Blog

By Lars Almquist and Sarah C. Walker, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, September 20, 2019 Public health experts recognize that as little as 10-20% of our individual health may be attributed to treatments received from the health care system. Meanwhile, the contexts in which we live and our health behaviors have the greatest influence over our health outcomes. These factors are commonly referred to as social determinants of health, and they have a tremendous impact on the short- and...

By Maureen O'Hagan, Kaiser Health News, September 23, 2019 On Kimberly Repp’s office wall is a sign in Latin: Hic locus est ubi mors gaudet succurrere vitae. This is a place where the dead delight in helping the living. For medical examiners, it’s a mission. Their job is to investigate deaths and learn from them, for the benefit of us all. Repp, however, isn’t a medical examiner; she’s a Ph.D. microbiologist. And as the Washington County epidemiologist, she was most accustomed to studying...

By Catherine Cheney, The New York Times, September 24, 2019 After losing his best friend to suicide, Taylor Harrison, then 18, was looking for ways to honor the memory of his friend, deal with his own grief, and help others going through a hard time. He decided to volunteer at Lines for Life, a nonprofit crisis-line organization in Portland, Oregon. Just a few months into his time there, Mr. Harrison took a call from a teenager who was thinking about walking in front of the next train. “It...

Sitting in Lansing, Michigan in the capitol building last Wednesday (9/18/19) I wiped the tears from eyes as I listened. Let me back up a bit. I didn’t plan to become the full-time guardian for my three-year-old grandson, I don’t expect any praise, compensation, or reward. However, when someone notices and recognizes the effort Paul and I have made, the empty nest plans we’ve shelved, the commitment we’ve made it’s like when I ran cross country in high school and heard the unexpected cheer...

ITRC issues Call to Action for all mental health, public health, education, social justice, climate, and other leaders to rapidly build psychological and psycho-social-spiritual-- or transformational--resilience to prevent widespread climate traumas WE ASK ALL ACEs CONNECTION MEMBERS TO ENDORSE THE ITRC CALL TO ACTION! Attached is the complete Call to Action to Build Human Resilience for Climate Traumas or find it at the ITRC website: http://www.theresourceinnovationgroup.org/ Individuals...

“A trauma-informed, culturally responsive lens must be a part of everything we do.” This statement by Laura Norton-Cruz, Director of the Alaska Resilience Initiative, sums up the key message of last week’s Senate Afterschool Caucus briefing for Congressional staff which focused on “Afterschool Programs and a Trauma-Informed Approach.” On Wednesday, Sept. 11, the Senate Afterschool Caucus* — in partnership with the Afterschool Alliance, Alaska Children’s Trust – Alaska Afterschool Network,...

By Daniel Gonzalez, USA Today, September 24, 2019 He spent a month sleeping on the floor. The room was freezing cold. His back hurt for two years. The bad cough lasted longer. Pedro Chilel Ramirez was 17 when he was picked up by the Border Patrol. He arrived in the wave of migrant children that flooded the border in 2014, but his experience may track closely with what thousands of migrant children encountered this year, and it illustrates the long-lasting effects that their time in Border...

By Kelly Davis, Jeff McDonald, The San Diego Union-Tribune, September 20, 2019 Almost one in three San Diego County jail inmates is prescribed medication to treat mental illness, making Sheriff Bill Gore one of the most prolific providers of behavioral health services in the region. Last year alone, Gore spent more than $5.6 million on pharmaceutical drugs for the 5,600 or so people behind bars on any given day — approximately $1,000 per inmate, or one-fifth of the sheriff’s entire budget...

By Sarah Ovaska-Few, North Carolina Health News, September 24, 2019 North Carolina could use more people like Lisa Link, as the state grapples with record numbers of children entering and staying in the already stretched foster care system. Link, an auto broker and owner of a small used-car lot in Charlotte, opted five years ago to become a foster parent after years of helping with family members’ children. She was single, in her early 40s, and wanted to help children coming out of difficult...

By Carrie Dennett, The Seattle Times, September 23, 2019 I remember when I first heard about “epigenetics,” the study of the biological mechanisms that turn genes on and off. I was just starting the two years of science classes I had to complete before applying to graduate school for nutrition — classes I had avoided during my undergrad years studying journalism. When it came time to select a topic for a biology-class group project, I chose the intersection of diet, environment and genetics.

By Peter Nickeas, MedicalXpress, September 23, 2019 In and around Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, long-standing causes of friction like gun violence and poverty have for some families combined with newer fears of immigration crackdowns and deportation of loved ones—and mental health professionals hope to address toxic stress that can have long-term effects on the lives of very young children. Aiming to rectify the shortage of mental health care available to infants and children...

CYW has also expanded its model for healing families and communities facing childhood trauma.