Blog

By Bernard J. Wolfson, Photo: E+/Getty Images, California Healthline, December 2, 2021 During her three-year battle with breast cancer, my wife, Leslie, graciously endured multiple rounds of horrifically toxic treatment to eke out more time with our two young children. But after 18 cancer-free months, the disease returned with a vengeance in June 2003. It fractured her bones and invaded her spinal canal, bathing her brain in malignancy. During the final six months, as she lay on her home...

By Zaidee Stavely, Photo: Julie Leopo/EdSource, EdSource, November 30, 2021 C alifornia made history in 2001 when it became the second state in the nation to pass a law that allows undocumented students who attended and graduated from high school in the state to pay in-state college tuition. Since then, it has benefited tens of thousands of students. But advocates say many undocumented students who qualify for in-state tuition and financial aid are not receiving these benefits, 20 years...

By Alice Feng and Jonathan Schwabish, Illustration: iStock/filo, Stanford Social Innovation Review, December 2, 2021 Through rigorous, data-based analysis, researchers and analysts can add to our understanding of societal shortcomings and point toward evidence-based solutions. But carelessly collecting and communicating data can lead to analyses and visualizations that have an outsized capacity to mislead, misrepresent, and harm communities already experiencing inequity and discrimination.

By Melissa Montalvo, Photo: John Walker/The Fresno Bee, Cal Matters, November 23, 2021 Más de un año después de lanzar un esfuerzo para cambiar el nombre de la comunidad de Squaw Valley, un grupo de aproximadamente 15 manifestantes se reunió en el centro de Fresno para instar a la Junta de Supervisores del Condado de Fresno a cambiar el nombre que muchos argumentan es racista y misógino. Varias personas hablaron durante la reunión de la junta de esta semana, que por momentos se puso tensa y...

We had the opportunity to chat with Beck Thompson, author of Chasing Normal, a memoir about her complex childhood trauma experience, healing path and journey to feeling peace and a sense of normalcy in life. Now an educator, speaker and presenter, Beck uses her story to help other educators understand the effects of trauma and the importance of creating a safe and stable school environment. Download the podcast

By Guest Author, 12/2/21, positiveexperience.org/blog The Spreading HOPE online learning course (HOPE LMS) was released in June of 2020. Since then, over 400 learners have signed up for the course through Tufts iLearn, and more than 120 completed the course. Through five interactive modules, learners gained a crash-course in HOPE, and learned important tools and strategies for incorporating the HOPE Framework into practice. When asked about their learning goals before and after completing...

Please join us for our new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly virtual Zoom series will feature conversations facilitated by Dr. Porter Jennings-McGarity, PhD/LCSW, PACEs Connection’s criminal justice consultant, with special guests to discuss the need for trauma-informed criminal justice system reform. Using a PACEs-science lens, this series will examine the relationship between trauma and the criminal justice system, what needs changing, and strategies being...

Episode 31 - Invisible Loyalties: Ties That Bind Us https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/overcoming-your-story-podcast/id1562659715 Miriam is doing a Family Dynamics Series and the week’s episode is about Invisible Loyalties, those strong ties that bind us to our family, village, group, country and that hurt us in the long run. This is a fascinating episode especially during this holiday season. The concept was coined by Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy in his book of the same name Invisible...

Have you ever thought of the ties that bind you to your family? As children, we receive love, attention and protection from our parents and caregivers and in return we offer them our loyalty for taken care of us. As small children, there is not much else we can offer in the asymmetrical parent-child relationship. We mimic our parents, “obey” them and follow what they want for us. https://medium.com/@MiriamNjoku/invisible-ties-that-bind-us-f04f1cb1de83

In the first part of this series on treatment planning, we focused on what constitutes a treatment plan. If you remember, “ A treatment plan is a document outlining the proposed goals, plan, and therapy method to be used by you and your professional. This plan directs the steps the mental health professional and you must take to help you heal.” This article will focus on what encompasses a treatment team and how having one can help you heal safely and productively. What is a Treatment Team?

By Oliver Balch, Photo: Christian Barnett, Positive.News, November 29, 2021 Tom Kerridge was a hungry teenager long before he was a top chef. After he’d played back-to-back rugby games at the weekend, his mum, who held down two jobs to keep the family afloat, always had a Sunday roast ready for him and his brother. “My brother is 6ft 5in. So, yeah, we were two big Gloucester lumps, [but] she was always there for us, always trying to make sure we had what we needed,” Kerridge recalls. From...

By Galit Atlas, Photo: Jim Cooke/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images, Los Angeles Times, November 28, 2021 Search “toxic parents” on Instagram, and you’ll find more than 38,000 posts, largely urging young adults to cut ties with their families. The idea is to protect one’s mental health from abusive parents. However, as a psychoanalyst, I’ve seen that trend in recent years become a way to manage conflicts in the family, and I have seen the steep toll estrangement takes on both sides of the...