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Doctors and nurses at a hospital in Sacramento, California were uncomfortable interacting with a 17-year-old black youth who had suffered a gunshot wound and was paralyzed from the neck down. DeAngelo Mack “They didn’t want to tend to him, because they thought he was disrespectful,” said DeAngelo Mack, who has advocated on behalf of hundreds of black and brown youth who have been victims of violence. “My work was to explain to them, of course he’s frustrated. He’s a 17-year-old kid who will...

My heart broke for my children when I first read the 1998 CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, mailed to me by a mentor in 2000. I wept about my high score (9) and then shoved the report in a drawer, resolving to not pass on the pain and to minimize my children’s ACEs. That report scared the hell out of me. Years later, I plowed through the report again in earnest, and learned that most of my quirky behaviors: inability to focus, trouble with relationships, earlier...

A very generous donor, who prefers to remain anonymous, has given ACEs Connection a $50,000 matching grant! If ACEs Connection’s members contribute $50,000 between now and the end of this year, our donor will match it with $50,000. "Changing the world — our culture of how we deal with people —is a huge task and takes a very large village, “ the anonymous donor says of the challenge grant. “ACEs Connection is a superb and effective leader of our village." This is our first concerted effort to...

Lately, a lot of people who grew up with childhood trauma are going “no contact” with their families and loved ones. I hear people talking about it with relief and sometimes a sense of accomplishment. For many people, the abuse was egregious and may be ongoing; in these cases, walking away for good may be necessary and courageous. For others, going no-contact is an emergency form of self-protection that, over time, may not need to be permanent. So I want to share with you ten tips to protect...

Another request for our parenting tips bumper stickers and another apology because we haven't the funds to print them. Every request and apology is a lost opportunity to share parenting wisdom and prevent the aces associated with unsupportive and harmful parenting. David, What a wonderful mission and organization you’re running! The bumper stickers are such a creative way to normalize parenting conversations. As founder of ---------------------------- CSA I work with families AFTER child...

Let's move forward with empathy, self-compassion, and connection. Like most people I know, sleep eluded me for much of last week leading up to this historic election. The good news is that I have a meditation practice and mantra to which I always come back. Much of Western meditation practice focuses on mindfulness – -noticing thoughts and, hopefully, quieting the mind by focusing on the breath. My 11th book, Meditation Station , deals directly with this concept. Our breath is always with...

Seven new communities have joined ACEsConnection.com. Details about each of them are below as is information about starting and growing your community initiatives and joining the Cooperative of Communities.

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, NEWS RELEASE 9-NOV-2020. Six brief lessons to new mothers, delivered by trained Native American family health coaches, improved healthy growth in babies in randomized clinical trial Lessons on healthy feeding practices delivered to young mothers through a brief home-visiting intervention put Native American infants on a healthier growth trajectory, lowering their risks for obesity, according to a study from researchers at the Johns...

By Elizabeth Lawrence, The Washington Post, November 8, 2020 Betial Asmerom, a fourth-year medical student at the University of California at San Diego, didn’t have the slightest interest in becoming a doctor when she was growing up. As an adolescent, she helped her parents — immigrants from Eritrea who spoke little English — navigate the health-care system in Oakland, Calif. She saw physicians who were disrespectful to her family and uncaring about treatment for her mother’s cirrhosis,...

By Nicole Spector, NBC News, February 18, 2020 The English language has a proliferation of hyphenated compound words revolving around “self”. There’s “self-confidence,” “self-reliance,” “self-consciousness,” “self-indulgence” and “self-control” to name but a few — all of which deliver a fairly straightforward meaning. Then we have “self-care” — a term that is decidedly broader and seemingly everywhere you look, especially if you’re looking on social media. You’ll find over 23.4 million...

By Chuck Carroll, The Imprint, November 5, 2020 Los Angeles County voters have handily approved a ballot measure that requires the county to dedicate at least 10% of its unrestricted funds to youth development and other community investments as well as alternatives to incarceration rather than law enforcement and jail. In perpetuity. Measure J was strategically marketed as “Reimagine Los Angeles County” by proponents and shaded by critics as a dangerous and ill-considered step toward...

By Christina Caron, The New York Times, November 3, 2020 Families are under an extraordinary amount of pressure right now, and the next few months will provide little relief. The trials of 2020 include economic uncertainty , winter dread , an emotionally charged presidential election and a worrying rise in coronavirus cases . Then there’s the disrupted school year , remote learning and few (or no) options for child care . (That’s an abbreviated list.) Experts are understandably concerned...