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All my life I’ve been living in the fast lane Can’t slow down, I’m a rolling freight train One more time, gotta start all over Can’t slow down I’m a lone red rover Oh how did it come to this? Lyrics from “Polaroid” by Imagine Dragons From an early age many of us learn the importance of independence, hard work, and “measuring up” to expectations. We push ourselves to excel, do more, and be better than our peers. But few people end up living a life they enjoy by striving full-tilt all the...

Exposure to early life trauma can lead to poor physical and mental health in some individuals, which can be passed on to their children. Studies in mice show that at least some of the effects of stress can be transmitted to offspring via environmentally-induced changes in sperm miRNA levels. A new epigenetics study raises the possibility that the same is true in humans. It shows for the first time that the levels of the same two sperm miRNAs change in both men and mice exposed to early life...

Plans change. That was a key lesson learned by the San Diego Trauma-Informed Guide Team (SD-TIGT) as the group worked to hone a strategic plan. The network had begun as a grass-roots collaborative, and members wanted to preserve that sense of openness and inclusion. At the same time, with Harmonium, Inc., as the backbone organization and the MARC grant as an impetus, the network also needed structure, goals and clearly defined roles. Already, the Guide Team’s focus had shifted; what began in...

The Solano Family Justice Center and First 5 Solano are among the organizations that recently received grants to support education and outreach to help reduce stigma around mental illness. The two local grants are part of a larger $2 million investment by Kaiser Permanente to support community organizations. In all, 25 Northern California organizations were awarded community health grants, including school districts, youth and family services and community coalitions that bring together a...

COLUMBIA, SC For the past 10 years, United Way of the Midlands has increasingly focused resources on helping vulnerable children succeed by supporting tutoring, kindergarten preparation, high-quality child care and social support to families and children experiencing homelessness, with a range of housing assistance from prevention and shelter to permanent housing. In 2013, we initiated the Youth in Transition movement, for 17- to 24-year-olds who are homeless or vulnerable to homelessness.

BALTIMORE — Some of the city's toughest communities, those plagued by crime and drugs, are also notorious for another adverse distinction: having a high number of children who have been abused. Park Heights in northwest Baltimore has long had the reputation of being crime-ridden, failing in housing and booming with liquor and corner stores. It's part of the 21215 ZIP code. "That ZIP code has a disproportionate high number of child victims of abuse and other traumas there," said Adam...

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In Western culture, parenting is often about control. "We think of obedience from a control angle. Somebody is in charge and the other one is doing what they are told because they have to," says Barbara Rogoff , a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who has studied the Maya culture for 30 years. And if you pay attention to the way parents interact with children in our society, the idea is blazingly obvious. We tend to boss them around. "Put your shoes on!" or "Eat your...

In April 2016, the Attitudes Related to Trauma-Informed Care (ARTIC) Scale was released. It remains one of the only psychometrically-valid measures of trauma-informed care (TIC) available. In only two years, the ARTIC has been used by over 150 entities in 10 countries, translated into 4 languages, and administered to over 25,000 professionals. In response to rapidly-increasing interest in the ARTIC Scale, this FREE webinar will provide updated information for those considering whether the...

Parents these days are stressed. So are their kids. The root of this anxiety, one scholar says, is the way we understand the relationship between parents and children. Alison Gopnik , a psychology and philosophy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, thinks parents—especially middle-class parents—view their children as entities they can mold into a specific image. "The idea is that if you just do the right things, get the right skills, read the right books, you're going to be...

Not only have many public health interventions in the United States been hugely successful, but they’ve also saved more money than they’ve cost. And yet Americans spend relatively little money in that domain and far more on medical care that returns less value for its costs. Instead of continually complaining about how much is being spent on health care with little to show for it, maybe we should direct more of that money to public health. What Do We Mean by Public Health? It encompasses...

“I wasn’t allowed to talk about anything, the way I found I could talk about what was happening in my life was through these surrealistic drawings and paintings that I’d create. Because my upbringing was so traumatic, I used that as an escape.” In foster care at age 9, Miriam Cortez learned that creating art was her way to work through pain and suffering. In her early twenties, her art still has a haunting quality and when you look at some of the pieces she creates, you find yourself being...