Blog

In the first three articles , we have discussed that growing up in an alcoholic or other dysfunctional home changes the lives of the children involved forever. Alcoholism is a family disease that affects everyone and harms children. In this article, we shall explore paths to healing and hope. The Connection Between Alcoholism and Childhood Trauma Drinking alcohol alone does not harm children. However, when drinking alcohol becomes an addiction, the behaviors, and circumstances of the adult...

By Dina Burstein, 1/27/22, https://positiveexperience.org/category/blog/ The HOPE National Resource Center is thrilled to announce we have been awarded a grant from the American Public Health Association (APHA). We will collaborate with the RAND Corporation to conduct scoping reviews of the literature relating to childhood exposure to both adverse and positive experiences. This six-month project will produce a final report that summarizes the research about the harmful effects of adverse...

Postpartum Depression and the Baby Blues Parents of infants may express concerns around fluctuating emotions during the first few weeks after birth. Reassuring parents that it is totally normal to experience Baby Blues, while discussing more serious signs of PPD or PP Anxiety, is an important part of ensuring baby’s health, too. Untreated parental depression can disrupt a parent’s ability to sensitively respond to their infant, accurately read infant cues, and to engage in verbal and...

Please join us for our new series Education Upended: Talking Out of Turn . This monthly series will feature a conversation facilitated by Lara Kain, PACEsConnection Education Consultant, with special guests on education related current events and hot topics. We will use a trauma-informed and PACEs science aware lens to examine what is going on K-12 education, what needs changing, and strategies being used in the field to disrupt harmful policies and make positive changes in the system.

By Lisa Friedman, Photo: Gerald Herbert/Associated Press, The New York Times, January 26, 2022 Michael S. Regan, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, traveled to Jackson, Miss., in November to discuss the city’s poor water quality at an elementary school where children have to drink bottled water and use portable restrooms outside the building. The day he arrived, the halls were largely empty. Students had been sent home because the water pressure at the school was so...

By Sushma Subramanian, Image: Annelien Smet, The Washington Post Magazine, January 18, 2021 J udge Brent Hall had some stern words of advice for the young couple seated before him at Hopkins County Family Court in Madisonville, Ky. Jordan Pyles and Ashlyn Harrell had come to make some small adjustments to a temporary custody arrangement for their 4-year-old daughter, but on this March afternoon in 2018 what preoccupied them was their upcoming trial in June. Pyles, a 25-year-old project...

By Natalie Krebs, Photo: Natalie Krebs, Center for Health Journalism, January 24, 2022 When COVID-19 hit the nation’s meatpacking plants and infected thousands of workers in the spring of 2020, it was widely reported. National stories described how workers, who are often first-generation immigrants, stood shoulder to shoulder for hours working on fast-paced lines. This is what made it so easy for the virus to spread through facilities quickly. I watched how leaders in Iowa overwhelmingly...

By Walter Marsh, Photo: Jesse Hunniford/Mona, January 26, 2022 L aunceston is one of Australia’s oldest and perhaps most characterful cities. It’s full of Georgian, Victorian and Federation-era buildings largely untouched by wrecking balls or developers, often bearing their year of construction a century ago or more. With manicured lawns, flowerbeds and a classically inspired 1859 fountain, Prince’s Square pulls all that heritage charm together. But this week things are a little different.

Scott Grant, MD., MPH joined us on the Less Stress in Life Podcast for a conversation on childhood trauma, how he approaches incorporating trauma-informed care into his practice, the transformational power of parenthood and his new Docs2Dads podcast. Dr. Grant is a Board-Certified pediatrician who works in primary care and hospital pediatrics in Southeast Michigan. Professionally, Dr. Grant is interested in learning how childhood adversity and toxic stress affect children into adulthood, and...

By Isabella Grullón Paz, Photo: Max Forster/Save the Redwoods League via Associated Press, The New York Times, January 26, 2022 Tucked away in Northern California’s Mendocino County, the 523 acres of rugged forest is studded with the ghostlike stumps of ancient redwoods harvested during a logging boom that did away with over 90 percent of the species on the West Coast. But about 200 acres are still dense with old-growth redwoods that were spared from logging. The land was the hunting,...

By Maryann Mason, Suzanne McLone, Michael C. Monuteaux, et al., Photo: Unsplash, BMJ Open, January 24, 2022 Abstract Objective To identify contributing factors associated with rapid spikes and declines in Chicago youth homicide from 2009 to 2018. Setting City of Chicago, Illinois, US 2009–2018. Participants Homicide count data come from the National Violent Death Reporting System. The study included information on 2271 homicide decedents between the ages of 15 and 24 who died between 1...

By Maggie Angst, Photo: Unsplash, The Mercury News, January 26, 2022 San Jose firearm owners will soon be subject to new gun control laws that no U.S. citizen has faced before — that is, if the divisive regulations hold up in court. In two separate votes, the San Jose City Council on Tuesday night passed a first-of-its-kind ordinance requiring residents who own a gun to carry liability insurance and pay an annual fee aimed at reducing gun violence. Proponents like Mayor Sam Liccardo...