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I believe all sentient beings should be free to roam. It’s our birthright. Both Karla, the Harvard-educated, formerly undocumented immigrant journalist and advocate featured in this film, and I share this view about the human migration, so we open this film with a radical declaration: “If you crossed, if you made the journey, if people did what it takes [to survive as an] immigrant in America, which is a lot, then you deserve to be here,” says Karla. She goes on to profess that recent desert...

Wednesday May 29 th , 2019 10:00-11:30 CST/ 11:00-12:30 EST Join the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative for this important webinar with sociologist Ruth Thompson Miller to discuss the enduring traumatic legacy of Jim Crow and how this trauma is reflected in the United States today. Dr. Thompson Miller will discuss her idea of “Segregation Stress Syndrome”- the chronic, enduring, and extremely painful responses to collective trauma that occurred during Jim Crow, and whose effects are still...

Psychiatric disorders definitely have a genetic component. And that, in addition to the trauma that most black people, particularly black women, endure in their lifetimes means that what may lie dormant is invariably loosed. Sometimes it looks like your auntie, who has barely left her room in 15 years. Sometimes it looks like your daddy, whose rage is so palpable that you can actually feel it; sometimes it’s drinking every night to take the edge off. Read more .

The Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative is excited to honor the first Trauma-Informed Awareness Day in Illinois! Conceived by the Community Behavioral Health Association of Illinois and supported by research conducted by the Collaborative, Trauma-Informed Awareness Day is sponsored by State Senator Julie Morrison of Deerfield, as well as numerous others who have joined the senator in recognizing the importance of trauma-informed care and resilience. Trauma-Informed Care Day calls upon the...

Every Tuesday morning this school year, Sammie and I have visited the kids at Terrace Park Elementary school. Sammie melts my heart as I witness her work her therapy dog magic with these sweet little humans. The idea of helping a child who is experiencing anxiety or feelings of overwhelm touches me on a soul level. I know how much small gestures of kindness and gentle acceptance meant to me as a child.

When Jose Luis Garza was arrested for threatening his brother during an intoxicated argument, his mother begged the police to keep watch of him. "I'm afraid of him hurting himself," she told the arresting officer early one morning in February of 2016. Watchfulness did not ensue. Despite his mother's warnings, the local jail in the border town of Donna, Texas, took no mental-health precautions. Instead, in the hours after Garza covered the camera in his cell with wet paper towels, no one...

Over the last several years, the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court (JDRDC) of Fairfax County, Va., has been working on transformative efforts around juvenile justice in an effort to keep low-risk youth from entering the system and address disparities for youth of color. One large area targeted by these efforts was the diversion programming and Juvenile Intake Office. In Virginia, intake officers are decision-makers. It is their responsibility to review charges from petitioners...

The research on brain stimulation is advancing so quickly, and the findings are so puzzling, that a reader might feel tempted to simply pre-order a genius cap from Amazon, to make sense of it all later. In just the past month, scientists reported enhancing the working memory of older people, using electric current passed through a skullcap, and restoring some cognitive function in a brain-damaged woman, using implanted electrodes. Most recently, the Food and Drug Administration approved a...

Several factors have been associated with the development of asthma and asthma-related morbidity and mortality. Exposures in the environment such as allergens and air pollutants have traditionally been linked to the risk of asthma and asthma outcomes. More recent literature has identified chronic psychosocial stress as an additional environmental exposure to consider in relation to asthma. Adverse childhood events (ACEs) and chronic and toxic stress have been associated with chronic diseases...

In 2012, Waupaca County's health and human services department was hemorrhaging employees, particularly within its child protection and juvenile justice programs. "There was just a lot of turnover," said Chuck Price, who took over as director of the department around that time. "We needed a culture of change." Price and his colleague, deputy director Shannon Kelly, recalled a culture that seemed to place a higher value on bureaucratic outcomes than on fostering positive human connections.

Once in a while, you come across a special person who lights up a room, even virtually. This describes Annalyce D'Agostino (Annie) who is the creative mind behind Blooming Buddies Workshop. Imagine Blue's Clues meets Tinker Bell, that is what I think of when I watched Blooming Buddies first episode. Annie is our guest blogger this week. I am passionate about early education and bringing the best and most innovative experiences to my students. When I showed my preschool students Blooming...

Deadline is May 20, 2019 The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health will present a thematic report to the 74th UN General assembly in October 2019 on the role of medical education in strengthening the health workforce, including doctors and other health workers. For a detailed explanation of the feedback sought, please see the relevant extended note . In a snap-shot the Special Rapporteur...