Blog

Coping with the death of a loved one brings enormous challenges for the whole family. Grieving may never completely end, but working through the difficult feelings can become easier with time. Through support, open conversations, and finding ways to keep the person’s memory alive, families can begin healing together. Sesame Street in Communities offers a library of resources to support kids in their grieving process. Please click here to access the grief resources from Sesame Street in ...

By Keyna Franklin and Shakira Paige, Rise Magazine, August 5, 2022 Parents need resources to support LGBTQ children and youth in being affirmed, safe and celebrated in their homes, schools and communities. In our report, An Unavoidable System , Rise recommends expanding access to community-based programs that center the needs of families with LGBTQ children — without family policing system involvement. Here, Rise talks with Caitlin Ryan , Director of the Family Acceptance Project at the...

By Shakira Paige, Rise Magazine, August 5, 2022 My 11-year-old daughter came out to me about a year ago. She sent me a text message that said: “Mom, I’m bi.” She was home in the bathroom when she sent it. I believe she was shy to tell me to my face because she thought she was going to get a bad reaction from me. I texted back, “Okay—I know already.” When she asked me how I knew, I said I knew since she was four that she would be different from my older daughter, who was more stereotypically...

The early and foundational relationships that babies and toddlers experience with their parents shape the health and well-being of two generations. This brief from the Center for the Study of Social Policy highlights opportunities to promote early relational health with policy change and investments, including with existing programs, pandemic funding, and pending legislation in Congress. Please click here to access the brief: Policy Change to Promote Early Relational Health .

Click here: Hooray for Reading! for access to their new initiative's website with free books, coloring pages, a resilience book list, parent toolkit, flash cards, and a link to the San Diego County Library.

By University of California, Irvine, August 3, 2022 Developmental disruption makes people more susceptible to mental illness and drug dependence. University of California, Irvine researchers are conducting ground-breaking research into the idea that unpredictable parental behaviors, coupled with an unpredictable environment, such as a lack of routines and frequent disasters, disrupt children’s ability to develop their emotional brain circuits to their full potential, making them more...

By Rachel Daem, CNN, June 29, 2022 When Justine Larson's son came out as transgender at age 11, she didn't know how to react. Despite being supportive of LGBTQ communities, Larson struggled to accept that her child, assigned female at birth, would have a different life than she imagined. "We didn't give it as much attention as maybe we should have," she said of her and her husband's response. Their child "basically got pretty depressed and even was having some suicidal thoughts." Feeling...

By The HOPE Team, 8/9/22, https://positiveexperience.org/category/blog/ Going back to school can bring up a lot of feelings for students, parents, and even teachers. Happiness at being back together with friends, excitement about the new school year, and, of course, anxiety about the challenges ahead. The Four Building Blocks of HOPE can help focus on PCEs (positive childhood experiences). Here are 12 ways to practice PCEs as children return to school. [ Click here to read the full blog .]

By Fran Kritz, Illustration: Lisk Feng/The Washington Post, The Washington Post, August 6, 2022 The move from high school to college can be a trying one, particularly for students with mental health concerns. But today there are ways to make it easier. “In the last few years, and especially since the pandemic began, campus resources for all students have proliferated, and ahead of coming to campus is when students should be connecting with the resources that they need,” says Amy Gatto,...

By Lisa Deaderick, The San Diego Union-Tribune, June 12, 2022 Experts with the American Psychological Association and the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress offer guidance on how to help children and teens with their mental health after exposure to events of mass violence, like the latest string of mass shootings in the U.S. The most recent string of mass shootings across the country — from a grocery store in New York , a church in California and an elementary school in Texas , to a...

American Psychological Association, Updated July 6, 2022 The pandemic pushed stress to historic highs. Here are healthy ways for children and teens to cope. In the short term, stress can push a child to practice for her piano recital or inspire a teen to study when he’d rather be out with friends. But c hronic stress —for example, from unrelenting pandemic-related pressures, social unrest, or violence—is different. Left unchecked, long-term stress can contribute to a long list of physical...

New research from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families shows that 37 percent of lower-income Latino adults (defined here as those whose incomes are less than 200% of the federal poverty line) living with children reported either frequent anxiety or depressive symptoms during Fall 2021 and Winter 2022—rates that are statistically higher than those among their higher-income peers. Additionally, authors Yiyu Chen and María A. Ramos-Olazagasti find that, regardless of...