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The Stockade Paradox says that we must accept the brutal realities of our existence, yet maintaining enduring hope that we will prevail in the end. I have applied the Paradox to my study of ACE's which began in 2008. I was an early advocate for addressing ACEs in Alaska. In 2013 I wrote a resolution for a Representative in Alaska that called for considering ACEs in health and other policies in Alaska. It took years, but the Representative and other allies improved the resolution I submitted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSnCEGHcPYc Rev. Dr. Phillip Fleming, BA, CRPA, NYCPS-P, CCAR-RC, Hon. D.Div. U.L.C. WCNY-IPA Regional Peer Network Coordinator, New York City Region Peer Specialist, Bee Well LLC, Fountain House Volunteer, Baltic Street Resource and Wellness Center CCAR-Designated Recovery Coach Fountain House Board of Directors and Council Member Board Member, New York Association of Black Psychologists Ordained Minister, Universal Life Church Ministries Honorary Doctor of...

By Brian Howey, Wesley Lowery, and Steven Rich, Photo: Matthew Staver/The Washington Post, October 21, 2022 The way Kenneth Gilbert Jr. and his father tell the story, it had been a busy morning running errands in east Atlanta when their pickup was suddenly cut off by a dark truck and forced onto the curb. Once Gilbert Sr. got back on the road, he said, the truck swerved back into their lane. Gilbert Sr. said he hit the gas and sped around it, making a sweeping motion with his hand as he...

By Emma Bubola, Photo: Mashid Mohadjerin/The New York Times, The New York Times, October 21, 2022 By the time her extraordinarily wealthy grandmother died last month, Marlene Engelhorn already knew who she wanted to be the ultimate beneficiary of the enormous inheritance coming her way: the tax man. “The dream scenario is I get taxed,” said Ms. Engelhorn, the co-founder of a group called Tax Me Now. Ms. Engelhorn, a 30-year-old who grew up in Vienna, is part of a growing movement of young,...

By Hallie Golden, Photo: Mad River Brewing Company, The Guardian, October 23, 2022 T hese days, you’ll see them sprinkled across Oracle Park, the stadium of the San Francisco Giants: bright blue cans with images of a steelhead fish flapping above a waterway, a deer with its head to the ground or a dam in the Klamath River. The cans are produced by the Mad River Brewing Company, owned by the largest federally recognized Indigenous nation in California , the Yurok Tribe. And in April, they...

While the process of forgiving painful offenses from childhood can be very difficult, efforts to forgive bring great rewards. The process begins with acknowledging the pain, applying self-compassion, and taking even small and faltering steps to get the forgiveness ball rolling.

As a clinician, researcher and policy specialist devoted to the prevention and treatment of the ill effects of child abuse and neglect (CAN), I read “Recommendations for Population-Based Applications of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study: Position Statement by the American College of Preventive Medicine”, a position statement by the American College of Preventive medicine, with dismay . (Sherin KM, Stillerman A, Chandrasekar L, Went N, Niebuhr DW. Recommendations for Population-Based...

Covid. I am so over it. It's been two and a half long years. I'm done. I'm tired. I'm exhausted. I am fed up. I am still scared. I am shocked and surprised. How many more feeling words can I find to talk about Covid? Somebody asked the other day, "Can we be grieving because of Covid?" Absolutely, yes. For all of us, grief is the normal and natural response to change or loss of any kind. Over these two and a half years, we've experienced a lot of change, and most of it was not our own making.

Hope is different than optimism. It’s better. If you’ve been following my posts lately, I’ve been discussing how hope (as measured using the Adult Hope Scale) acts a personal resource against burnout, low job satisfaction, and PTSD, for example. For most people, the science of hope is a new concept. We use hope as if it were a wish - “I hope it doesn’t rain” or “I hope you’re feeling better.” Nice sentiments, but not much else because you don’t have control over a wish. In essence, you’re...

By Quil Lawrence, Photo: John J. Kruzel/Department of Defense, National Public Radio, October 20, 2022 William Dabney never liked to talk much about his time fighting in World War II. "He didn't keep his uniform or any of those things. In other words, he was through with the service," says Beulah Dabney, who married him in 1951. It wasn't just the horrors of war — which he had seen up close at Omaha Beach in France on D-Day. What bothered Dabney was the treatment he and his fellow Black...

By Rachel Bluth, Photo: Irfan Khan/The Los Angeles Times/Getty Images, California Healthline, October 20, 2022 A class of health care facility support staff, including nursing assistants, security guards, and janitors, has worked alongside doctors and nurses throughout the covid-19 pandemic keeping patients and medical buildings safe and clean. It’s an unassuming line of work that some people consider a calling. Tony Ramirez, 39, a critical care technician at Garfield Medical Center in...