Blog

Happy Holidays! In my work with the Greater Richmond Trauma Informed Community Network , I work with organizations on becoming more trauma informed. One of the areas we look at it is how sensitive an organization's physical space is to the needs of those who've experienced trauma and ACES. Is this physical space adding additional stress to an already overwhelmed individual? How is the space promoting psychological as well as physical safety? Are there opportunities in this space to promote...

Full essay by Sejal Patel

Advancing Your Professional Development 19th Annual Families and Fathers National 2018 Conference February 19-23, 2018, Los Angeles Sheraton Gateway LAX Hotel 6101 West Century Boulevard Los Angeles, California 90045 We're excited to share with you Special Credentials & Certifications Offered @19th Annual Families and Fathers Conference for the professional journey of others working with children, youth, couples, fathers and take for their own inspiration these six (6) featured...

The MacArthur Foundation will give $100 million to Elmo, Big Bird and their buddies to massively scale up early childhood development programs for Syrian refugees Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee won a global competition by the MacArthur Foundation seeking solutions to what the judges called "a critical problem of our time." With this huge grant from the MacArthur Foundation (which also gives to NPR), the IRC and Sesame Workshop plan to launch what they're describing as...

Here are the top 10 most popular guided mindfulness practices from Mindful.org in 2017. You can listen to the tracks embedded below, or follow the link in the title of each practice to see full transcriptions of practice instructions. 1) A 7-minute mindfulness practice to shift out of “doing” mode Noticing self-perpetuating thought patterns is a core mindfulness skill. Take a moment to examine how it feels to disengage from a busy mind and shift into “being” mode with this practice from...

A year ago, I wrote this blog, urging a shift from focusing primarily on self-care as the antidote to vicarious trauma/secondary traumatic stress to a broader concept of creating cultures of staff wellness and resilience which includes self-care as well as changes in organizational practices, protocols and policy. It is gratifying to see visible progress toward that shift as illustrated by two recent articles. One from the Worcester Telegram about a proposed policy by the Massachusetts...

Some excerpts from this essay by Kat Jaibur in the Medium . Full essay. Cissy's Note: Note: There have been years when I've tried to fast forward the time between Thanksgiving and New Years'. There were too many getting together things in a time when I didn't know how to say or stand up for what I wanted, needed OR how to deal with the feelings, responses or feedback from others if I did. So, it seemed I was stuck in a hard place no matter what I did or didn't do. My solution was to sleep,...

Visit the website to learn more and sign up for updates.

JAKARTA — Rasdiono remembers when the sea was a good distance from his doorstep, down a hill. Back then he opened the cramped, gaily painted bayside shack he named the Blessed Bodega, where he and his family sell catfish heads, spiced eggs and fried chicken. It was strange, Rasdiono said. Year by year, the water crept closer. The hill gradually disappeared. Now the sea loomed high over the shop, just steps away, held back only by a leaky wall. With climate change, the Java Sea is rising and...

Your disabilities do not mean you can’t choose what you want to do with your life. I have made it my mission to communicate to other young people like me. I do this in part by telling them about my personal journey: I was almost 21 and I had no idea where I was going in life. With a dual diagnosis of “mild intellectual disability” and autism, I never felt like I had a voice, a choice or any idea what the future held. [For more on this story by KEVIN FORTUNATO, go to...

As Hurricane Matthew stalled over the eastern part of North Carolina in October 2016, large parts of Edgecombe County were inundated. The storm damaged about 3,500 buildings across the county and at least 250 filled with more than four feet of water. Thousands were displaced from their homes and forced into makeshift shelters. When the Tar River peaked, it drowned the town of Princeville. Edgecombe residents young and old were caught in the disaster. The flooding displaced many students at...

I was at my dentists office the other day when I heard the assistant, I’ll call her Emily, talking with the office receptionist. Emily asked her boyfriend to buy an anxiety cube. My ears perked up when I heard the word “anxiety” so I asked how the cube worked and if she suffered with a lot of anxiety. She smiled sheepishly nodding yes. I told her I was a psychotherapist and asked if she wanted me to share a bit of education that might help. She and the office receptionist both nodded yes. I...