Tagged With "Building Self-worth"
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How Caribbean Parents Can Hurt Their Children
Growing up in the Caribbean (Trinidad and Tobago) in the 1970s - before the age of enlightened parenting - meant that I was raised in a strict culture. Whenever there was an infraction by us children, there would be verbal and often physical "retribution". This culture did not only exist in the immediate home but also extended to our visits to our grandparents. (It was easy to understand where my mother had received her parenting style when I witnessed my grandmother disciplining me and my...
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Help Inform and Transform the Caribbean with ACEs Caribbean Community
Hi there. We recently started the ACEs Caribbean Community on the website, Aces Connection, to rally our Caribbean people and those who love the region to work together to bring the knowledge of Aces Science ( Adverse Childhood Experiences ), Resilience, Hope, and Truth to our regional people and government institutions. We are facing an epidemic of crime, violence, addiction, despair, and suicide throughout the region and we believe that a better understanding of the connection between what...
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Young Black Men's Mental Health During Covid-19
Research from the UK suggests that men from racialised backgrounds are reporting higher levels of mental distress during the pandemic compared to white men (Proto et al., 2021). Contributing factors include bereavement, loneliness and worries about coronavirus and misinformation.
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Building a Multi-System Trauma-Informed Collaborative.
Since the effects of childhood trauma do not play out in isolation, an effective response to child trauma should benefit not only children but the communities in which they live. This feeds into what we know from studies about factors that impact a child's growth - they occur within the family, community and also are climate-related. Multiple studies reveal the extremely high percentage of youth in contact with the law and under the care of social services who have been exposed to violence...
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UK 'Punishing Abuse' Report Finds Many Justice-Involved Youth have Trauma Histories.
A published study from West Midlands in the United Kingdom, titled "Punishing Abuse", has confirmed what many have long suspected - many youth are being punished in the criminal justice system for acting out in the aftermath of childhood trauma. It looked at 80 youth, 67 of whom were male, and many of whom were of Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) heritage. They included White and Black Caribbean youth, some of whome were born in and others whose parents came from the Caribbean island...
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Grief and Crime.
Odd title. What's the deal with that? How is crime connected to grief? I've spent a few decades serving (in one form or other) people who were incarcerated or had a history of incarceration. A few years ago, I was privileged to do a program on the topic of "Grief and Hope" at a local penal facility with a group of amazing men. During the course of our time together, both I and they were surprised to find out that most of them had experienced grief in childhood prior to them becoming involved...
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Self-care is not Selfish.
Ever feel overwhelmed? Most of us have so there's no shame in that. Sometimes we just need to close some of the tabs we're no longer working on, or those which have content that is not in our best interests. (Practice Mindfulness) Or we can close the browser altogether and take a break from it all until we're ready to deal with it again. (Take time to Rest) We encourage you to practice self-care this weekend and to ensure that you are not pouring from an empty cup. Whatever thoughts or...
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Younger Children are at the Risk of Suicide.
Even before the global health crisis spurred by the Coronavirus 2019, the rate of suicidal thoughts being experienced by young children had begun to rise. While suicidal thoughts and self-harm among teens has been the subject of extensive research, there were fewer studies done on pre-teens. According to research from the USA, "[t]he number of children ages 6-12 who visited children’s hospitals for suicidal thoughts or self-harm has more than doubled since 2016... Visits for teenagers with...
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'A lot of grief and anxiety' for kids, youth after living with COVID for 1 year, says psychotherapist. [CBC article]
Around the world, the 1 year anniversary of Covid-19 interrupting our lives was observed in different ways. For many, the concern is for the children and young people who are experiencing Covid-19 as an adverse childhood experience. The clinical observations of a Canadian psychotherapist may well be true for the Caribbean region as it relates to how children are coping one year on. Alyssa Strachan, based at the Delton Glebe Counselling Centre in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada has been helping...
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Wondering Wednesday - Could California's Roadmap to Resilience Help the Caribbean?
Hello everyone and welcome to another Wondering Wednesday. This is where we examine what is working or has been introduced in other parts of the world and explore the value of adapting those ideas and concepts to the Caribbean. Today we are examining some of the components of a report published in December 2020 by the State of California in the USA. Titled "Roadmap for Resilience: The California Surgeon General’s Report on Adverse Childhood Experiences, Toxic Stress, and Health", it is...
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Be What You Did Not Have
Good morning everyone 😀 and welcome to the end of the work week and the end of yet another month. As we move into the weekend, let us be inspired to continue healing from the trauma of what happened to us. Put in the work and know that the sacrifice is worth it. Do not believe that because you had multiple ACEs that you must pass on to your children what you received from your parents. You are the disruptor in the family! Break the cycle and be to your children what you wished you had...
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Action on ACEs Conference 2021: From ACEs to Resilience (June 10)
Hi ACEs learners. We're trying to ensure you have access to credible information and training on ACEs by sharing links to such events. Today is no exception. The organisation, Action On ACEs, based in Gloucestershire, UK is hosting a free virtual conference on Thursday 10th June 2021 from 9:30 am to 3:30pm UK time. The conference, ‘From ACEs to Resilience’ will focus on "resilience, how to build it in children and young people and how we can support adults who have experienced ACEs. It will...
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Self-Compassion: The Secret to Reducing PTSD Symptoms? [NICABM article]
Hi everyone. 😀 As many of us know first-hand, negative self-talk can come very easy depending on what happened to us. Research points to the value of Self-Compassion to help reduce the effects of those adversities, including PTSD. The article linked below is, in part, about the work of Asle Hoffart, PhD, adjunct professor of psychology at the University of Oslo, who "wanted to study how self-compassion impacted symptoms of PTSD. Hoffart measured self-compassion with his six-part...
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Wellness Wednesday - Burnout Prevention
Good morning everyone! Happy Wellness Wednesday - This post is to reinforce the truth that we are not living in isolation. We're all born into a family, community and nation. When one of us is struggling or feels overwhelmed, because we are born into and live in community, it means we can and should have access to help from others around us. Being present, they have the opportunity to help in the interest of supporting the community. In a sense, therefore, self care is linked to community...
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Wellness Wednesday - Weighty Matters
Happy Wellness Wednesday, everyone! For some people who have experienced childhood adversity, coping with the horrors of what happened to them can take them into using food for comfort. As such, some develop certain lifestyles and gain an unhealthy amount of weight such that their health is comprised. This was evident from the original Kaiser Permanente study in 1998. It is also revealed in a recent study involving 1,647 adults aged 27-33 . “A history of any childhood maltreatment was...
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Courage and Vulnerability
So the field of sports - specifically tennis - is experiencing some of what the UK royals, singers, TV stars, entertainers and others have seen in recent times. We're not referring to opening up after the Covid-19 lockdowns, but transparency in the discussion around mental health. Top seeded Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the French Open after expressing feelings of vulnerability and anxiety. Last year, she was vocal and wore face masks to highlight a range of social issues especially around...
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Barbados Research into Childhood Malnutrition and Maltreatment.
Happy Friday everybody! As you know, with that comes some weekend reading for you. Today, we are sharing a report from research conducted in Barbados that links childhood malnutrition and maltreatment to personality disorders which persist into adulthood. It is the work of Rebecca S. Hock and her colleagues using data from the 47 year longitudinal Barbados Nutrition Study. Published in Psychiatry Research (Volume 269, November 2018, Pages 301-308), the work, " Childhood malnutrition and...
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Profiles and behavioral consequences of child abuse among adolescent girls and boys from Barbados and Grenada
Hi everyone. Can you believe that we are at the end of July this weekend? Time is flying! For this Food for Thought Friday we have a study titled " Profiles and behavioral consequences of child abuse among adolescent girls and boys from Barbados and Grenada " by Agata Debowska, Daniel Boduszek, Nicole Sherretts, Dominic Willmott, and Adele D. Jones of the University of Sheffield and University of Huddersfield. It is published in Child Abuse & Neglect, (Volume 79, May 2018, Pages 245-258)...
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Wellness Wednesday - The steps that can help adults heal from childhood trauma
Hi everyone! This Wellness Wednesday we are looking at an article written by Shanta R. Dube, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, Georgia State University. In writing in 2107, she focused on the fact that ACEs can be a cycle that is hard to break if we only deal with it from the perspective of the child. "Prevention is the mantra of modern medicine and public health. Benjamin Franklin said it himself: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Unfortunately, childhood...
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What Do We Do Once We Realize the Prevalence of Adversities?
When people hear about the mental and physical health risks of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress, one of the first questions is, “What do we do about this?” Awareness of the prevalence of adversity and the impact of stress on the brain and body leads to the possibility for prevention and response. Whether you are acting within a family, agency, organization, business or community, the next steps should be taken knowing that we will all work together to bring about change.
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California PACEs Connection initiatives spark new connections in regional meeting
Among PACEs Connection initiatives around the country, it’s well known that our social network is something like a bustling, giant town square where people share ideas, resources and any number of conversations about how to prevent childhood adversity and promote positive childhood experiences. On May 14, PACEs Connection assembled a virtual town square gathering of PACEs initiatives in California, where we have 58 initiatives sparking action all across the state. Speakers at the gathering,...
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Research into Effects of Child Maltreatment on Males
Hi everyone. We hope your weekend was restful and you were able to view "Wrestling Ghosts" after we shared this Watch Party opportunity last week. Since we wanted you to have the chance to catch the documentary, we deferred our usual " Food for Thought Friday " post (based on a research article to review) to today, Monday While it is USA-based, this paper looks at how child maltreatment, especially child sexual abuse impacts males into adulthood. This is a very under-served area of study...
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Upcoming Livestream on Father's Day - ACEs & The Father Wound
Many men and women around the world are nursing a Father Wound and it is negatively impacting their health, eroding their self-confidence and crippling their ability to form healthy relationships, among other things. For such persons, the word "father" does not represent the definitions outlined in the title image. Rather, it brings to mind memories of hurt and pain, or thoughts of abandonment and neglect, or simply a void. So, on Father's Day, at 2pm Eastern Standard Time we want to address...
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Wellness Wednesday - Resilience Prescription
Hi everyone and welcome to another Wellness Wednesday! Today we have an account from a psychiatrist who, after many years studying trauma and the experiences of trauma victims, had the misfortune to become one himself. In a rather dramatic turn of events, Dennis S. Charney was shot by a former co-worker and survived to write about it and to grow from the experience. In his own words, he describes how the situation challenged him to dig deep and uncover the resilience he needed to take him...
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Wellness Wednesday - A Self-Care Resilience Resource
Hi everyone. On this Wellness Wednesday, we are pleased to share with you a resource from the USA to help implement self-care towards building resilience. The American Academy of Pediatrics, California Chapter 3 has developed a visual resource adapted from the ACEs Aware Self-Care tool . The handout is print-ready and available in English , Spanish , Amharic , Arabic , Chinese , Farsi and Vietnamese . Please see the attachment to this article for the English version. We will add it to the...
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How to (Mentally) Prepare for Hurricane Season
Hi everyone! We are well into the Hurricane Season for 2021 and today Trinidad and Tobago was put on a Yellow Alert due to the passage of a weather system. For those interested in learning more about the possibilities of the hurricane season, try to register for the Pre-Hurricane Conference 2021 put on by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies ( IFRC ). It runs from Wednesday 23rd to Friday 25th June 2021. While there is great value in developing a Disaster Plan...
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Reclaiming the Narrative of Black Fatherhood
Fathers play a critical role in the healthy development of children and families. This is why it's important to address structural and systemic barriers that prevent Black men from being fully present in their children's lives—so that all families have a chance to thrive. My wife and I have been married since 2019, but we’ve known each other since we were 14-year-olds. We are raising a blended family. She has a daughter who is 9 and a 7-year-old son. I have a son who is 8, and together we...
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Building a Restorative Restart to School in the Fall
As we look towards the reopening of in-person instruction in the fall, planning and reimagining for a restorative restart to our school systems that emphasizes student and educator mental health is a priority. In addition, there is a windfall of one-time funding coming to districts from federal and local funds for just this purpose. Recently a wise educator said to me, ‘you know, if you want to get to the hearts and minds of school leaders to make changes for the fall you need to do so by...
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Psychologists Advocate for Improved Treatment for Developmental Trauma
Hi everybody. This article contains some good news! According to an article on the website of the American Psychological Association (APA), a growing body of research is leading many psychologists to call for the inclusion of complex childhood trauma in various classification systems. "To better serve children who faced poverty, homelessness, and severe neglect throughout his childhood, a growing group of psychologists and psychiatrists is studying complex trauma—which can refer to exposure...
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When Self-Care Doesn't "Work"
You can't fail at self-care. If something isn't helpful, maybe you haven't yet found your own way.
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Free Webinar: Trauma and Nutrition
Proper nutrition is a key ingredient in rewiring your client's traumatized neural pathways. Research shows that nutrition is often not part of trauma treatment. Nutrition and trauma are on two different planets. This free webinar training by Dr. Sells is for professionals who want to understand why nutrition and trauma are not typically linked in treatment and how to bridge this gap with step-by-step tools, case examples, and handouts. Wednesday, July 21 12 - 1 pm EDT Click HERE to register...
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When Cyclones Party In Your Backyard
Happy "Fri-yay" to everyone! Over the past week ago, the world was shocked out of its focus on evolving virus strains when the media launched an all-out assault on our sensibilities with headlines that screamed " Code RED for humanity !" What they were referring to was not an alien invasion or zombie apocalypse but the report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) that the climate crisis was propelling us to a point where, even with our best efforts, we would not be able...
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Overcoming Emotional Flashbacks with Self-Compassion
Emotional flashbacks take a horrendous toll on those who experience them. To feel like you are in danger with all the emotions that accompany it, fear, anxiety, startle, and a myriad of other feelings without understanding where they are coming from is both frightening and debilitating.
This piece will delve deeper into emotional flashbacks and methods to defeat them.
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Path to a Just Society: Our new infographic shares common language and an aspirational path.
Our version of a “Path to a Just Society” is our first attempt at creating a common language and identifying points along the path to a just society. The Race and Equity workgroup of PACEs Connection started the project in early 2021, following a staff meeting where we realized that we, our organization and the movement needed this. We think it can help all of us gauge where we are, where we want to be, and what’s needed to get to the next level of integrating practices and policies based on...
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ACEs, Food Addiction, and What Most Weight Loss Programs Get Wrong According to Dr. Felitti and Dr. Alman
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.
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How to Help Yourself if you’re On a Waiting List for Therapy
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...
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Suicide Prevention Resources
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...
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Book Review: Rohan Bullkin and the Shadows—A Story about ACEs and Hope
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...
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Me & My Emotions: A New, Free Resource for Teens
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...
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How We Heal from Adverse Childhood Experiences
It’s not time, but an integrated recovery plan that heals.
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Labels v. the roots of trauma
When articles on self-harm are posted, I recommend we understand that diagnoses are merely labels for symptom clusters, almost always resulting from early trauma. Professionals use labels primarily for billing. They are also used widely as derogatory terms, at least when I was working as a mental health professional. "Borderline personality," "dissociative disorders," etc. are shorthand descriptions of desperate coping measures that survivors use to manage the pain from early extreme abuse.
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Beginning the Healing Journey: Return to the Resilient Zone
Dysregulated stress is central to the ACEs/health outcomes link. The healing journey starts with regulating stress arousal that is stuck on too high or too low.
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Gentle Men: The Healing Power of Vulnerability (mindful.org)
Growing up, I was taught that traditional male attributes are things like toughness, emotional reserve, strength, power, and staunch individualism. This image of a “traditional man” feeds into once-clear-cut roles like winner and provider . Edward M. Adams and Ed Frauenheim suggest that this version of masculinity is confined : both limited and limiting. In their 2020 book, Reinventing Masculinity , Adams and Frauenheim write, “Confined masculinity focuses more on a man’s sense of...
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Why, this 'Giving Season', we are grateful!
As 2021 comes to a close, we want to take a few moments to reflect on this busy and fruitful year as we ask you to remember PACEs Connection in your year-end giving. Despite this physically and emotionally challenging time, we have so very much for which to be grateful, and we would love to share our gratitude list with you. When we practice gratitude, we’re actually practicing a very PACEs-Connection thing to do: helping our brains. Brain imaging studies, says Dr. Daniel Amen, show that “...
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Radical Self-Care for Survivors of Suicide Loss (dailygood.org)
What does self-care mean, and what does it involve? Simply put, it implies— physical, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual care. The very idea of survivors of suicide loss practicing self-care can seem radical. The stigma, shame, secrecy and silence that a survivor faces invisibilizes, erases and marginalizes any of their valid concerns. Equally relevant, most survivors themselves feel they are not entitled to any form of support—either from themselves or from others. On a...
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Radical Self-Care for Survivors of Suicide Loss (dailygood.org)
What does self-care mean, and what does it involve? Simply put, it implies— physical, emotional, psychological, social and spiritual care. The very idea of survivors of suicide loss practicing self-care can seem radical. The stigma, shame, secrecy and silence that a survivor faces invisibilizes, erases and marginalizes any of their valid concerns. Equally relevant, most survivors themselves feel they are not entitled to any form of support—either from themselves or from others. On a...
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The myth of survivor solidarity: Why it’s so hard for us to all just get along (culturico.com)
As a Weinstein survivor, I’ve noticed that journalists love to explore the presumed solidarity among “sister survivors” – in our case, the over 100 women who came forward about Weinstein’s sexual predation. But what journalists don’t write about are the challenges in preventing any group of trauma survivors from imploding. Only when we survivors understand the impact of trauma can we overcome the underlying forces that threaten to pull us apart and stand together against injustice and abuse.
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Adverse Childhood Experiences, the Brain, and Exercise: How exercise strengthens the brain wounded by toxic childhood stress
Even small amounts of exercise can quickly and dramatically improve mood, brain health, brain function, and the ability to cope with stress, while preparing the brain to rewire the hidden wounds from childhood.
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All Inclusive Trauma Healing
Hi everyone, we hope you all had a relaxing weekend. The article linked to below on PACEs Connection highlights the need to be all inclusive in addressing trauma. It was written by @Cheryl Step Here is an excerpt: "Creating Safety, Building Trusting Relationships, Strengthening Capabilities: none of these healing processes can be done in isolation. All are important to incorporate into work with individual trauma treatment or with organizations or communities creating trauma informed...
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Upcoming Webinar - Trauma Mitigation for Police and the Policed
Hello everyone, we are targeting law enforcement officers in this blog post so if you know any who may benefit from the information, please pass it along. They might be interested in an upcoming webinar on Tue Mar 22, 2022 at 1:00 PM EDT. TThat's exactly 1 month from today. Here is an excerpt: - "Law enforcement officers routinely respond to situations with intense emotion and a high potential for negative outcomes. Officer mindset and awareness is critical to the best outcomes for them and...