Blog

On Wednesday, March 22, I had the opportunity to attend a community gathering in Marin County, CA, that was convened by their Health and Human Services Department. The event was a “Learning Lab” where ideas and innovation are explored to see if there might be a better way of caring for and working with vulnerable members of the community. The gathering — Networking Breakfast: Addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences and Building Resiliency — was located at the Marin County Office of...

At the end of a much anticipated minimum day, teachers and administrators from Thomas Page Academy (K-8) in Cotati, CA, rallied their energy and enthusiasm to learn more about how ACEs science impacts their Title I school students. The theme of the presentation was on building resilience. We discussed the science of ACEs and strategies that school staff can use to model mindfulness, and reduce the risk of teacher burnout. Teachers were particularly ready to learn more after reading an...

For years, local politicians, county health officials and health care professionals have been talking about making Sonoma County the healthiest county in the state by 2020, a goal that is at the heart of numerous local health, education and socio-economic initiatives. In 2011, Sonoma County ranked 12th among 56 California counties surveyed in the first County Health Rankings by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It took three years for the county to break into the top 10, reaching eighth.

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover. Increasingly in the United States, you also can’t judge a library’s value to its community by simply its books. Let us explain. In a previous blog post, we’ve noted the importance of “third places” in strengthening communities – meaning those places that are neither one’s home (first place) nor workspace (second place). A range of such third places, from churches to beauty salons, play an important role in community building. They are the...

A prison psychologist mourns a patient he tried to save. This article was published in collaboration with Vice . I’d been working for several years as a psychologist for prisoners in Washington state when I was tasked with treating a deeply troubled man in his early 20s. I can’t tell you his name, or his mental health diagnosis. I can tell you that treating him was the most significant professional challenge I have ever faced. [For more of this story, written by Ryan Quirk, go to ...

Be ruthless. As a U.S. Army recruit, that’s how Christopher L. Kukk was taught to get ahead—and it’s a philosophy you’ll hear in boardrooms, on sports teams, and even in school. The theory is that there’s only so much success to go around, and you have to aggressively compete for it. But according to Kukk’s new book, The Compassionate Achiever: How Helping Others Fuels Success , ruthlessness is overrated. Instead, he outlines a pathway to success and achievement paved with compassion ,...

On Wednesday, the White House issued an executive order to establish a commission on combating drug addiction, and we now know that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will head it. The Christie appointment seems to signal a soft approach to handling drug problems, given his own experience addressing it in New Jersey. The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that this new commission has created a “split personality” within the administration’s drugs policy, given that it seems to clash...

Women say, “You have to love yourself before anyone can love you at all,” and that seemed like solid advice, until I wondered what advice like that means to a person who is from a collective culture? A person like me. The self, as we know it, is a western construct—a white invention. Self-help, self-love, and ascribing value to the self, couldn’t be more white, because it all amps up to the idea that people have quantifiable values, and that value is directly related to meaning. ‘What are...

Although being black in this world certainly comes with its struggles, I wouldn't trade that integral part of my identity for anything. Black-girl magic is real. But it's a sad fact that black women are often plagued with disproportionately high incidences or mortality rates for various health conditions, like heart disease , breast cancer , and more. It sounds scary—and it can be—but knowledge is power, especially when it comes to your physical and mental health. Here are eight health...

An assembly hosted by faith group Justice Matters on Thursday brought up community issues such as mental health, affordable housing and school equity, and event organizers weren’t shy in voicing their disappointment that not all local leaders attended. The conclusion of the third annual Nehemiah Action Assembly likely sent cell phones of two local leaders — School Board President Marcel Harmon and Douglas County Commission Chair Mike Gaughan — buzzing with text messages after their numbers...

The Early Childhood Trauma Collaborative (ECTC) is a 5-year, $2 million grant awarded to CHDI in 2016 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to extend trauma-focused services to young children in Connecticut. The Early Childhood Trauma Collaborative will also be part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), a federal network of 81 SAMHSA funded members and over a hundred affiliates working to raise the standard of care and improve access to...

Note: Belleruth Naparstek has been talking for over a decade about post-traumatic stress as a physiological issue requiring regulation. In fact, she has dropped the "D" off of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, using PTS instead, because she does not agree with many therapists who believe PTS is a permanent diagnosis. See the following quote from an article she wrote. She wrote that in 2011. Her focus has been on helping people find soothing, feel better and restore or discover well-being after...