Blog

When the Teaching Tolerance Educator Grants program launched in 2017, we wanted to support educators in embedding anti-bias principles throughout their schools, creating affirming school climates and educating youth to thrive in a diverse democracy. An important aspect of this work is meaningfully addressing the ways in which racial injustice grounds American history and our present. This year, two educators who received Teaching Tolerance Educator Grants braved the topics of white supremacy...

“Images and news reports of tear gas being used on children and families seeking asylum at our border have stunned and shaken pediatricians just as they have so many others across the country. Our objection to this type of treatment of children and their parents is grounded in our own policy: “The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all immigrant children and families seeking safe haven are treated with dignity and respect to protect their health and well-being. Children who are...

Over 11 million undocumented immigrants reside in the United States. Many arrived as children, attended school in the U.S. and consider the country their home. Over 60 percent of the undocumented population has lived in the U.S. for 10 years or more. However, undocumented students face substantial barriers to higher education due to their legal status. This brief outlines key facts about the barriers undocumented students face in terms of access to higher education. Undocumented families...

This is a love-offering from a highly trained trauma-coach, healer, and activist Victor Lee Lewis. (See Links below) My friend, mentor and colleague of 18 years, Victor Lee Lewis is offering a 90 minute online training for "Rapid Pain Relief" for individuals and healing professionals. The modality is called Emotional Freedom Technique (or tapping). He describes it as a highly effective, portable, simple way of activating one's own acupuncture meridians for rapid relief with gentle tapping...

ACEs Connection Webinar: The trauma toll on pediatric immigrants, refugees and their families You’ll receive tips for health care providers in pediatric settings and beyond When: Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, 10:30-11:30 am Pacific Time/1:30-2:30 Eastern Time Please register here for this webinar. Our speakers include: Dr. Heyman Oo , MD MPH is a primary care pediatrician in Marin County and an Associate Physician/Clinical Instructor for the General Pediatrics Department at Zuckerberg San Francisco...

Lara Kain is an experienced educator, consultant, and national speaker on implementing ACEs science and trauma-informed practices into schools and communities, with a focus on building holistic trauma-responsive systems. She brings over two decades of experience at the local, state, and national level. Before joining ACEs Connection, she developed trauma-informed community schools in Los Angeles, worked for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction supporting school improvement and as...

“The most striking thing I heard was that when kids were highly escalated in the lower part of their brain, they physiologically can’t learn or take in new knowledge and problem-solve,” Sporleder recounted to participants in “Trauma-informed Schools: A conversation with Jim Sporleder”, an ACEs Connection webinar held on Nov. 19, 2018.

June 17, 2018. The day that would change my life forever. I started drinking at the young age of 14. I fell in love with being drunk. I felt like it made life a lot more fun and entertaining. I felt like it made me a lot more sociable and likable person. It helped ease my nerves in a social environment and made me not care what others thought about me. To be frank, it made me not care at all. I liked the feeling of security and invincibility when I was intoxicated. It wasn’t until after...

As an anxious air traveler I am frequently not the most serene person with whom to travel. Consequently, on a recent Sunday morning, traveling from Florida to New York with my husband and son, I was pleased by the ease of a process that is often so taxing. With few travelers about, flights on time and virtually no lines, we sped through security exceptionally fast. Upon boarding, I noticed a boy, actually a young man – he looked to be about eighteen or nineteen, seated in my son’s assigned...

CHEVERLY, Md. ― When Che Bullock awoke in a hospital in August 2013, the first thing he felt was grateful to be alive. He’d been stabbed 13 times outside a nightclub in the Washington, D.C., area and taken by helicopter to a medical center, where doctors performed lifesaving surgery. Bullock’s sense of relief quickly faded, first into physical pain and anxiety, then into fear and finally into a rage toward his attackers. “It was kind of like they put a hit out on me,” said Bullock, now 30.

America is suffering an epidemic of loneliness. According to a recent large-scale survey from the health care provider Cigna, most Americans suffer from strong feelings of loneliness and a lack of significance in their relationships. Nearly half say they sometimes or always feel alone or “left out.” Thirteen percent of Americans say that zero people know them well. The survey, which charts social isolation using a common measure known as the U.C.L.A. Loneliness Scale, shows that loneliness...

Executive function and self-regulation skills are like an air traffic control system in the brain—they help us manage information, make decisions, and plan ahead. We need these skills at every stage of life, and while no one is born with them, we are all born with the potential to develop them. But, how do we do that? The Center on the Developing Child created this Guide to Executive Function to walk you through everything you need to know about these skills and how to develop and practice...