Blog

The fallout of the global COVID pandemic is accelerating suicide in our children and adolescents. Yet, the treatment for acts or threats of suicide often involves the individual child with little to no active family participation. This is a tactical mistake because suicide is systemic. It is caused or exacerbated by family trauma, family secrets, parent-child conflict, and/or isolation. This free webinar by Dr. Sells is for professionals who want concrete tools to treat both the child and...

By Guest Author, 12/08/21, positiveexperience.org/blog “ Passing the Baton ” is a collection of essays assembled by editors Mark Joseph, Frank Farrow, and Leila Fiester and posted on the website of the Washington DC-based Center for the Study of Social Policy . The collection is dedicated to Harold Richman, who committed his life and career to the quest to end poverty and inequality through policy and system changes. Each essay highlights an idea, program, or policy vision that embodies in...

By Elizabeth Crouch, Elizabeth Radcliff, Katherine Kelly, et al., Photo: Unsplash, Preventive Medicine, January 2022 Abstract Positive childhood experiences (PCEs) promote healthy social development, improve overall wellness, and help to moderate and prevent exposure to adverse childhood experiences. There has been limited research examining the association between positive childhood experiences and overweight or obesity status in children. The purpose of this study was to examine whether...

By Lucinda Rachel Grummitt, Noah T. Kreski, Stephanie Gyuri Kim, et al., Photo: Unsplash, JAMA Pediatrics, October 4, 2021 Key Points Question To what degree does childhood adversity contribute to preventable causes of morbidity and mortality in the US? Findings In this systematic review including 19 meta-analyses with a total of 20 654 832 participants, exposure to childhood adversity accounted for approximately 439 072 deaths annually across various health outcomes, with the largest...

Estimates from the Combined 2019-2020 National Survey of Children's Health are now available on CAHMI's Data Resource Center Interactive Data Query The Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health (DRC), a project of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI) , under a cooperative agreement with the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), is excited to announce the release of the combined 2019-2020 National...

What if nothing feels “right”? When it comes to making choices, sometimes there’s a clear winner. The decision is easy. But it seems like these days especially, every choice is harder. There are so many shades of grey. Confusion and uncertainty persist. Information is constantly changing, and we don’t know what’s accurate or what’s going to happen next. With access to COVID vaccines, it seemed like we were coming to a light at the end of the tunnel. Now as the delta variant continues to...

It was an honor to join Laura Reagan LCSW-C for another talk on her Therapy Chat podcast . In this conversation, Laura and Robyn described what the terms “top-down” and “bottom-up” mean in reference to trauma therapy and how to help survivors heal. “Bottom-up” therapy always begins with finding and exploring safety and stability for our clients. Once there is an established safer foundation, including calmer nervous system, clients can begin to notice what happens for them on the inside or...

So many relationship experts have embraced the idea of love languages. They became popular with Gary Chapman’s 1992 book, The 5 Love Languages, for the ways partners show love and care: acts of service, physical touch, words, gifts, quality time. Yet none of these can exist in a meaningful, enriching way without one basic element — safety . Safety is the foundation for all of the love languages. Safety is the prerequisite for everything else in a healthy relationship. This post addresses...

Dear PACES Connection Community, I hope this message finds you all in good spirits. I am reaching out to invite you to the Bird That Wants to Fly ~ Trauma & Healing ~ Arts & Healing Resiliency Center ~ Special Event on Sunday on December 12th at 1:00 PM - 3:00 (PST). I have invited art therapist Stephanie Wise and creative arts therapist Emily Nash, co-founders of the Therapeutic Arts Alliance of Manhattan (TAAM), to discuss their creative process. It was at a TAAM workshop that I...

As we step into the holiday season, let’s commit to each other to do it wholeheartedly. What does this mean? Often our minds are off and running and it’s only when we bring ourselves back to the present moment that we experience life as it’s really happening. This is when we realize that what is important is right in front of us! This is the point when our minds and our hearts connect. When we live from a heart-centered place it fosters equanimity and peace within that extends outward,...

By Catherine E. Schoichet, Photo: Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald/Getty Images, CNN US, December 7, 2021 Deqa Dhalac saw it in their faces when she started campaigning. Some people, she says, seemed scared to open their doors when she knocked. Others saw her hijab and assumed she didn't speak English. But Dhalac kept knocking and telling her story. And she says a lot has changed since those days back in 2018, when she first ran for City Council in South Portland, Maine -- and won. On...

By Campbell Robertson, Photo: Michelle Gustafson/The New York Times, The New York Times, December 1, 2021 Early in the November school board meeting, a few of the departing members made farewell remarks, talking of things that they believed still need addressing: more special education programs, mental health initiatives, a program for high school students to take college classes. There was a long list, but over the past two years other things had gotten in the way. When the meeting opened...