People have asked me why I had not written about the events of last Wednesday, January 6 — a traumatizing day that will be seared in our long history of trauma in this country — sooner than this evening. Basically, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, because this isn't over.
With the stressors that have mounted in the United States over the last year, the course, " Your Healing Narrative: Write-to-Heal with Neural Re-Narrating ", offered an oasis in the storm. I was fortunate to get a sneak peek last month, and think it's the bees' knees for what ails us, which is STRESS, STRESS, STRESS. Those of us in the ACEs community understand that our childhood trauma can magnify stress and/or reveal stressors that we've never thought about until they spring out of our...
The Relationship Foundation's webinars and the workshop are great learning opportunities for those who are well-versed in ACEs but want some more tangible tools that they can use in their work. They are also a great starting point for anyone who is just learning about trauma.
On January 8, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom released California’s proposed fiscal year 2021-22 budget . The Governor’s budget includes a proposal to extend Proposition 56 funding for the ACEs Aware initiative through June 30, 2022. The ACEs Aware initiative is a vital part of the Medi-Cal program’s response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, helping providers identify, prevent, and treat the secondary health effects associated with increased levels of stress caused by the pandemic. ACEs...
(l to r) Elizabeth Smith and Peacetown board of directors: David, Amitiel, Jim aka Mr. Music, and Jasmine. Only eight years ago, Elizabeth Smith was experiencing severe chronic stress. Raising a young son on her own, she was employed as a technician at a county hospital in Northern California that had downsized staff and increased her workload , as well that of other staff. She was helping to raise the morale of her fellow workers and served as a liaison between staff and the administration,...
[Here is an opportunity social scientists and communities to link up. Dennis Haffron] CDC National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention New Research Funding Opportunity Announcement: On January 6, 2021, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released RFA-CE-21-005, The CDC National Centers of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention (YVPCs): Rigorous Evaluation of Prevention Strategies to Prevent and Reduce Community Rates of Youth Violence . CDC intends to commit...
A recent patient at a clinic in Texarkana, Texas, bowed her head and cried as she talked to Kim Burden. “She was feeling bad about herself. She started crying and telling me things about her past, so I just sat and listened to her. She was appreciative that someone took time to listen and show that they care.” Kim Burden Burden isn’t a therapist; she’s a dental hygienist who was helping a patient at a dental appointment. Had the patient needed a therapist, though, she could have talked to...
A new guide for healing the hidden wounds from ACEs The Adverse Childhood Experiences Recovery Workbook Glenn R. Schiraldi, Ph.D. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 2021, 232 pages Practical, powerful skills for healing the hidden wounds of childhood trauma “ Dr. Glenn Schiraldi is one of the world’s most trusted experts on stress and resilience. His Adverse Childhood Experiences Recovery Wor kbook is the most complete, accessible, and evidence-based healing resource available.
At ACEsConnection we attempt to ‘walk our talk’ when it comes to our mission , values, and workplace practices. Last week, during our first all staff meeting of the year, we reflected on whether we were ACTUALLY, as an organization, creating a workplace environment that was structured to support staff wellbeing. Encouraging self-care is not enough. We must be intentional and committed to a sense of collective care as well as build structures and systems that support our ability to do this.
By Center for Law and Social Policy, January 2020 Historic and modern-day policies rooted in discrimination and oppression have created and widened harmful inequities impacting many communities of color. Effectively and equitably addressing mental health requires intervening at systemic and policy levels to dismantle the structures that produce negative outcomes like generational poverty, intergenerational and cultural trauma, racism, sexism, and ableism. Changing social, economic, and...
Dr. Robert Sege, 1/12/20, positiveexperience.org/blog Last Wednesday, we woke up in the morning to learn that Georgia had elected a Jewish filmmaker and a Black pastor as its new US Senators; each represented a milestone and a rejection of the racist and anti-Semitic ads funded and released by their opponents. Later in the day, we saw a White supremacist insurrection, and our congressional representatives, senators, and their staffs faced immediate danger as the Capitol building was invaded.
A large-scale study with 1,395 human service providers, health professionals, and educators from 17 different settings established further support for the psychometric properties of the Attitudes Related to Trauma-Informed Care (ARTIC) Scale . The study entitled “Validation of the Attitudes Related to Trauma Informed Care Scale (ARTIC)” —by lead author Courtney Baker, Ph.D. from Tulane University and a team of others—was published online in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice,...
Please welcome these four new communities to the ACEsConnection.com network. Details about each of them are below as is information about starting and growing your community initiatives and joining the Cooperative of Communities . Interested in Starting a Community on ACEs Connection ? For questions about starting or growing an initiative, using our site and tools, please reach out to one of our regional community facilitators. Communities in: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic states, contact @Alison...
By Brittney Martin, The Imprint, January 6, 2021 Tara Hutton remembers how the little girl she had been fostering for a year began acting out on the day a new social worker came to their house in Magnolia, Texas. As Hutton and the social worker talked, the girl kept interrupting and trying to get Hutton’s attention. She insisted on bringing her Play-Doh outside, despite knowing it was an inside-only toy. Though the girl likely couldn’t explain why she felt rattled by the appearance of a new...
By David Treleaven, Shambhala Mountain Center, January 7, 2021 A few months ago, I was approached with a problem by a colleague who taught meditation in a classroom setting. Here was the issue: a student of hers had lost her father to COVID-19, and was struggling with symptoms of traumatic stress. When she’d meditate, images and sensations would flood her field of consciousness, leaving her more rattled than before. “Should I keep meditating?” she’d asked my colleague. “I want to work with...