Blog

Please join us for a new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly series will feature conversations facilitated by Porter Jennings-McGarity, PACEs Connection Midwest and Tennessee community facilitator and 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...

From Number Story, October 14, 2021 What happens when two powerhouse leaders team up to address one of the most pressing issues of our time? Find out here in this dynamic conversation between Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Nadine Burke Harris. Here are a few highlights … [ OPRAH ] “The realization of what happened to you literally colors your entire worldview … Your childhood experiences don’t define you, but they do leave an imprint. You need to be aware of what that imprint is.” [ Please click here...

Trenton – New Jersey’s ACEs Collaborative today announced that screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) by care providers should be used as a means to provide assistance and referrals to children and families, not as a diagnostic or treatment tool. In a position paper released today, the Collaborative – a coalition of state-based foundations, the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, and its Office of Resilience – advised that ACE screening results are an opportunity for...

Community schools have been an effective school improvement strategy for over a century, implemented in both urban and rural areas across the country — yet many people have never heard of this dynamic approach to school design. Whole districts have invested in this model over the past several decades, from Oakland to New York City, from Duluth, Minnesota to Tulsa, Oklahoma. California recently approved $2.8 billion in the 2022 fiscal year budget for the implementation of community schools...

The pandemic has had a lasting effect on youth mental health. Moved by a desire to reduce youth’s toxic stress and increase their resilience, The Dibble Institute, in partnership with a team of students and alumni from ArtCenter College of Design and author Carolyn Curtis, PhD, is releasing Me & My Emotions —a new, free adaptation of our beloved Mind Matters Curriculum. The mobile-friendly Me & My Emotions website features engaging graphics and bite-sized lessons teens can access and...

By The HOPE Team, 10/5/21, positiveexperience.org/blog A year ago, we posted a blog with ten ways to help children have positive experiences during the pandemic. Now, we know that most families have struggled – successfully – to create positive experiences for their young children during this terribly disruptive time. Although we had hoped that the pandemic would be behind us, we are still living with COVID-19. Progress has been stalled by the rise of the more infectious delta variant and...

Juleus Ghunta’s empowering book Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows—A Story about ACEs and Hope , vibrantly illustrated by Rachel Moss, is a much-needed story of a boy who experiences Shadows that interfere with his ability to read because they make his mind “flicker like a hurricane,” go blank, and sometimes race and “refuse to shut down.” This is an affirming, normalizing contextualization of how bad events and scary experiences, now understood from the science of adverse childhood experiences...

If Jamaican poet, children’s book author, and appointee to the nation’s Task Force on Character Education, Juleus Ghunta had his way, all 44 million people living in the Caribbean—from Barbados to Guyana to Grenada—would become PACEs-informed in the near future. To start off, everyone—including children, parents, teachers, social workers, doctors, and policymakers—needs to read his new book, Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows: A Story about ACEs and Hope , due out this December, just in time for...

Happy Sunday, everybody! If you missed the first screening of the documentary, The Wisdom of Trauma, featuring Dr. Gabor Mate, that aired a couple months ago, there is a Part 2 happening from October 4 to 10. Feel free to register at the following link and enjoy the remainder of your weekend. As always, stay safe and healthy in spirit, body and mind. https://wisdomoftrauma.com/

One of the positive outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it has increased mental health awareness. Limiting our activities and contact with others has led to so much talk about fear, loneliness, disconnection and mental health. These experiences have made people notice their needs and feel more comfortable seeking help. More people now seek therapy For some, actually getting help has been easier because they could reach out from their living rooms and receive virtual therapy. Yet for...

Experts agree that the best way to prevent suicide is to talk about it, but people are often afraid to bring it up. Stigma plays a big role in our reluctance, but it’s also scary to acknowledge that someone you love might be feeling suicidal. People are understandably afraid of saying the wrong thing, too. In recognition of Suicide Prevention Awareness month, this week on childmind.org we share resources for families worried about suicide. Teenagers are notoriously prickly and teenagers...

We know a high ACE score is connected to a higher likelihood of “substance-related disorders.” However, sometimes it’s overlooked that food can be that substance of choice, too—not just drugs or alcohol. Learn about food addiction and ACEs, and a weight loss solution that heals from the inside out endorsed by Dr. Felitti, the CO-Principal Investigator of the ACE Study.