Blog

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...

By American Heart Association Newsroom, October 10, 2022 The American Heart Association releases new survey highlighting mealtime impact on mental well-being and introduces Together Tuesdays™ to help people maximize health benefits of shared meals Survey Highlights: 91% of parents notice their family is less stressed when they share family meals together. 65% of surveyed adults say they are at least somewhat stressed, and more than a quarter (27%) are very or extremely stressed. 84% of...

By Jackie Mader, Photo: Katie Cotterill/The Hechinger Report, The Hechinger Report, November 2, 2022 By his mid-20s, Tommy Andrade was tired of working dead-end jobs. With a young child at home, he realized he needed more than a high school diploma to support his family. When he heard about a new, advanced manufacturing program at Austin Community College (ACC), Andrade was intrigued. Some of the jobs that graduates would be trained for carried salaries well into the six figures, enough to...

Canva Your child being diagnosed with a mental health condition is not a parental failure. Author: To read Jacalyn Wetzel's article, please click here. Getting a mental health diagnosis for a child can sometimes knock the wind out of people because as parents the single most important job we have is to get our children to adulthood with as little trauma as possible. We taxi them to different sports, sign ourselves up for field trips and make sure they make it to their well-child visits. We...

Note: PACEs Connection is in dire financial straits. We are asking for support, from you, our 57,505 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. Since sounding the alarm this summer, we’ve raised about $24,000 . To get a sense of who your fellow members are, who is donating and why, please enjoy and share...

By Christina Caron, Illustration: Nathalie Lees, The New York Times, October 29, 2022 About a year into the pandemic, Kianna, a high school student in Baltimore, was feeling increasingly isolated. While sitting alone in her bedroom there was too much time to think, she said, so sometimes she would fixate on her seclusion or start critiquing her appearance. “I remember just being on TikTok for hours during my day,” added Kianna, 17, who asked to be referred to by only her first name when...

Many parents accidentally weight-shame their kids, which can result in trauma. These parents do not intend harm, but the impact of their behavior can be felt for a lifetime.

By Jackie Mader, Photo: Jackie Mader/The Hechinger Report, The Hechinger Report, October 25, 2022 At the beginning of 2020, Brisandi Ruiz was hopeful about the year ahead. Her two-year-old was enrolled in a high-quality preschool program near their home in Greenbelt, Maryland. The office manager of a medical technician company, Ruiz was working to validate her medical degree from her home country of the Dominican Republic, so she could practice medicine in the United States. Her husband,...

By Claire McCarthy, MD, Harvard Health Publishing for Harvard Medical School, September 22, 2022 All of us can lower the odds of unintentional shootings. Guns hurt and kill; it’s a simple fact. And while most gun injuries and deaths are the result of an assault or suicide, unintentional injuries happen all the time, including to children and between them. In the six-year span between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2020, there were at least 2,070 unintentional shootings by children under...