New understanding of the brain provides hope for breaking the painful grip of shame that’s imprinted in childhood and continues to affect adults. Rewiring shame calls for more than the traditional left brain approaches.
I want to throw out an idea based on years of successfully addressing the underlying childhood trauma that contributes to initial and continued drug use. I am seeking feedback as to whether or not those suffering from the memories of traumatic experiences feel that the loss of respect for one's self, i.e., the feeling that you are guilty, at fault in some way, or the victim that can never regain the sense of self purpose and control, is the factor that interferes with being able to grow and...
Amid my concern of the massive societal impact from overturning Roe v. Wade, lies the intersection of this decision’s havoc with every iteration of trauma.
By Victoria St. Martin, Photo: Robert Nickelsburg/Getty Images, Inside Climate News, June 16, 2022 For years, research journals devoted to the earth sciences have warned of the dire consequences that could result from global warming and pollution going unchecked. Now, one of the nation’s oldest medical journals has committed itself to increasing the public’s knowledge about the health effects of the planet’s changing climate. Beginning with the issue published Thursday, The New England...
By Leigh Fondakowski, Image: Screenshot from article, CNN Opinion, June 23, 2022 On June 23, 1972, a piece of legislation quietly made its way to the desk of President Richard Nixon. Buried within the large omnibus education bill were 37 words that would make up Title IX, a landmark civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in schools or other educational programs funded by the federal government. The handful of women who were behind Title IX didn't even lobby on its...
By Chip Brownlee, Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images, The Guardian, June 23, 2022 T he street outside the Brownsville Community Justice Center used to be a hub for drug use and violence. A dead-end road, it lacked good lighting, overlooking windows and car traffic – a combination that made it unsafe to walk down. The surrounding neighborhood in east Brooklyn has historically suffered from some of the highest rates of gun violence and other violent crime in the city. Now, the street is a...
By Matt Barnum, Photo: Kena Betancur/VIEWpress/Getty Images, Chalkbeat, June 22, 2022 Congress appears poised to respond to the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting, which gripped the nation’s attention and resulted in the deaths of 19 children and two teachers. A bipartisan bill , unveiled Tuesday evening, would add modest gun control rules and provide new funding for a bevy of mental health and school safety programs. It quickly gained support from 64 senators, clearing its first procedural...
By Sandy West, Photo: Cindy Elizabeth, The Imprint, June 23, 2022 There is a sense of serendipity for Travis County Judge Aurora Martinez Jones, as she presides over the Texas courtroom where a history-making lawsuit in the 1940s helped bring an end to legal segregation. Today, she is the first Black woman to preside over the 126th District Court, and the first judge to oversee a docket fully devoted to the region’s struggling children and families. Communities battered by poverty,...
Please join us on June 28 from 1:30-3:00 p.m. ET for a virtual conversation with best-selling author Bruce Perry. Ingrid Cockhren , CEO of PACEs Connection; Mathew Portell , PACEs Connections’ director of communities, and Perry, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, will engage in a conversation concerning historical trauma and Perry’s best-selling book " What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience and Healing, " which he co-authored with Oprah Winfrey. Please share this blog...
Despite the importance of vulnerability at work to promote a trauma-informed environment, the stigma surrounding emotional vulnerability in the office is still running rampant. Mental health has become an increasingly popular topic of conversation in mainstream media, especially among high-profile athletes like Simone Biles and entertainers like Ariana Grande. This shift towards mental health awareness hasn’t transitioned as quickly among business leaders—but it’s about time it did. Our...
7 th Annual Mental Health Symposium, 3 rd Annual Trauma-Informed Educational Symposium (T.I.E.S), and the Brake The Stigma Car Show Co-Sponsored by: Georgia Southern University, Chatham County Strategic Planning, Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, Gateway Community Service Board and Coastal Georgia Indicators Coalition Call for Presenters We are looking for presenters to offer breakout sessions for this collaborative symposium, being held on September 10th, 2022, from 8am-1pm on...
June 22, 2022 By: Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D., Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Our hearts go out to all experiencing loss and grief from the tragic mass shootings and other forms of community violence from Buffalo, NY to Uvalde, TX and in many other locations across our nation. Please know that SAMHSA stands with you during these troubling times and offers support to help you and your loved ones cope with this trauma, including our Disaster Distress Helpline –...
By Ingrid M. Duva, Jordan R. Murphy, and Linda Grabbe, Photo: Unsplash, American Journal of Public Health, June 9, 2022 Abstract The wrath of COVID-19 includes a co-occurring global mental health pandemic, raising the urgency for our health care sector to implement strategies supporting public mental health. In Georgia, a successful nurse-led response to this crisis capitalized on statewide organizations’ existing efforts to bolster well-being and reduce trauma. Partnerships were formed and...
By Sarah Holder, Photo: Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, June 22, 2022 As cities and states increasingly respond to unsheltered homelessness with encampment sweeps and laws criminalizing outdoor sleeping, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is pushing communities to invest in other solutions. HUD announced a package of funding on Wednesday designed to shrink the unsheltered homelessness population in the US by directing assistance to those who sleep outside, in...
By Hannah Seo, Photo: Getty Images, The New York Times, June 17, 2022 By now, most people know that stress can take a serious toll on mental and physical health. And when that stress is prolonged, studies suggest, it can increase the risk of certain health conditions like asthma , ulcers , heart attack and stroke . Now, new research suggests that certain types of stress can even age your immune system. Using an existing body of data, researchers looked at survey responses from a nationally...