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When determining your own need for mental health care – or the needs of your family – it is vital to consider not just the illnesses, but any past trauma that may have shaped those illnesses. One in four children in the US experience physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. One in four women has experienced domestic violence. A sobering number of both women and men have been raped in their lives, often before the age of 10. Bearing all this in mind, mental health practitioners are becoming far...

Shenandoah Chefalo was our guest this week on the #LessStressInLife podcast. Shen is the author of Garbage Bag Suitcase, a memoir of her childhood with drug and alcohol addicted parents and life in the foster care system. We talked about why trauma awareness is important in bringing culture change and why it is an important part of healing the brokenness in the world. Listen to our conversation here

As the season begins to wind down, I love to reflect on the impact made during the Peacetown Summer Concert Series. As a board member, Founder of the Peacetown Family Village, and took on a new role this year as Stage Manager for a youth led stage, it was a HUGE undertaking with more value than any price tag (thankfully because I do this uncompensated). Moving from a local park with one stage to The Barlow with 13 different music venues every Wednesday for 14 weeks during the summer. I take...

– Dr. Laurence Heller and Brad Kammer, co-authors In this bonus episode of Transforming Trauma, our host Emily is joined by NARM creator Dr. Laurence Heller and Senior NARM Trainer and Training Director Brad Kammer. Larry and Brad are co-authors of the new book, The Practical Guide for Healing Developmental Trauma: Using the NeuroAffective Relational Model to Address Adverse Childhood Experiences and Resolve Complex Trauma . Larry and Brad share their intention to help make learning about...

Over one hundred years ago, ancestors' remains from the sacred burial grounds of the local Ojibwe people were dug up and dumped in a mass grave in a Catholic cemetery. Now that sacred land has been returned.

The opiate crisis supplanted the methamphetamine crisis, which superseded the crack cocaine crisis. And I can’t guess the next chemical de jour that hurt people will choose as a treatment for their pain. But I know there will be one; this isn't about the chemical; it's about the pain.

PACEs Connection is looking for a graduate level intern! Are you looking to gain some experience in the field of PACEs science? We are seeking a graduate level intern for this fall, through May of 2023. This internship would be best suited for a graduate student in a Masters of Public Health program or similar program. We are happy to work with your university to help you receive any relevant credit for your time and work here. Details: 5 - 10 hours per week, fit into your schedule Focus on...

Hi. While I’ve shared these before, this post has an updated version of Informing a Provider, and both documents in Spanish. For those unfamiliar with these documents, here is a bit about them: “For a child/youth with developmental delay or/and disability who has experienced trauma. Some available information and tools for Mental Health providers,” was drafted with a dual purpose: To be made available to mental health providers as a stand-alone document. For caregivers and others to use, in...

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By Dr. Bob Sege, 8/25/22, https://positiveexperience.org/category/blog/ The HOPE – Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences – framework adds insights to the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect. This link between HOPE and child abuse and neglect prevention was celebrated last month at a national convening of EndCAN. The goal of the one day meeting of national experts and stakeholders was to create a communications plan to decrease child abuse and neglect. The group broadly...

In this episode of Transforming Trauma our host Emily is joined by Isaac Samuelson, LPC. Isaac is a Chicago-based NARM Therapist who works primarily with people struggling with, discovering, or maintaining their queer identity. Isaac, who themselves identifies as queer, sees queer identity as strength, and seeks to collaborate with all clients to discover the challenges and joys in the lifelong journey of connecting with oneself. Having worked previously as an actor, performer and clown,...

By Jamiles Lartey, Photo: Thomas Simonetti/The Washington Post/Getty Images, The Marshall Project, August 20, 2022 Prosecutors have a tremendous amount of discretion around the criminal charges they do and — just as importantly — do not pursue. This has been an animating principle behind the rise of the so-called progressive prosecutor movement, and now some conservative opponents are targeting that discretion in a bid to shut the movement down. The most extreme example comes from...