November 2022

One of the biggest fallouts from the pandemic is that parent-child conflict was amplified or exacerbated to an extremely high level. At the Family Trauma Institute, we call this “interactional trauma” or constant conflict between parent and child (drama=trauma) that leads to resentment, bitterness, and lost attachment. Often, the quickest way to heal this type of deep trauma is through the child or adolescent’s love language. Each child has a special one. For some its “words of affirmation”...

By Amanda Ruggeri, BBC, Image credit: Getty Images, November 16, 2022 Motherhood is hard – and many women have conflicting feelings about the role. Why is saying this so off limits? Even before having her first child, Libby Ward knew what kind of mother she wanted to be. Patient. Loving. Intentional. But her hopes went beyond that, especially when she looked at the mothers in her social circle. She wanted to emulate them in other ways, too: home-made meals, pristine houses, nap schedules.

New!! 48-HOUR HISTORICAL TRAUMA SPECIALIST CERTIFICATION in collaboration with THE INTERNATIONAL HISTORICAL TRAUMA ASSOCIATION We are the only entity offering a comprehensive, 48-hour Historical Trauma Specialist Certification Program. The Program is broken into 6 levels and is built on a foundation of BIPOC cultures and neurobiology. It is taught from a multicultural perspective, injecting traditions and ideology from various cultures from around the world. In this inclusive study we rely...

By Tori DeAngelis, American Psychological Association, October 1, 2022 At least 204,000 U.S. children and teens have lost parents and other in-home caregivers to COVID -19—more than 1 in every 360 youth, according to COVID Collaborative , an interdisciplinary group of experts that is raising awareness and support for COVID -bereaved children. The growing number of children facing these tragedies highlights the pressing need for clinicians to become versed in helping them cope and ultimately...

On Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022, the Highmark Caring Place will host the Third Annual VIRTUAL Children's Grief Awareness Day. The schedule of the day's presentations and activities is shown below. No registration is required for any of the Children's Grief Awareness Day presentations, either beforehand or on November 17. All the events will be live on the Children's Grief Awareness Day Facebook page and on the Highmark Caring Place YouTube page. New videos will be released throughout the day from...

By Aparna Bole, MD, FAAP & Claire McCarthy, MD, FAAP, HealthyChildren.org Every day, pediatricians see how climate change affects children’s physical and mental health. When pediatricians talk with parents about what’s good for their kids, part of our job is connecting the dots between climate change and their child’s health. Connecting the dots For example, pediatricians often talk with parents about how a healthy diet and exercise help children grow into healthy adults. When we talk...

By Blanca Torres, USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, Illustration by Anna Vignet/KQED, September 30, 2022 Jasmine Cuevas stood at her kitchen stove preparing migas, stirring a pan of eggs and tortillas before calling her four children to dinner. She spooned servings onto plates while asking each about their day. “I get out of work, get them from school and then we come straight home,” she said. “And, it’s a wreck: dinner, homework, reading, bath and then bedtime by 7:30 at the...

Photo by Josh Hild on Unsplash 'Lighthouse parenting' can help make raising teens less rocky. To read more of Christine Organ's article, please click here. Dr. Ken Ginsburg’s advice for parents is like a hug, TED talk and Masterclass rolled into one. As a parent of teens, I often wonder: W hy didn’t anyone tell me it would be like this? I don’t mean the warnings and complaints about how challenging the teen years are. I don’t mean all of the “just you wait” admonitions. I don’t mean the...

By Blanca Torres, USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, October 18, 2022 When Mariana Pimentel thinks about her childhood in a small town in Mexico, she remembers being surrounded by anger and desperation. Her parents worked long hours to support Pimentel and her brothers and sisters, so they were often absent. When they were home, her parents communicated by yelling. “I want my kids to grow up in a different environment from how I grew up and not repeat the same mistakes,” said...

By Roy Boorady, MD, Child Mind Institute, August 18, 2022 All kids worry sometimes. But when worry makes it hard for them to participate in daily life, they may have an anxiety disorder. Because anxiety often affects a child’s thoughts and feelings more than it affects their behavior, it can be hard to spot. It’s also possible for a child to be generally happy but still so anxious that it interferes with some aspect of their life, like school or socializing. Common outward signs that a child...

Note: PACEs Connection is in dire financial straits. We are asking for support, from you, our 57,586 members, to help cover the loss of foundation funding that was promised and did not come through. Pay and hours have been cut for our staff—most of us will be laid off for the month of December. Another grant will pick up in January, but we will still be underfunded. Since sounding the alarm this summer, we’ve raised about $26,000 . Thankfully, about 25% of new donors are making monthly...

The Connections Matter Academy is a set of engaging videos designed to educate young people about trauma and how it impacts their life. We created it to inspire teens to begin their healing process, break the cycle of intergenerational trauma, and reach their highest potential through healthy connections with others. What exactly is The Connections Matter Academy? An educational, inclusive, and entertaining animated series to help teens and young adults cope with trauma Co-created by Beth...