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As a mental health advocate, I find it very difficult to explain to my Russian - speaking family what exactly I am doing. Aside from all the pressure that I am dealing with because I am unable to earn a livable wage with my writing, I also have a difficulty translating some of the themes that I am writing about without stigmatizing myself and other members of the mental health community. This could probably make a good TED talk subject and there will be a day when I will run my mouth on...

Satsuki Ina was not yet born when the Emperor Hirohito ordered a bombing raid on Pearl Harbor and, in response, the U.S. government rounded up residents of Japanese extraction on the West Coast, bussing them to internment camps. She was born in one of those camps, a maximum security facility built at Tanforan Race Track, where her mother and father were living in a horse stable. Ina, now a 74-year-old psychotherapist and respected expert in child trauma, knows that the way she came into the...

In June, a group of Crawford County residents who are active participants in local work to create a trauma-informed community had the opportunity to attend a six-day workshop in Pittsburgh led by Reverend Paul Abernathy. Reverend Abernathy is the Director of FOCUS Pittsburgh and is part of a coalition that is leading the way in trauma-informed community development ( TICD ). We were joined by other groups from across the country including folks from Petersburg , Virginia , Richmond ,...

Hovering above Broad Street in New Orleans, directly across from Criminal District Court, is a billboard depicting Dr. Denese Shervington standing along the Mississippi River. She stares confidently back into the camera next to an oft-repeated quote of hers: "Untreated trauma is the underbelly of violence." "I really wanted to have that there because I want the judges to start thinking a little bit more about what they're doing, especially with young kids that come before them," said...

A crime was planned, then committed. Now, we’re waiting to learn if the U.S. criminal justice system has the capacity to punish the powerful perpetrators. That might sound like news about the Trump gang colluding with Russian agents or paying off a porn star in 2016. But due to the extraordinary nature of the Trump administration, those are not the only chains of events that could fit the description. It also describes the administration’s policy of separating children from their...

When Tenaja Jordan came out to her parents at 17 years old, they kicked her out of their home. As a teenager, she was still considered a child in the eyes of the state, and was immediately placed into New York City's child welfare system. Following the trauma of the situation, one question remained on Jordan's mind: Where was she going to live? Jordan made her needs clear to child welfare workers: She didn't want to live on Staten Island or with a homophobic guardian. But that's exactly...

The Healing Foundation recently released the first demographic study of the stolen generations and their descendants. The report , collated by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), is the first time we’ve had comprehensive data to prove that the stolen generations are sicker and poorer than their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters, who are already at a disadvantage compared to non-Indigenous Australians. But we can’t forget the people behind the data...

Adverse childhood experiences are incredibly common, and a local organization is looking to spread the word about what are commonly referred to as ACEs. According to a Centers for Disease Control study conducted from 1995 to 1997, ACEs can affect not only a person’s behavior and physical health later in life, but also how their offspring are wired. The study looked at more than 17,000 Californians’ childhood experiences as compared to their health and behavior as adults, and it focused on 10...

Since an immigrant who was reported to be undocumented was charged in the murder of an Iowa college student, conservatives have seized on the crime as proof of a need for more stringent immigration policies. "You saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful woman [Mollie Tibbetts]," President Donald Trump said at a West Virginia rally on Tuesday. "Should have never happened ... the immigration laws are such a disgrace. We're getting them changed." Tibbetts, a 20-year-old student at the...

W hen baby Rodrigo was born, he didn’t make a sound. Lucy Gomez had been in a Fresno County hospital for a week since she first showed signs of labor. She'd reached only 23 weeks in her pregnancy before she gave birth—barely within the realm of viability for life outside the womb—and something was very wrong. She remembers her doctor directing her not to push her placenta out, but to keep it intact until the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) team arrived. “He's been born in his sac,” the...

Human evolution has been hijacked by overthinking, but there’s a solution. To view the 2-minute video clip, please click here.

From time to time, researchers, policy makers, philanthropy and practitioners all join together in a coordinated response to the most pressing issues facing America’s youth. I’ve been involved with this process for long enough to have participated in each of these roles. I recall during the early 1990s experts promoted the term ‘ resiliency ‘ which is the capacity to adapt, navigate and bounce back from adverse and challenging life experiences. Researchers and practitioners alike clamored...