource Center, which would screen and assess youth accused of delinquency to determine the most appropriate intervention. Those actions could include anything from requiring mental health treatment to detention. The goal, however, is to...