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https://www.amazon.com/dp/1523601442 "Healing the Wound That Won't Heal: the Reality of Trauma." This book chronicles my work to uncover and understand the trauma of my infancy. My father was suffering extreme shell-shock from WWII. He was too ill to be left alone, yet I was left with him every day while my mother worked as a waitress. When I was thirteen-months-old I watched him die on the floor in front of my crib. I am having a very difficult time right now. I have emotional flashbacks,...

The Office of Minority Health (OMH) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cordially invites you to join a national audience of mental health professionals, health advocates and educators, health care providers, public health professionals, and OMH partners and stakeholders for an upcoming webinar: Trauma and COVID-19: Addressing Mental Health Among Racial/Ethnic Minority Populations July 29, 2021 | 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. ET As part of the OMH observance of National...

By Meryl Davids Landau, The New York Times, July 17, 2021 The day Brian Lowe attended a training session for police officers on understanding the minds of teenagers, he knew his job would never be the same. Mr. Lowe, a lieutenant in the sheriff’s office in Tippecanoe County, Ind., immediately recalled encounters with young people in the past — the teens he’d handcuffed for trespassing in a closed park in the middle of the night while hanging out with friends, the students he’d arrested for...

By Bob Sege, 7/22/21, positiveexperience.org/blog Summertime offers a chance to pause and reflect. This past year our team has had the good fortune to meet with, teach, and learn from dozens of organizational leaders and well over 10,000 participants from around the country and beyond. HOPE resonates with the values and work of so many other programs, organizations, and frameworks. At the same time, HOPE coalesces many years of research, thinking, and practical experience. What does HOPE...

By Julie Bosman, Sophie Kasakove, and Daniel Victor, The New York Times, July 21, 2021 New federal data draws one of the starkest illustrations to date of how the coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately affected Hispanic and Black Americans, showing that they suffered a far steeper drop in life expectancy in 2020 than white Americans. Overall, life expectancy in the United States fell by a year and a half, a federal report said on Wednesday, a decline largely attributed to the pandemic...

By James McConchie, Greater Good Magazine, July 21, 2021 When most people think of college, they might imagine a bunch of single young adults living wild and free—and possibly going to class from time to time. But this is far from the reality. The average age of a college student is around 26 , and many students already have families of their own. While colleges typically focus on helping students prepare for a career, one university wants to make sure that students with children are...

By Julia Weis, ¡Salud America!, July 20, 2021 A new method is emerging to help children heal from trauma – art therapy. More mental health clinics, like the Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas , are beginning to use art to help children with the healing process. Mental health professionals hope that art therapy can help children process adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which is growing to be a public health crisis . “Art therapy helps one process emotions and feelings that one...

By Kerry Benefield, The Press Democrat, July 17, 2021 I have covered, watched and enjoyed countless parades, but I have never been in one. Unless, of course, if you count the time in junior high when my friend Shelly and I were handed a shovel and a wheelbarrow before a holiday parade in downtown Santa Rosa and tasked with walking behind the “reindeer,” to prevent any of Santa’s little helpers from marching through muck. With that in mind, Tuesday night felt like a first. As I rode my bike...

By Bryce Covert, The New York Times, July 20, 2021 With more than half of American adults fully vaccinated against Covid , employers and employees alike have turned their eyes back to the office. They’re locked in a conflict over when they’ll return and, when they do, what the return will look like. But we shouldn’t just be talking about the parameters of how we get work done in a postpandemic world. We should be pushing to do less of it. In truth, the debate over the return to the office is...

Dear Friends and Allies If you’re feeling both optimistic and overwhelmed by the funding and reforms focused on children’s mental and behavioral health, you’re not alone. The scope and scale of the current reform agenda, and the dozens of relevant investments included in the budget just signed by Governor Newsom, are unprecedented. Children and families, advocates, and systems leaders have achieved consensus that we must reimagine how we support the social and emotional health of children in...

From The Annie E. Casey Foundation, June 21, 2021 SUMMARY The 32nd edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT ® Data Book describes how children across the United States were faring before — and during — the coronavirus pandemic. This year’s publication continues to deliver the Foundation’s annual state rankings and the latest available data on child well-being. It identifies multiyear trends — comparing statistics from 2010 to 2019. In addition, the report shares data on how...

By Amir Bakian, The Daily Front Row, July 19, 2021 Healing means many different things and it comes in many forms. For those belonging to the LGBTQ+ community, it is acceptance and understanding. For people of color, it is an equal opportunity. As someone who is queer and is a proud Asian-American artist, Christopher Saint knows firsthand what it’s like for those who have suffered similar experiences of marginalization as he has. He has been through it all and wants to help others in their...