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As many as 9 out of 10 black parents and 57 percent of Latino parents nationwide believe that schools in their communities are underfunded compared to those in white communities. They also believe that racism is the second biggest obstacle for their children to receive a high-quality education, according to the second annual New Education Majority Poll . Black and Latino parents also believe that academic rigor and high expectations should be a priority for their children’s education. Nearly...

When Heather Kiausas was seven weeks pregnant, one of her third graders punched her in the stomach. Ms. Kiausas, an elementary school teacher with seven years of experience teaching in Philadelphia public schools, had up until then handled the child’s behavior issues – on that day, refusing to complete his work, getting out of his seat, and distracting classmates – by following school protocol: first talking with the student, then recess detention, then calls home, and eventually pink slips...

This document is designed as a guide for organizations working to become trauma informed. It is not limited to any particular system or type of organization so addresses the issues from a broad perspective. An organization’s Human Resources (HR) structure may vary in its formality and breadth of responsibility therefore concepts outlined in this document may need to be adapted to match the needs of an organization/agency/business. [Read the pdf at ...

Rocsana Enriquez started thinking about yoga again when she was pregnant. She was 19 and in an abusive relationship. When she was younger, Rocsana, whom I interviewed as part of my research, had taken part in a yoga program in a San Francisco Bay Area juvenile hall run by The Art of Yoga Project . She began using the skills she learned on the mat to slow herself down when she got angry and to pause before reacting. She remembered the breathing techniques and poses that made her feel better...

The next online chat event in the 2017 series is fast approaching. Date: Tuesday, June 13th, 2017 (10 AM PST / 1 PM EST) Topic: Parenting, PTSD & ACEs. Guests: Dawn Daum & Joyelle Brandt are parents, writers, advocates and trauma survivors. Together, they edited the forthcoming Parenting with PTSD anthology and created an online community for parents recovering from childhood abuse. They educate mental health, human service and other professionals about the challenges and lived...

San Francisco — The sun was preternaturally bright the day Clare Senchyna’s 26 year-old son Camilo, her only child, was shot and killed in a random act of violence in San Francisco. On that morning two years ago, Ms. Senchyna drew the orange curtains in her bedroom, pulled up her blankets and stayed in bed for much of the next several months. It seemed to her an appropriate response to the end of the world. Her son, an emergency medical technician, had been out celebrating the completion of...

Why does President Trump behave in the dangerous and seemingly self-destructive ways he does? Three decades ago, I spent nearly a year hanging around Trump to write his first book , “ The Art of the Deal ,” and got to know him very well. I spent hundreds of hours listening to him, watching him in action and interviewing him about his life. To me, none of what he has said or done over the past four months as president comes as a surprise. The way he has behaved over the past two weeks —...

The country’s first countywide digital early learning program can trace its roots back 26 years, to the day Barbara Nemko, now the Napa County, California, superintendent of schools, was listening to her young nephew have a conversation with an adult. “At that moment, it occurred to me he was going to go to kindergarten with kids who didn’t speak English,” she tells The 74. “That disparity was daunting, but it was more of an observation that gnawed at me.” Two decades later, Nemko was able...

I was such a mother. I was also the daughter of an alcoholic. My mom died earlier this year. When a mother loves an alcoholic or is raised by an alcoholic, she is changed in profound ways - ways she has no idea are even present, yet ways that make her a confounding figure in her children's lives. At the root of these "ways" is her adverse childhood experiences. As I shared recently in my post, The Legacy of Untreated Secondhand Drinking ACEs , "[My] Mom and I talked about my realization that...

For those of you who like podcasts, I'm sharing this interview I did with Laura Reagan on her show, "Therapy Chat.” In the interview we basically discuss three things: AEDP: the type of emotion-centered, trauma-healing, psychotherapy that I practice most. Emotions: why we feel what we feel, and why we feel better when we learn to live effectively with a rich emotional life. And, especially, The Change Triangle: The Change Triangle is my passion. It’s a tool that helps people improve their...

Even though acceptance is growing for LGBT teens, the world isn’t quite changing fast enough: Multiple recent studies show that LGBT teens have less life satisfaction and more depression than their straight peers, in part because so many face harassment. LGBT teens are more likely to be suspended or expelled from schools, sometimes because they were trying to protect themselves from bullies . Other kids might drop out on their own or switch to a different school in search of a more welcoming...

Parents are often reminded to keep harmful substances out of their child’s reach. But what if a child’s experiences at home were as toxic to their health as household solvents and cleaners? On a basic level, toxins are poisonous substances that lead to disease. Although not stored in a bottle or on a shelf, stress in childhood meets the criteria. The phrase “ toxic stress ” describes the body’s reaction to negative experiences that are not only intense and chronic but also caused by the...