Blog

When I was invited to deliver the Keynote Speech on Trauma, Food and the Body at the “9th” Annual SCTC Conference in October I immediately pinpointed my biggest area of trauma, sexual abuse. I wrote about my sexual abuse and how it contributed to me developing an eating disorder in my memoir so this was a no brainer for me. Then I began to create my power point presentation. I decided to revisit the ACES test, (adverse childhood experiences), that not only identifies trauma but also...

What does it mean to be truly resilient? Using equal parts narrative and humor, psychologist, author, and biologist Joan Borysenko explains what the arc of transformation looks like, and means, for the clients who come to us during times of suffering. According to Borysenko, suffering arises when we encounter interruptions to "life as usual." Like Virgil's Dante, she says, we encounter a type of purgatorio in our darkest moments, which also serve as periods of reflection. Here, she says, we...

Being frequently yelled at changes the mind, brain and body in a multitude of ways including increasing the activity of the amygdala (the emotional brain), increasing stress hormones in the blood stream, increasing muscular tension, and more.

Social workers, law enforcement officers and other children’s advocates gathered Wednesday for the first day of the West Virginia Children’s Justice “Handle With Care” Conference to learn more about child trauma, intervention and ways to help children become successful. In a state that leads the nation for opioid overdose deaths and babies born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, West Virginia children are often witnesses to and victims of trauma. The West Virginia Defending Childhood...

National Suicide Prevention Week was September 10th to the 16th. As a child and family therapist, supervisor, and person who works on planning, designing, implementing, and administering child and family service programs, I thought a lot this year about the role trauma plays in relation to suicidal behavior in children, adolescents, and adults. It has been determined events that impact development, such as childhood trauma, can sharply increase suicidal risk. The idea that the primary factor...

Last month I came across a thread on Facebook about unhelpful recovery terms. This thread mentioned that using certain phrases—like dry drunk—to describe someone else’s recovery was unhelpful. Some believe it to be judgmental, prohibitive, exclusive, and narrow-minded. It implies a level of superiority to certain modalities of recovery; that someone who is abstinent is simply coasting along and still acting in a way that isn’t congruent with their—altogether subjective—perception of...

It is becoming increasingly clear that diverting individuals from the juvenile justice system, which is consistent with public safety and still holds offenders accountable, is generally a best-practice concept. This can have a significant impact on public safety by increasing successful life outcomes for young people. A crime prevented is far better than a crime successfully adjudicated. Having spent my career in the juvenile justice field and now serving as a Virginia state senator, I have...

Amid deepening inequality in America’s cities, there have been increasingly urgent calls for economic growth to be more inclusive. There’s also growing recognition that with President Donald Trump in office and Republicans in charge of Congress and many states, this is an area where cities and local governments will have to lead. I recently wrote about how anchor institutions like universities, medical centers, big tech companies, and real estate developers must become partners in inclusive...

You may have read about Michael Hamill, the “hot cop” from Gainesville, Florida, who became famous for his hunky good looks shortly after Hurricane Irma made landfall in the Sunshine State. You may recall that Hamill’s fame immediately exposed him as someone who was comfortable making anti-Semitic jokes online , a transgression for which he promptly was suspended . Over the past few years, the news has been filled with stories of police officers disciplined for posting material online that...

The Endocrine Society, an international organization of medical experts and biological researchers, has released a new set of guidelines for caring for transgender patients. Along with the guidelines, the organization has issued a position statement calling on federal and private insurers to cover the costs of all medical interventions a physician might prescribe for a transgender patient, including hormone replacement therapies and surgeries. The updated guidelines and position statement...

"Evidence with neurofeedback suggests that trauma-informed treatment should also be brain-informed treatment- and not just to know that the brain is an issue, but to work with it directly.” Sebern Fisher, Neuofeedback in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma: Calming the Fear-Driven Brain. Neurofeedback for ACEs: Chat with Sebern Fisher Oct. 10th (10 AM PST / 1 PM EST) Chats are live, online discussions - not webinars. We gather and connect, via chat messaging to share stories, resources,...

Emilia Szmyrgala turned into a zombie during midterms and finals — a sleepless, non-showering, isolated study monster focused entirely on acing her exams. The 21-year-old senior at UCLA remembers it being worse in her freshman and sophomore years. When she got into this mode, she might not eat anything all day, except for some Twizzlers. Fears of failure crept in, and life became overwhelming. “As I got older, I realized I have to take care of myself,” Szmyrgala said. “Even in those finals...