Blog

By Shanta R. Dube, Milwaukee Independent, December 5, 2019 Adult survivors often feel ashamed about and stigmatized for their childhood adversity. This makes it difficult to recognize that these events occur. While it is easier to turn away than to face these issues, we can no longer afford to do so. Stress, mental illness and substance abuse – all health outcomes linked to childhood trauma – occur in the U.S. today at very high rates. In 1999, I joined the Centers for Disease Control and...

By Emily Hanford, The New York Times, December , 2019 “Thank God for Mississippi.” That’s a phrase people would use when national education rankings came out because no matter how poorly your state performed, you could be sure things were worse in Mississippi. Not anymore. New results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a standardized test given every two years to measure fourth- and eighth-grade achievement in reading and math, show that Mississippi made more progress than...

“The children may not be fully focused on every pose (they are still kids) but they are still learning them. I think when the children are then feeling stressed or scared, the poses and breathing techniques that they learn during class gives them something to focus on and a way to calm and center themselves,” Sarah Piper, in intern for the Drug Endangered Children’s Initiative said.

Join the Family Trauma Institute for a free webinar this Wednesday, December 11, 2020, at 1 pm ET. Participants will learn how to use the FST | Family Systems Trauma Red Flags Checklist to prevent relapse.

Join the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative on Wednesday, December 18th at 10:30 EST/9:30 CST for this free learning opportunity highlighting the role of academic and community partnerships to address the effects of ACEs and trauma in a rural setting.

By Natalia Orozco, National Crittenton, December 5, 2019 National Crittenton is a 136-year-old national advocacy organization with a singular focus on the needs, potential, and power of girls and young people across the gender spectrum, centering those of color. The public education system has always been our best chance at having an early warning system that recognizes the complex context of students’ lives – ideally offering safety, support and opportunities for students to heal, learn and...

By Richard Besser, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, December 2, 2019 Next year will mark 30 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became federal law—first of its kind legislation that outlawed discrimination against people living with physical or mental disabilities. It was a culmination of decades of challenging societal barriers that limited access and full participation of people with disabilities. And yet in spite of the ADA’s passage, we still have a long way to go before...

This past Friday, December 6, I attended the "Moving Equity to the Center - Part 2" forum in Fresno, CA. The morning began with the usual networking and acquiring of refreshments. The conversations were enlightening and engaging. I was able to meet several individuals who work in the Fresno community, and provided valuable insight to how issues are being confronted and addressed in Fresno County. Once we sat down we were addressed by Linda Gleason the founding Director of The Children's...

A baby born prematurely often spends that crucial time for attachment and development of neural pathways in the NICU

By Food Research & Action Center and Think Babies, December 2019 These fact sheets provide national and state-specific rates of hunger and poverty experienced by infants and toddlers, and highlight that too many young children in our nation experience food insecurity and poverty and do not get the nutrition they need. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Strong federal nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition...

By Jessica Gardezy, Center for Youth Wellness, December 3, 2019 The Center for Youth Wellness (CYW) announced today it is partnering with two leading U.S. health systems in the Southeast to launch a screening program on childhood adversity. CYW's National Pediatric Practice Community (NPPC) has done on-site training at the headquarters of Atrium Health and Novant Health in Charlotte, N.C., in preparation for trauma screening at six pediatric clinics across the city. The Charlotte-based...

I was doing a translation for a classmate of mine and I struggled to find a valid ACEs questionnaire in Spanish. I searched all over the internet and a lot of them had tons of gramatical issues, including spelling errors and using an informal pronoun. I took it upon myself to then come up with a better version that could be used to reach the Spanish speaking community. This questionnaire lacks the point system portion but that is a portion that is for the staff giving the survey. If you have...