Blog

For those of us committed to preventing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), our work keeps getting more challenging each day. We know from our 100% Community surveys that our parents struggle to access the basic services of survival: medical care, mental health care, food security programs, housing security programs and transportation to vital services. This means the children and teens we work with face not only abuse and neglect in the home, but social adversity once they step outside...

Dr. Jeff Spiess joins the Trauma Informed Lens Podcast to discuss his new book Dying with Ease. We discuss how trauma can manifest in one's final days and within family dynamics. http:// ow.ly/GhaF50BNH9S

By Kim Schneider, The Imprint, October 12, 2020 A Minnesota tribal community and county have announced a partnership that aims to better serve Native parents and kids in family and criminal cases through more coordinated court processing. The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and Itasca County, located in northern Minnesota, will design and pilot family-centered solutions for people in criminal or dependency court cases. One of the project leaders, Minnesota Ninth District Judge Korey Wahwassuck,...

By Michael Fitzgerald, The Imprint, October 8, 2020 A novel new research projection suggests crime rates will decrease in the coming years if demographic and economic trends hold steady — even if people are imprisoned at lower rates. The analysis from three top criminologists evaluated trends like inflation and teen birth rates, concluding that those factors “outweigh the impact of imprisonment rates on crime.” Further, they found, “a state’s level of imprisonment has little to do with what...

By Vicki Larson, Marin Independent Journal, October 8, 2020 After making three movies together that focused on the challenges, stresses and resilience of childhood, it occurred to filmmakers James Redford and Karen Pritzker — well, what about adults? Adults seem to be increasingly stressed, even before the pandemic, although wellness has become a multi-billion-dollar industry. Is there anything adults can do to help keep stress in check? Yes, they discovered — play, which they highlight in...

I wanted to update everyone that I have now published my new book. It is called Unlocking the Puzzle of PTSD. A Holistic Guide to Restoring Inner Peace. Unlocking the Puzzle of PTSD is a unique and comprehensive Holistic manual and workbook to understand and treat PTSD. The book is for health professionals as well as for lay people interested in the subject. It includes information about PTSD, Complex PTSD and trauma from a Holistic (mind, body, spirit) perspective. It presents easy to use...

The California Alliance and the Catalyst Center are going virtual! New Fall Institutes with the theme Better Together: Resilience through Connection will bring together Alliance member organizations, educators, mental health professionals and caregivers serving California’s most vulnerable children, youth and families. Instructions for the Fall Institutes Day One "Leadership in Uncertain Times" has been sent out. If you did not receive them, contact Max Geide at mgeide@cacfs.org. To enter...

“If he wins I'm going to Canada.” ”I need to find and marry someone with E.U. citizenship.” “I'm going to apply for grad school in one of the Scandinavian countries!” “My family always kept dual citizenship, just in case we ever needed it.” These are just a few of the comments I have heard when people contemplate what they’ll do if Donald Trump wins the 2020 election. I would be dishonest if I said that leaving the United States had not crossed my mind. After all, I want to provide my...

By Mary-Ann Etiebet and Raj Panjabi, USA Today, September 28, 2020 Erica Garner died on Dec. 30, 2017, just four months after she gave birth to a baby boy and three years after her father Eric Garner died in the chokehold of a New York City policeman. After having multiple heart attacks (the first came shortly after childbirth ), she experienced one of the hundreds of pregnancy-related deaths that year in the United States. She died in a country where Black women are more likely to die due...

By Alexandra Sakellariou, Babygaga, October 11, 2020 Mental health is important no matter what age you are, which is why it’s important for parents to be aware of their infant’s mental health . Early interactions with our environment and those in it greatly shape our emotional well-being , including our ability to process and express emotions in addition to forming and maintaining relationships with others. It’s important that parents and caregivers are aware and attentive to a young child’s...

By Sara Al-Mulla, Arab News, October 7, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic has been awfully stressful for families with children. Many parents have had to struggle with unemployment, financial insecurity, and a lack of recreational activities, with minimal support from child care services or their social networks. Research shows that these factors intensify parental burnout, as well as increase the likelihood of child abuse or neglect. It is especially important, therefore, to offer a suite of...

By Dan Levin, The New York Times, October 12, 2020 Michelle Macario was struggling to follow online classes through the tiny screen of her smartphone. She had no laptop and no Wi-Fi at home, and the library where she normally studied at her community college in Los Angeles was closed. So two weeks into the coronavirus shutdown in the spring, she dropped all of her courses to avoid failing. Things are not much better this semester. Ms. Macario, 18, who is majoring in psychology at Santa...