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By Sonali Kohli, Los Angeles Times, December 12, 2019 A high school senior decided recently that she wants to become sexually active with her boyfriend. But she is not yet comfortable talking to her mom about birth control and would be unable to get to a doctor’s appointment on her own. Instead, she walked over to the new well-being center at school during a free period. It was easy. Planned Parenthood runs a sexual healthcare clinic at Esteban Torres High School in East L.A. once a week.

By Aaron Shoyer, Housing Matters, December 11, 2019 The high cost of land poses a significant barrier to producing affordable housing. Land acquisition accounts for 15 percent of total development costs, with some local estimates as high as 35 percent (PDF). Housing is expensive to construct and maintain, so every dollar saved on land or other costs helps affordable developments pencil out. Leveraging public land for affordable housing allows local jurisdictions to make a substantial...

By Linda Jacobson, Education Divide, December 12, 2019 Do your school staff members have gatherings or activities to help them build relationships with each other? Is there a process for collaborating with community-based behavioral health providers for students who need support? Does your district track schools’ use of social-emotional learning, trauma-informed practices or other efforts to support students’ and staff members’ well-being? [ Please click here to read more .]

Last week, Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence partnered with American Children’s Home to host a free screening of the documentary Broken Places open to everyone in the community. Broken Places revisits three different families that were filmed 15-30 years ago to see how the toxic stress and trauma that they experienced has affected them over the years. It turns out that some people are very damaged by toxic stress and trauma, while others are able to thrive, and the film explores this...

By NonDoc Staff, NonDoc, December 12, 2019 Pivot works with young people lacking stability in their lives. They are sometimes homeless or couch homeless, alone or disengaged. Many live with damaging labels and shame. Almost all are ages 12 to 21 and have overwhelming barriers in their lives without the resources to overcome them and successfully transition into self-reliant adults. In this Q&A, Pivot CEO Jennifer Goodrich discusses her 20 years with Pivot and what people need to...

Formerly I stated this series would be split into two parts. However, due to the enormous amount of information available, I have decided to offer four articles instead. In our previous article, we examined how neuroimaging is giving new insights into changes in the brain caused by trauma. Yes, trauma harms the human brain but how does that work? What could our bodies be doing that causes the types of damage outlined in this article?

Mind Matters: Overcoming Adversity and Building Resilience , a curriculum used by youth- and adult-serving programs, provides powerful tools to help people move past the effects of trauma and adverse experiences. Organizations currently using Mind Matters in groups have seen great outcomes. And, they let us know that they also wanted to use the materials in one-on-one settings. We listened! Mind Matters author Carolyn Curtis adapted the 12 lessons of Mind Matters into 21 (15- 20 minute)...

At the November 2019 Northern California Safe and Healthy Schools Conference at UC Berkeley, Niroga Program Managers Sam Weiss and Fatima Ahmed facilitated a session incorporating the theory and practice of Dynamic Mindfulness (DMind) to a standing room only crowd.

Authors: Deborah Seok, David Murphey, Fadumo M. Abdi Publication Date: December 10, 2019 The prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is higher among children and youth with special health care needs than among their peers without special health care needs, according to Child Trends’ analysis of data from the 2016-17 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH). The survey asks parents or guardians to report whether their child has experienced any of nine ACEs. The percentage of...

By Aaron Paden, The Daily Leader, December 10, 2019 Three years after a gruesome dog attack, Tommy Alderman is still telling his story — still using it as an opportunity to teach. “It’s in my DNA,” Alderman said. “I’m a trainer at heart. I knew immediately after reviewing everything that happened and the reasons why that I had made mistakes and I wanted people to know what those mistakes were so they could avoid them.” It’s a harrowing tale. Alderman works as project manager for Application...

By Sim Tumay, Forbes, December 11, 2019 After nearly nine years, Syria's civil war has created a generation of children growing up with no memory of peace. The psychological and emotional consequences are enormous. "Almost every kid in Syria needs psychosocial support," said UNICEF's Representative in Syria Fran Equiza. "They have been living ... in a condition in which the conflct is being resolved by violence, not by dialogue." The conflict has driven more than 6 million people out of...

By Julia Freeland Fisher, The 74, December 9, 2019 All too often, America’s most disadvantaged high school and college students are left to their own devices to navigate a byzantine, confusing and, in many cases, unjust education system. How might we do better? There’s a fair amount of consensus that low-income, minority students deserve more guidance resources and navigation supports. But the temptation to diagnose the problem as a shortage of resources alone masks the bigger picture. Two...