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By Patrick Wall, Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images, Chalkbeat, September 23, 2022 The culture war engulfing schools has subjected educators like Richard Clifton to unfamiliar scrutiny — including, in his case, a public records request. In Savannah, Georgia, where Clifton is a longtime English teacher, a group of conservative activists earlier this year began calling for the school board to “purge” books with sexual content from school libraries. After Clifton took a personal...

By Gabriela Aoun, Photo: Gabriela Aoun/The Guardian, The Guardian, September 23, 2022 O n the Saturday before Labor Day, in the east Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights, temperatures outside climbed to 105F (41C). It was the fourth day of California’s longest September heatwave on record. That afternoon, the entire state was under a “flex alert”, in which Californians were asked to turn down their air conditioners and unplug appliances to avoid putting so much demand on the power grid...

By Lynne Terry, Oregon Capital Chronicle, Marijuana Moment, September 22, 2022 A year behind schedule, Oregon’s novel approach to drug addiction has reached primetime. In November 2020, voters overwhelmingly approved Measure 110, making Oregon the first state nationwide to decriminalize the possession of small quantities of drugs and establish service centers to help people tackle their mental health and addiction problems. The centers were supposed to be operational by October 2021. This...

When we discuss implementing trauma-informed change, the conversation largely surrounds how we live trauma-informed values. How does our behavior reflect our values? What about our lifestyle choices, how we engage in relationships, or our attitude toward life’s challenges? When we reflect, we recognize that there are many ways we live trauma-informed values, but there are also many areas where we can improve. So, once we’ve identified the areas we’d like to change, the question becomes, how...

By Laura Gallant, 9/22/22, https://positiveexperience.org/category/blog/ National Hispanic Heritage Month takes place from September 15 to October 15. HOPE recognizes how culture, heritage, and tradition play a large role in a child’s access to positive childhood experiences. Hispanic identities can range from many different cultures, regions, and backgrounds. Celebrating these differences in culture that make up our history, family, and community can engage all the Four Building Blocks of...

Can emotions sometimes be fully processed and resolved? Yes. Can that at least sometimes be accomplished by self alone, especially for a person who already has a lot of other resources? Yes. Beyond that, I worry about everything modern society teaches about emotions.

In this episode of Transforming Trauma, our host Emily is joined by psychotherapist, NARM Therapist and founder of Resilience Austin, Kimberley Mead. With a personal history that allows her a unique connection with clients, Kimberley uses a relational and somatic framework in working with grief and loss, C-PTSD, and adults of adoption. Kimberley always knew that she wanted to focus on adults of adoption, and specifically sought out training in how to address grief and trauma, aware that...

By Cindy Carcamo, Photo: Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, September 15, 2022 Ten years ago, Alessandro Negrete missed out on the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — better known as DACA — a policy that gives certain immigrant youth who were brought to the United States as children a work permit and protection from deportation. In 2008, Negrete had been arrested for being drunk in public and fighting with a police officer. Although he eventually got...

By Asher Lehrer-Small, Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images, The74, September 19, 2022 An increasing share of states are including student perspectives in education policymaking, a new report finds, but making sure those voices are diverse and have real power can remain a challenge. At least 33 now include formal positions for youth representatives on their state boards of education or as advisors to their state boards or their state superintendent’s office. That’s up from just 25 four...

By Nivida Chandra, Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto, The Guardian, September 20, 2022 I came to research the emotional neglect of children by accident. More than a decade ago, I wrote my master’s thesis on the relationship between the personal and professional lives of psychotherapists. How did they manage to keep the distress they heard in their clinics from affecting their own emotional balance? And how did they stop their personal challenges from affecting their clinical work? In our...

By Danielle Carr, Image: Nico Kijno, The New York Times, September 20, 2022 What if the cure for our current mental health crisis is not more mental health care? The mental health toll of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the subject of extensive commentary in the United States, much of it focused on the sharp increase in demand for mental health services now swamping the nation’s health care capacities. The resulting difficulty in accessing care has been invoked widely as justification for a...

By Rachel Zimmerman, Illustration: Washington Post illustration/Unsplash, The Washington Post, September 20, 2022 In a nod to the nation’s pressing mental health crisis, an influential group of medical experts for the first time is recommending that adults under age 65 get screened for anxiety. The draft recommendations, from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force , are designed to help primary care clinicians identify early signs of anxiety during routine care, using questionnaires and...