Blog

By Richard E. Besser, USA Today, November 19, 2020 One thing scientists know with certainty is that viruses don’t get pandemic fatigue, but people do. This matters today as America enters a dangerous period in which the actions of government and individuals will likely determine how many people die and whose lives our society values. We’ve known since the dawn of this pandemic that winter would be especially bad in terms of disease transmission . Many politicians put forth a different...

Franciscan Health held its first Lake County, IN Resilience Coalition Meeting on Thursday, October 29 th . The coalition meeting consisted of discussion around Franciscan’s most recent Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and the four, top health needs within the community: infant mortality, adult mental health, uninsured & under-insured persons, and child abuse and neglect. All topics highlighting Franciscan’s foundational focus of the healing of Adverse Childhood Experiences...

When reading an article on LinkedIn about leadership, I realized that Simon Sinek was right...but not for the reasons leaders assume. For a few years now, I've been trying to harmonize the various writings by authors whom I like. For example, how do Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , Susan Cain's Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking , and Simon Sinek's Start With Why compliment each other? In addition, how does Bruce Perry's The Boy Who Was...

“Monty’s Day in Court” is the first children’s book written from the perspective of a child who testifies in court against his abuser. Monty’s story serves as a tool for children in learning resilience and as an aid for those on the front lines helping young people through challenging times. This book is based on our foster (and now adopted) son’s experiences and emotions.

In the morning hours of a sunny October Sunday in Dover-Foxcroft, over 50 cars sit idle alongside North Street awaiting their turn to receive an allocation of food from the Dover-Foxcroft Food Cupboard. The organization served more than 150 individuals and families by the end of the day. Photo by Bailey Beltramo.

- by Kristin Beasley, PhD The Elf on the Shelf, Santa’s number 1 helper has joined more than 13 million homes and the popularity seems to continue to grow. Here’s how it works as written in the description on Amazon.com “The Scout Elf is placed on a shelf or somewhere in the house to watch your children throughout the day, then each night the elf returns to the North Pole to tell Santa Clause whether your family has been naughty or nice. With this information, Santa decides if you are...

I watched the waves crash against the side of the ferry as it skirted between the two Thai islands that I had spent most of my summer. This trip must have been my fifth between the two islands. The sky was clear, but there was subtle violence to how the waves smacked the boat pushing it side to side as it jetted on the crystal blue ocean. I was seated on the second tier, alone, which had never happened before. And I stared out the window; I realized that all the pain, suffering, abuse,...

By Barbara Ray, Next City, November 17, 2020 It says something about the persistence of food deserts in low-income neighborhoods when the managers of Carver Market, a new grocery store in Historic South Atlanta, have to drive 200 miles roundtrip each week to a small town in Alabama to stock Carver’s shelves. There’s been a lot of talk and research abo u t the importance of access to healthy food as a social determinant of health. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease — all are linked to diet. So...

From Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), Navy Times, November 17, 2020 Is a child’s grief really an issue that warrants awareness? Aren’t children resilient, and won’t they simply “bounce back” after a family member’s death? Isn’t it best to focus a child’s attention away from these sad realities? Shouldn’t we let children enjoy their childhood free from the burden of death and grief? The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS) has been providing bereavement care to...

By Lissy Romanow, Stanford Social Innovation Review, November 19, 2020 In the months leading up to any US presidential election, grassroots organizers of all types—community, labor, and electoral—usually undertake a predictable set of exercises. They register people to vote, familiarize voters with the candidates, and then turn people out to the polls. But the challenges of 2020 heightened the stakes of this year’s election to an existential level. Yes, Americans faced political struggle.

By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, The Washington Post, November 18, 2020 Political pressure is mounting for president-elect Joe Biden to use executive authority to cancel federal student debt as a form of economic stimulus, a proposal that is exposing sharp divisions among economists, consumer activists and policy wonks. On Wednesday, 238 nonprofit and community organizations — including the NAACP and American Federation of Teachers — urged Biden to take action on loan forgiveness on his first...

Our brains are hardwired to react viscerally to traumatic events. They then store those emotions in our central nervous, so that when we feel and experience similar future events, we will be alerted to new potential dangers. Emotional flashbacks, experienced by those living with complex post-traumatic stress disorder, are sudden and horrific, often prolonged, attacks from past highly traumatic events. These flashbacks are different than those experienced in ordinary post-traumatic stress...