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The $3 Trillion Heroes Act that passed the House of Representatives on May 15 is primarily a statement of House Democrats’ priorities for the next stimulus COVID legislation and will not be the starting point for the Senate when it returns after the Memorial Day recess. The slim Republican majority in the Senate, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, questions whether a large spending bill is the right approach, saying that states and localities must demonstrate that they are spending the...

The term eating disorders conjures in the minds of many pictures of boy crazy teenagers who want to slim down for a prom dress or something only women have. However, the reality of EDs is much, much more insidious than that. Eating disorders affect millions of people of all ages and 25-40% (depending on the disorder) are men. This article is the first in a series tackling the topic of eating disorders. This piece includes; what EDs are, what causes them, who is affected, and how they are...

By Serena Gordon, CBS News, May 8, 2020 COVID-19 has directly claimed tens of thousands of U.S. lives, but conditions stemming from the novel coronavirus — rampant unemployment, isolation and an uncertain future — could lead to 75,000 deaths from drug or alcohol abuse and suicide , new research suggests. Deaths from these causes are known as "deaths of despair." And the COVID-19 pandemic may be accelerating conditions that lead to such deaths. "Deaths of despair are tied to multiple factors,...

By Taheema Ali, The Province, May 20, 2020 Our response to COVID-19 provides useful lessons for other public health crises. One such crisis has universal reach but more subtle and subversive beginnings: adverse childhood experiences or ACEs. An environment of toxic stress, such as domestic violence, severe mental illness, substance abuse, physical and emotional neglect, or food and housing insecurity, may leave long lasting physiologic scars on young brains. These invisible scars can fuel...

By Rachel Levy, Mad in America, May 20, 2020 On March 4, 2020, Rethinking Psychiatry (in Portland, Oregon) met for our monthly meeting. The topic was “Beyond the Buzzwords: What Does Trauma-informed Care Really Mean?” This subject turned out to be even more relevant, as we are now facing a global pandemic that is causing massive trauma. This was to be our last in-person meeting for the foreseeable future. We are continuing to meet online. Both our April and May meetings were held via Zoom...

By Stephen Babcock, Technical.ly, May 20, 2020 When it comes to quarantine, people who are over the age of 65 are among those who authorities said it was most important to stay at home. Yet as they stay home — even after initial reopening begins — they are also potentially facing isolation of the social kind. This loneliness presents vulnerability to mental health concerns. It’s also the type of stress can be addressed on a neighbor-to-neighbor level, and it can start with a call. That’s...

Interest Based: ACEs & African Americans ACEs and Nourishment ACEs Connection for Birth Workers ACEs Connection Resources Center ACEs in Early Childhood ACEs in Education ACEs in Foster Care ACEs in Higher Education ACEs in Maternal Health ACEs in Medical Schools ACEs in Nursing Science ACEs in Pediatrics ACEs in the Criminal Justice System ACEs in the Faith-Based Community ACEs in Youth Justice ACEs In Youth Services Balancing ACEs with HOPE (Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences)...

By Nadia Rojas, Tina Yuen, and Rebecca Johnson, ChangeLab Solutions, May 21, 2020 Throughout this blog series, we have discussed individual policy areas in which local governments can respond to the pandemic, including housing and utilities , paid leave protections , protections for food workers , repealing 911 nuisance laws , and equitable enforcement strategies . However, these policies are just the beginning of what local governments can do to address the complex, wide-ranging problems...

I was so proud to be a part of the New York Trauma-Informed Coalition’s virtual rally on April 30th, in honor of ACEs Awareness and National Trauma-Survivors Day. In an effort to cultivate networking amid a common goal and having just attended an impressive virtual rally for HALTsolitary, Teena Brooks guided our coalition to organize this successful event in only a little more than two weeks! Throughout six Zoom brainstorming meetings, we designed an invitation: ,formulated a list of desired...

By Daniel Jonce Evans, TIME, May 20, 2020 After finding a parking space I stopped and shifted my minivan into park. I sat still for a moment, a moment that allowed me to take a breath in relative silence. Silence, sitting in that driver’s seat, had a particular sound. It encroached after relays clicked and vent fans stopped. The engine crackled while cooling. Still hanging from the ignition, keys on the ring touched once or twice, singing their acknowledgement that their cohort completed the...

By Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, May 20, 2020 Bolinas, California, is not a place one finds oneself by accident, in part because it is a place that must be found. Out on the edge of the North Bay of San Francisco, off a main highway, it can be approached only by narrow roads that have the form of waves: byways through the eucalyptus, snaking drives along the dry cliffs of the coast. Not far beyond the blackened trace of last fall’s fires, a hairpin turn leads to a swerving road down a thick...

By David Willis, MD and Robert Sege | Kay Johnson, 5/21/20, cssp.org The following excerpt was written for the positiveexperience.org blog . Today, the HOPE team leader, Dr. Robert Sege, joined with HOPE National Advisory Board member David Willis and HOPE consultant Kay Johnson to call for a change in mindset for child-serving professionals and organizations. The collaborative post begins with the following excerpt: The three of us have been talking together for years – and have come to...