Blog

Here is a report from Israel about supplying psychological support at the scenes of violence against humans. If I get in trouble for re-pasting the content, I'll take the blame--this is VERY IMPORTANT! I have wondered why there are not Emergency Rooms for people in psychological crises--this is yet another version of that dream. Thank you, people of Israel and to Israel 21C newsletter. I have posted the beginning of the article below in italics: Thirty Israeli EMTs, paramedics and doctors...

The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a proposal to align and modernize how Medicare payments are tied to the cost and quality of patient care for hundreds of thousands of doctors and other clinicians. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is a first step in implementing certain provisions of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA). This legislation – supported by a bipartisan majority and stakeholders such as patient groups and medical a ssociations –...

The Child Development Agency (CDA) in association with the Embassy of the United States of America will be hosting paediatrician Dr Nadine Burke Harris. Dr Burke Harris will be conducting a series of lectures across the island from June 13 to June 15 under the theme 'Know your ACES: Uncovering the Link between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Illnesses in Adulthood'. The American paediatrician, who is of Jamaican heritage, is an advocate of a study conducted by the Center for Disease...

Learn about who is most at risk for emotional distress from incidents of mass violence and where to find disaster-related resources. Incidents of mass violence are human-caused tragedies that can impact whole communities and the country at large. These types of disasters, which include shootings and acts of terrorism, often occur without warning and can happen anywhere, as shown by the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy of 2012 and the events of September 11, 2001. These violent acts...

A federal change to Medicaid funding for services at tribal clinics could help close significant health gaps for Native Americans in Wisconsin, advocates say. The federal government said in February that it would offer full federal funding for transportation, long-term care and other services provided indirectly by the clinics, as it does for services within clinics. The change also applies to specialty care by providers outside of the clinics, as long as the clinics still coordinate the...

The attack at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday is the worst mass-shooting in U.S. history. The father of Omar Mateen, the alleged shooter, said his son may have been motivated by anger toward the LGBT community; other reports suggest he may have pledged allegiance to ISIS in advance of the attacks. No matter what, he picked a gay club. He carried out his attack during Pride month, on a weekend when cities across the country, from Washington, D.C. to Detroit to Los Angeles, are...

It was a beautiful May day for a community run and gathering in Rosebud, South Dakota. Kids chased after hundreds of colorful balloons. More than 300 children and community members lolled on the grass, ate barbecue and danced a round dance during this community’s first outdoor festival of the year. The event looked like a typical small town celebration but took on an ominous tone when it was time for the speeches. The presenters had come to discuss a deadly subject: meth addiction. This...

At the beginning of this school year, Ahmed Mohamed, a freshman at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas, brought a makeshift clock to school to impress his teachers—and ended up in handcuffs . His teachers, it seemed, thought it could be a bomb, and Mohamed was interrogated without his parents present for hours. While the incident sparked outrage over Islamophobia and racial profiling (partially due to Irving’s earlier public embarrassments ), it also revealed that Mohamed was far from an...

The concept of Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, is bantered among behavioral and physical health providers. I publicly have spoken on it. Likewise, Bill Jones, president and chief executive officer of the United Way of Wyoming Valley, has noted it publicly, and it is discussed at various behavioral health provider meetings. I’m not sure, however, that the general public is familiar with it. We all should be. The original study on ACEs surveyed 17,500 adults regarding incidents in...

I've been struggling with how to talk with my daughter about what happened in Orlando. Another shooting. More death. Hate. She's heard the news. It's been discussed a bit at school too. But how do I talk to her as my own daughter, in between getting ready for school and dance? What can I say to her about homophobia or even what helps people recover? About what headlines and deaths grab our attention and which ones do not? I admit I'm at a loss. I don't have great words or wisdom or even a...

This video is educational, engaging and short. It doesn't talk specifically about ACEs, attachment or the neuro-plasticity of the brain - but it does - it just uses different language. It shows how brains are built. It describes how "serve and return" interactions between children and caregivers support strong brain development. And then why and how toxic stress harms the same brain architecture. It's a few years old but it's a super engaging resource I had missed out on. "This means that...

Never, NEVER did I see ahead when I started my Stop the Storm blog seven years ago where the trajectory of my “stop trauma” efforts would take me. I was willing to take off on a journey back then. But there’s a spiral of concern going on here. Into my future. Into the future of all of us! I can’t say I like where “this” is taking me. THIS WHAT? Violence in America? (Let alone across the planet.) What IS violence? Is neglect violence? If not, where, exactly, is the line between these two?