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Danielle Del Plato When someone becomes homeless, the instinct is to ask what tragedy befell them. What bad choices did they make with drugs or alcohol? What prevented them from getting a higher-paying job? Why did they have more children than they could afford? Why didn’t they make rent? Identifying personal failures or specific tragedies helps those of us who have homes feel less precarious—if homelessness is about personal failure, it’s easier to dismiss as something that couldn’t happen...

Photo: Courtesy of Alliance for Safety and Justice In a new book, Lenore Anderson says the legal system doesn’t serve most victims or alleviate unaddressed trauma. For decades, the cause of victims’ rights has been one of the most powerful political movements in the US. From the 1980s to 2010s, advocates worked with law enforcement to transform the criminal justice system, passing more than 32,000 laws explicitly in the name of victims. Fueled by backlash to the civil rights era, white...

Loss of parental rights can be the ultimate punishment from a court. Unpaid debts for foster care can delay the reunion. Some parents are still getting bills even though the feds told states to stop. When parents go through periods of crisis and their children are at risk, the state steps in. Kids go to foster care. A judge tells parents all the things they need to do to get their kids back. For mothers and fathers, it's often a confusing process, especially in one state where NPR...

Our first training of the new year, Circles of Safety: Awareness to Action , is open for registration! Overview: In a virtual classroom setting, attendees will become better prepared to support children’s healthy and safe sexual development, identify and respond to warning signs in children and adult’s behaviors in their programs, and design safety plans to address safe boundaries, privacy, consent and respect. In an interactive online environment, participants will discuss barriers to...

HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences) is a growing framework that has spread across the U.S. and world this year. The framework brings hope to many who work to incorporate it into their organization and day to day interactions with children and families. Here at the HOPE National Resource Center (NRC) we see the hard work people are putting into implementing HOPE, training others on HOPE, and sharing the HOPE framework with their coworkers. After such an amazing year working with...

Home for the holidays and what it entails - I do enjoy the lights, the festive feelings in the air, seeing friends, seeing kids and people happy....and mindful of the hard times so many are facing. But truth be told, I can't wait for the holidays to be over. They were a time of pain and suffering as a child and as an adult they are a constant reminder/trigger to the past feelings and memories of abuse. Yesterday, Dec 26 was Betty Skinner's birthday - one of my many pedophile perpetrators,...

History. Culture. Trauma. debuted this year. Our first year has been a success and we are grateful to all of our listeners. We will return in the new year with new episodes and new guests. What better way to close out this year than with our debut episode? The guest was PACEs Connection's founder, Jane Stevens. Long-time health, science and technology journalist Jane Stevens joins PACEs Connection CEO Ingrid Cockhren to do a deep dive into why people aren’t getting an accurate picture about...

As we’ve learned through the ACE Study, those with a high ACE score are more likely to suffer from heart disease, stroke, cancer, COPD, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and suicide—seven of the ten leading causes of death in adults. A high ACE Score also increases one’s risk of mental illness later in life, including addiction.

Gratitude is proven highly beneficial as a daily practice, not just something we save for the holidays. Learn a couple of easy ways to practice gratitude, and find out how to get personalized support to heal from ACEs and live the stress-free life you deserve.

A recent photo of Lisa Hofmeister (second from left) with her family. Note: PACEs Connection is in dire financial straits. We need you, our almost 58,000 members, to help us cover the loss of foundation funding that was promised and did not come through . Unfortunately, staff pay and hours were cut for December. The good news is that, since sounding the alarm this summer, we’ve raised more than $65,000 thanks to all of your who donated. To get a sense of who your fellow members are, who is...

The HOPE National Resource Center (NRC) began the Train the Facilitator program in August, 2021. Since that time, HOPE has certified 154 people to provide the Introduction to HOPE, with another 96 people either currently in process or registered to begin the training in the coming months. We have also added a second-level certification, HOPE Champions , for our Facilitators who want to go beyond the introduction and provide HOPEful technical assistance. Since launching this summer, the...

“ Hope is being able to see the light despite all the darkness.” - Desmond Tutu “ Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you - all of the expectations, all of the beliefs - and becoming who you are.” - Rachel Naomi Remen The latest Surviving Spirit Newsletter - Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health is out - It can be read online via this & you can also subscribe -...