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As a former La Leche League Leader I became familiar with the teachings of Gary Ezzo (“Raising Kids God’s Way,” "On Becoming Babywise") in the early 1990’s. Leaders in my area began getting a lot of phone calls on our warm line that followed the same basic story: a baby not thriving and a case of very low milk supply despite the Mom’s exclusive breastfeeding and a strong desire to breastfeed. It gradually emerged that a local church had begun promoting a rigid rules-based practice of baby...

The Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement ™ launched a free social-emotional wellness program to support educators and students as they navigate the start of the 2020/21 school year. This special reentry unit, “Choosing Love in Our Brave New World,” is designed to help transition students back to class or to support them during distance learning. The Choose Love Movement honors six-year-old Jesse Lewis who was killed in the Sandy Hook, CT elementary school tragedy. “Choosing Love in Our Brave New...

By Donald Shaw, Too Much Information, August 12, 2020 One of the most powerful health care industry lobbying groups has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the campaign to reelect Democratic Rep. Richard Neal as he blocks legislation to crack down on “surprise medical bills” and thwarts the push for Medicare for All. The American Hospital Association’s (AHA) political action committee has spent more than $200,000 on digital ads to boost Neal’s reelection campaign as he faces a...

By Dan Weissmann, Kaiser Health News, August 10, 2020 When you need medical care, it can be a lot like entering a casino — playing for your financial life with the deck stacked against you. But in this episode, reporter Celia Llopis-Jepsen offers insight and tips no dealer will divulge. She got a health care executive to talk honestly — maybe more honestly than he realized — about how his company and others are playing the game when they send patients huge bills. When she investigated one...

By Jordyn Brown, The Register-Guard, August 5, 2020 Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden introduced a new national bill Wednesday that would emphasize a health care response, instead of law enforcement, to mental health and substance abuse calls. The mental health care and public safety proposal the Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets (CAHOOTS) Act is being put forth by Wyden and Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. It’s modeled and named after Eugene’s decades-long program and would provide...

By Maggie Koerth and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux, FiveThirtyEight, August 3, 2020 Will you get robbed this year? How would you rate your chances? Over 10 years, from 1994 to 2004, the national Survey of Economic Expectations asked respondents to do just that. People estimated their risks for a whole host of bad-news life events — robbery, burglary, job loss and losing their health insurance. But the survey didn’t just ask respondents to rate their chances: It also asked whether those things had...

What can we, as a community of concerned citizens - not just parents, teachers, counsellors and pediatricians - envision, innovate and create so that children are still able to interact, up close, in safe ways?

SAVE THE DATE - AUGUST WEBINAR "Regulating the Stress Response for Kids: Practical Tips for Primary Care Providers" Wednesday, August 26, 2020 Noon – 1 p.m. Register for the Webinar This webinar will offer practical tips and examples on how providers can incorporate stress regulation strategies into their treatment planning for pediatric patients. Presenters will: Share definitions, research, and the clinical response to address toxic stress through stress regulation strategies. Review the...

How did the U.S. rank so well in pandemic preparedness but have such major problems in its overall response to COVID-19? While it's worth looking at the actions of individual elected and appointed officials, a crucial part of the story is the history and current state of our public health system.

BACK TO SCHOOL: ANNOUNCING THE GLOBAL VIRTUAL PREMIERE OF THE KPJR SHOWCASE RESILIENCE + PAPER TIGERS + THE BIG PICTURE: RETHINKING DYSLEXIA KPJR FILMS will produce a global virtual screening of the award-winning films Resilience , Paper Tigers , and The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia in collaboration with the UK-based International Festival of Learning between Tuesday, August 25 and Friday, August 28th, 2020. The International Festival of Learning is a movement of educators, schools,...

Baby courts: A proven approach to stop the multigenerational transmission of ACES ( adverse childhood experiences) in child welfare (Aug.7) “ Baby court is a proven approach to healing the trauma of both child and parent and breaking the cycle of maltreatment,” said Mimi Graham, Ed.D ., director of the Florida State University Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy. Graham and her colleague Lynn Tepper, retired Early Childhood Court judge from Florida’s Sixth Judicial Circuit,...

Inner children are parts of all our psyche that remains full of innocence, awe, and wonder. When our inner child is healthy, and we are connected with them, we tend to be invigorated, inspired, and excited. However, what happens when our inner child is wounded from past trauma, and we are disconnected from them? When we ignore the inner child in our psyche, as adults, we feel disconnected from life, tired, empty, and unhappy. This article will further explore the topic of the wounded inner...