Blog

Who knew when the year started we’d be separated from loved ones for months? And here we are, canceling celebrations, work and vacation plans, and not even hugging our friends. We are facing more stress – financial, emotional, social – than anyone could have imagined. We haven’t seen the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health yet. But as therapists, we know that as chronic stress continues, more people will experience depression and even suicidal thoughts. Let’s not wait to...

Now what? Present social unrest and the COVID crisis are a catalyst to surface the role of how structural racism and historical trauma play in both realities. Currently, Racism is declared a public health crisis in Michigan and prompts a response from all of us. This new lens raises as many questions as answers. How do we create safe spaces to have a conversation about USA history of race, racism, racial dehumanization, racial privilege and power, racial subornation, and exploitation and...

By Lucy Danley, First Five Years Fund, August 5, 2020 - The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated financial challenges that child care providers have faced for years, pushing the industry to the brink of collapse. Anxious parents and struggling child care providers looking for solutions amid a tumultuous and unpredictable economic crisis are looking to Congress to provide the financial relief necessary to keep the industry afloat through America’s economic recovery. Across the country, there is...

21st March 2002, Afghan New Year, was the most humbling and memorable day of my working life. I was coordinating a “Back To School” campaign in the Northern Afghanistan, and the 21st was the target date for opening of schools. This was the first major national reform after after a post-Taliban peace agreement signed a few months earlier. Rebuilding education was seen as a peace dividend for the Afghan people and a symbol of hope for their children on the first day of the first peaceful...

When a young person experiences trauma, there is no single answer regarding how that experience may impact them in their later years. Two 12-year-olds experiencing the exact same kind of trauma, for example, may have two very different responses — one crumbles and the other rises. One processes it deeply and the other suppresses it. One becomes a powerful force for change in the community and the other struggles to make their place in the world. Furthermore, what may be considered traumatic...

So far, in this series on the inner child, we have discussed inner children, and how, when they are wounded, they can affect adult life. We learned that every person has an inner child that is part of our psyche, that is a childish self, inside all of us. There is a model of healing known as doing inner child work. In this article, we shall tackle this subject to understand how we can begin the healing process from having a wounded inner child. What is Inner Child Work? Inner child work is...

By Samantha Michaels, Mother Jones, October 2020 In August 2018, a few weeks after he was shot eight times at a party in Oakland, Andre Reed was recovering at his mom’s house, his wounds still open, when he got a message on Instagram. It was an old friend from his school days. She said some people were looking for him and wanted to talk. Reed, then 35, had recently been released from federal prison, after years of bouncing in and out of the criminal justice system. “Is this the police?” he...

By Manya Whitaker, The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 27, 2020 As a faculty member preparing for the fall semester, I’ve been thinking a lot about trauma-informed teaching amid Covid-19. But I’m also one of those academics who wears multiple hats — in my case, department chair and interim director of a multicultural center. And I’ve realized that I need to offer trauma-informed leadership, too. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of being in a management position right now is balancing...

By Jamie D. Aten, Psychology Today, August 13, 2020 Jamie Aten: How did you first get interested in this topic? Sabrina Liu & Sheila Modir: While attending graduate school together, the two of us quickly bonded as colleagues and friends over our shared interest in studying the impact of racism and trauma. As two women of color, we also connected over our personal experiences of racism and discrimination, recognizing that we could use our unique perspectives to collaborate on ways to...

From Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, August 2020 The coronavirus pandemic has elevated and exacerbated deep-seated inequities in communities across the United States. Localities large and small, urban and rural, well resourced and under resourced, are responding to distinct challenges. The Sentinel Communities project will follow the experiences of nine diverse communities to understand how they are responding to and recovering from this crisis. From the county housing the nation’s...

By Mark É. Czeisler, Rashon I. Lane, Emiko Petrosky, et al., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, August 14, 2020 What is already known about this topic? Communities have faced mental health challenges related to COVID-19–associated morbidity, mortality, and mitigation activities. What is added by this report? During June 24–30, 2020, U.S. adults reported considerably elevated adverse mental health conditions associated with COVID-19. Younger adults, racial/ethnic minorities,...

I am SO excited for our next episode, and you should be too! Join us Thursday 8/20 as we welcome our speical guests Judee Fernandez and Michelle Kurta from the Meaning Makers Collective . We will discuss what it takes to create cultures of care and connection in our schools, how to develop a system that supports collective care for staff and prioritizes the wellbeing of adults in school settings. It is gonna be great! Weekly themes include: How do we create physical and psychological safety,...