Tagged With "justice system"
Blog Post
“Disgraceful” Disparities In School Discipline Funnel Kids Into Justice System [witnessla.com]
By Taylor Walker, Witness LA, November 11, 2019 Research and the national conversation around racial disparities in school discipline have largely remained focused on the outsized disparate treatment that black students receive when compared with their white peers. Yet Native American youth face much the same disciplinary treatment in schools that black students do, according to a report from San Diego State University and Sacramento Native American Higher Education Collaborative (SNAHEC)...
Blog Post
In College, Former Foster Kids Pay it Forward [nationswell.com]
Bria Davis didn’t have the easiest time growing up. Her mother suffered from schizophrenia and her father wasn’t around. As a result, she was placed into the foster-care system, which meant changing schools every year. “Coming out of high school, I never was in a stable place,” Davis says. Davis’ freshman year at Miami Dade College in Florida was challenging, and she eventually sought help. Now a well-acclimated sophomore, Davis decided she was in a unique position to give back. So she...
Blog Post
Introducing NEW Becoming Trauma-Informed & Beyond Community
Earlier this year @Dawn Daum wrote to us when she was ready to share ACEs science with people in the organization she works in to make a case for moving towards more trauma-informed care for the benefit of the staff and those they serve. She was frustrated because almost all the training and resources she found were geared towards schools, clinical staff or to organizations working with children and families rather than ACE-impacted adults in the workplace and who are...
Blog Post
Is There a Smarter Way to Think About Sexual Assault on Campus? [newyorker.com]
If I were asked by a survey to describe my experience with sexual assault in college, I would pinpoint two incidents, both of which occurred at or after parties in my freshman year. In the first case, the guy went after me with sniper accuracy, magnanimously giving me a drink he’d poured upstairs. In the second case, I’m sure the guy had no idea that he was doing something wrong. I had joined a sorority, and all my social circles were as sloppy, intense, and tribal as the Greek system—the...
Blog Post
JED Foundation and UMass offer new guide: College to Career: Supporting Mental Health
"Investigators from The Jed Foundation (JED) and the University of Massachusetts Medical School examined the literature in education, business, psychology and sociology regarding the college-to-career transition. Knowledge gained informed a national survey of 1,929 college seniors, recent graduates and employers exploring specific challenges to the transition, as well as existing strategies to support young adults and their emotional health. Data from the literature review and the survey...
Blog Post
Living Homeless in California: The University of Hunger (capitalandmain.com)
The true scale of this crisis was revealed last January in a groundbreaking report commissioned by the California State University system. The study found that 11 percent of students on the university’s 23-campuses reported being homeless during the past year. The problem was most acute at Humboldt State, where nearly a fifth of the student body had been homeless at one point the previous year. “In large part, students are homeless because they don’t get enough financial aid,” says Jennifer...
Blog Post
Native Americans Are Almost Invisible On College Campuses, And It's Hurting Their Chances For Success [laist.com]
By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, laist, June 20, 2019. For Native American college students, the road to earning a college degree can be a rocky, lonely pursuit. Only about 1,100 of the 280,000 students enrolled in the entire 10-campus University of California system in 2018 were Native Americans — that's 0.4 percent. And the overall Native American enrollment was only about 100 students more than 20 years ago; during that same span, the UC system added 100,000 students. The relatively few Native...
Blog Post
New Chief of California’s Virtual Community College Wants to Help Solve the State’s Work-Force Problem [Chronicle.com]
Heather Hiles will be the new chief executive of California's fledgling virtual community college, the California Community Colleges system announced on Wednesday. The state's ambitious first online community college hopes to test its first cohort of students in late 2019. The college, the brainchild of former Gov. Jerry Brown, seeks to reach nontraditional students left behind in the education system — those with some college but no four-year degree, or those who have never been to college...
Blog Post
NJ medical school program requires all first-year students to learn about ACEs science
In 2015, Dr. Beth Pletcher, a pediatrician and associate professor specializing in genetics, was at the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Washington D.C. when she heard two speakers that forever changed her work with medical students. Dr. Beth Pletcher “I went to two talks on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that were so mind-boggling to me that I decided on my drive back to New Jersey that I had to do something about it,”says Pletcher, director of the Division...
Blog Post
Press Release — New Survey of California Community College Students Reveals More than Half Face Food Insecurity and Nearly 20 Percent Have Faced Homelessness [California Community Colleges]
Press Release — New Survey of California Community College Students Reveals More than Half Face Food Insecurity and Nearly 20 Percent Have Faced Homelessness March 7, 2019 Sacramento — More than half the students attending a California community college have trouble affording balanced meals or worry about running out of food, and nearly 1 in 5 are either homeless or do not have a stable place to live, according to a survey released today. Click HERE to read the press release and click HERE...
Blog Post
Professor uses her own ACEs story to teach med students how to help traumatized patients
When O’Nesha Cochran teaches medical residents about adverse childhood experiences in patients, she doesn’t use a textbook. Instead, the Oregon Health & Science University adjunct professor walks in the room, dressed in what she describes as the “nerdiest-looking outfit” she can find. And then she tells them her story. “My mom sold me to her tricks and her pimps from the age of three to the age of six,” she begins. “I could remember these grown men molesting me and my sisters. I have...
Blog Post
Recently released research on ACEs; incarceration; separating families at the border
Behavioral risk factor surveillance system state survey on exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs): Who declines to respond? [Children and Youth Services Review] "A wealth of research has examined the prevalence and impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) via various research methodologies. Some of these studies have also examined the presence of nonresponse bias, showing minimal nonresponse bias effects. More recently, many states and the District of Columbia have used the...
Blog Post
Red Flag Warning
Red Flag Warning In weather-speak, a red flag warning is issued when conditions are ripe for fire combustion. Many law enforcement officials in Florida have described school shooter Nikolas Cruz as displaying all the “red flags” of a troubled youth, yet no one seemed to speak up enough to prevent the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. This reflection extends writings I have recently done that describes trauma and traumatized systems as an invisible fire, an...
Blog Post
Resource List - Trauma Informed Approaches and Autism Spectrum and Other Developmental Disabilities
Resources for individuals, organizations, and communities moving along trauma and hope-informed pathways in order to: Prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Promote resilience and safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Promote equity and racial justice. Prevent substance abuse and promote mental health. … so that all children, youth, families and communities have equal opportunity for educational success, economic stability, health, and well-being.
Blog Post
Some 350 Florida Leaders Expected to Attend Think Tank with Dr. Vincent Felitti, Co-Principal Investigator of the ACE Study; Expert on ACEs Science
Leaders from across the Sunshine State will take part in a “Think Tank” in Naples, FL, on Monday, August 6, to help create a more trauma-informed Florida. The estimated 350 attendees will include policy makers and community teams made up of school superintendents, law enforcement officers, judges, hospital administrators, mayors, PTA presidents, child welfare experts, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, philanthropists, university researchers, state agency heads, and...
Blog Post
Study: Stress Disorders Linked to Greater Infection Risk [mercurynews.com]
By Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, October 31, 2019 People who have stress disorders like PTSD may be more vulnerable to potentially life-threatening infections, especially if they are diagnosed at younger ages or dealing with other psychiatric issues, a recent study suggests. Researchers examined data on 144,919 people diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), adjustment disorders common after a major life change like a death or move, and other stress-related conditions. They also...
Blog Post
SU College of Health and Human Services links a trio of majors
Recently I was reading the news and came across this article - Salisbury University is intentionally restructuring so that their schools of Nursing, Social Work and Health Sciences will become the College of Health and Human Services. What an incredible forward thinking idea of bringing this trio of complimentary areas of study under a shared mission / vision! Here is a bit more - a link to the article is at the bottom of this blog. Salisbury University announced a large strategic...
Blog Post
Surviving all the way to college: Pathways out of one of America’s most crime ridden cities [Journal of Interpersonal Violence]
photo: Daniel Case/ CC "The purpose of this study is to better understand the factors and processes related to resilience of youth who are among the most at risk for academic failure and involvement in the criminal justice system. To address the research questions about resilience and risk, in-depth interviews were conducted with a racially and ethnically diverse sample ( N = 146) from one of the “most dangerous” cities in America. To obtain an objective assessment of risk, crime data were...
Blog Post
The College Mental Health Crisis in 10 Sketches (yesmagazine.org)
As schools respond to the 30 percent increase in demand for counseling, artist Ella Baron gives a glimpse inside some students’ experiences. Illustrator Ella Baron conducted a series of interviews with college students, many who had suspended their studies because of mental health concerns, to create a series of sketches about the mental health crisis at colleges, listening to the recordings as she drew. The images, published in June 2017 in The Guardian, are as pointed as they are...
Blog Post
The “Haff-A-Buck” method of encouraging involvement.
The “Haff-A-Buck” method of encouraging involvement. Dennis Haffron, When I began working as an adjunct at community college I was informed that part of what I would have to do would be not only to teach my subject, sociology, but also teach my students how to learn in a college setting. I needed to teach them to use the resources that were available to them, to think in terms of the content of my subject, and to act in a classroom like college students. I also had to show them that their...
Blog Post
Toxic Schools Worsening Toxic Stress: The Destructive Reign of Universal Standards, Pathology, Medication and Behaviorism
This post is the first chapter of a book. The names HAVE NOT been changed, as each individual profoundly impacted the author's growth and development. She wants their identities to remain intact. I did not realize that my first years in public education would profoundly shape my trauma-informed journey and what I would do nearly twenty years later. But I clearly remember the late fall of 2001. I was completing my second year in a master’s program for school counseling at the University of...
Blog Post
Trauma-Informed Classrooms: Educator Self-Care
Working in a school is hard. It doesn’t matter if you work in a suburban, urban, or rural area. It doesn’t matter if you work with 5 year-olds on building empathy, teach 11 year-olds about symbiosis, coach teachers in aligning curriculum, or help high school seniors choose their postsecondary pathways. It is hard work. From the cacophony of lockers closing at dismissal, to the challenge of getting 25 sets of 8 year-old eyes looking at you in synchrony, schools are a special kind of organized...
Blog Post
Two Community Colleges Show How Students Can Succeed Without Remedial Math Courses [edsource.org]
By Ashley A. Smith, EdSource, November 15, 2019 A San Diego area community college that moved early to eliminate remedial math courses is drawing lots of attention across the state for success in teaching math. Not only are students at Cuyamaca Community College taking math classes that can transfer to four-year colleges, but Latino students are bucking a national trend by outperforming their white counterparts. Cuyamaca, along with College of the Siskiyous in Northern California, were two...
Blog Post
What's Your Role in Addressing Mental Health? [universityaffairs.ca]
By Catherine Munn, University Affairs, October 11, 2019 Mental health is one of the most important issues facing youth and society at large. If universities are not rallying everyone from every corner of their campus to solve this problem, they are ignoring the canary in the coal mine, at their peril. They will also not be helping to solve the issues of critical importance to their communities and their country, at their peril. Children and youth are our truth-tellers, whether or not we are...
Blog Post
Wilmington University Offers Trauma-Informed Approaches Certificate Program
Trauma-Informed Approaches (TIA) recognize the impact of trauma on the human experience. Everyone experiences trauma differently, and our experiences create a lens through which we view, and process, stressors. Training in TIA not only enhances professionals’ abilities to recognize and accommodate people in crisis to ensure their success. If applied habitually, these principles allow us to help all students (or clients, or patients), and not just those about whose trauma we are already aware.
Blog Post
A Social-Justice Agenda for Community College [TheAtlantic.com]
Eloy Oakley isn’t shy about his plans to be much more “proactive” than previous chancellors when he takes over California’s mammoth community-college system in December. “We’re going to take on a much more aggressive agenda with a clear lens on social justice and equity,” Oakley, who is in his final weeks as head of the Long Beach Community College District, told me during an interview at his office on the Long Beach City College campus. Oakley, who is himself a product of the system and a...
Blog Post
ACEs in Higher Education: A Social Justice Approach
Hello. I am sharing a recent brief publication discussing how the principles of community psychology relate to ACEs in higher education, particularly the need to take a social justice approach to ACEs with non-traditional, adult, often minority students. It was posted in a community psychology bulletin, but would apply to anyone interested in ACEs in higher education.
Blog Post
ACEs in Higher Education: Lived realities, academic insights and raising awareness
Universities can play an important role in opening up difficult conversations, connecting personal stories and academic insights. The two blog posts below come out of a sustained conversation between Juleus Ghunta, a Jamaican Chevening scholar who used his MA dissertation to deepen his understanding of the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on his life, and Dr Ute Kelly, a lecturer in Peace Studies who supervised his dissertation.
Blog Post
ACEs Research Corner — October 2018
[Editor's note: Dr. Harise Stein at Stanford University edits a web site -- abuseresearch.info -- that focuses on the health effects of abuse, and includes research articles on ACEs. Every month, she's posting the summaries of the abstracts and links to research articles that address only ACEs. Thank you, Harise!! -- Jane Stevens] Harris HR, Wieser F, Vitonis AF, Rich-Edwards J, et. al. Early life abuse and risk of endometriosis. Hum Reprod. 2018 Sep 1;33(9):1657-1668. PMID: 30016439 Using...
Blog Post
ACEs science can prevent school shootings, but first people have to learn about ACEs science
The shooting in Florida isn’t only a gun regulation issue. It’s a systems change issue. All of our systems have to change their approach to changing behavior — whether it’s criminal, unhealthy or unwanted behavior — from a blame, shame and punishment approach, to one that is based in understanding, nurturing and healing….in other words, ACEs science.
Blog Post
America’s First College for Former Foster Youth Will Open in July [ChronicleOfSocialChange.org]
By this fall, 24 former foster youth will attend classes at the nation’s first college specifically for former foster youth. Riverbend Center for Higher Education, operated by nonprofit child welfare service provider KVC Health Systems , will open in Montgomery, West Virginia, in July, enrolling students for the fall semester. Operating in partnership with BridgeValley Community and Technical College, a community college with two locations in in the state, Riverbend will offer programming...
Blog Post
At Cal State, student homelessness has been hidden until now [LATimes.com]
Racing from her last class of the day at Cal State Long Beach, Shellv Candler had about an hour to get to Wilmington. Her mother was trying to save her a bed at the Doors of Hope Women’s Shelter, but curfew was 6:45 sharp. The college student’s commute by bus and train was stressful. But she and her mother had been through worse. The foreclosure of the family home. Evictions. Relatives who could give them shelter for only so long. Some nights, with nowhere to go, they’d ridden the bus until...
Blog Post
Being homeless during coronavirus adds hardship for California college student [edsource.org]
By Marisa Martinez, EdSource, April 17, 2020 Mornings for student Cristina Zetino at California State University, Los Angeles are as normal as they can be. Before she packs up her things, she checks in with the family that offers her an occasional place to lay her head for the night. The self-described “couch surfer” alternates between three different homes throughout the week while juggling work and classes. Always in her possession are three bags: “One bag for school, one for clothes and a...
Blog Post
Can ‘work colleges’ in cities become a low-cost, high-value model for the future? (hechingerreport.org)
The nation’s first urban work college will open a second site in Texas and launch a work-college consortium There are nine federally designated work colleges, in which all residential students are required to work and school leaders track their performance at work just as they do in academic classes. There are evaluations, performance reviews and, in some cases, grades. Most students come from low-income backgrounds, and the work significantly offsets the cost of their tuition and fees.
Blog Post
CDC ACEs Research & Evaluation Fellowship application due April 24
This is a reminder that applications for the CDC Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs) Research & Evaluation Fellowship ( announced last month on ACEs Connection ) are due April 24. The new fellowship position reflects a growing ACEs capacity within the CDC. The announcement states “The selected candidate will assist with research related to evaluating comprehensive community-based prevention strategies for primary prevention of ACEs (i.e., potentially traumatic experiences, such as child...
Comment
Re: What is your ACEs in Higher Education Connection?
It's great not to feel alone. Suzette, FYI I started my professional career many decades ago working for the Chicago Area Project. I also, for time, was the director of the DuPage County CCBYS. What I find is that best practices have always been present but have not been supported by the hard science which ACEs provides. I have found similar instances in senior services union services and services for individuals with disabilities. As a sociologist I am impressed by the similarities across...
Blog Post
Public Health considers itself as a social science. It can be a resource for ACEs activists.
I have just attended two Virtual meetings about public health. Public health agencies have been under funded for years. The covid19 crisis has impacted those institutions heavily. However many Public Health agencies are ACEs aware. They can be useful allies for ACEs activities. What follows is from the Fighting For Our Lives forums follow up communication. The recordings from the forum series are available at the following links. There is a brief registration form before you can view the...
Blog Post
FSU launches new level of professional certification on trauma and resilience (Florida State University News)
By Anna Printess, August 31, 2020, Florida State University News. Florida State University’s College of Social Work recently launched a new level in its successful Professional Certification in Trauma and Resilience online series. The curriculum series, developed by the Clearinghouse on Trauma and Resilience within the college’s Institute for Family Violence Studies in conjunction with the FSU Center for Academic and Professional Development , enables professionals to develop the knowledge...
Blog Post
Black at UC Berkeley: Professor Tyrone Hayes on discrimination in academia (Mercury News)
By Ethan Baron, September 13, 2020, Mercury News. In a nation where Black people make up fewer than 5% of full-time college and university professors, UC Berkeley biology professor Tyrone Hayes stands as an exception. But the road has been hard and even at Cal, with its long history at the center of social justice movements, he’s still fighting for equal treatment. Hayes, born in the South when Black people had to drink from “colored fountains,” has faced discrimination from childhood, when...
Blog Post
Free 2020 Virtual Trauma-Informed Care Conference
Each year, STAR hosts a Trauma-Informed Care Conference to help educate the next generation of leaders and build a strong network of Trauma-Informed professionals in the state of Georgia. The conference will be held on Saturday, October 3rd from 10:00am- 1:00pm EST and Sunday, October 4th , 2020 from 2:00pm-5:00pm EST conducted virtually via Zoom.
Blog Post
The Complicity of Academia in Policing of Families [imprintnews.org]
By Victoria Copeland, The Imprint, October 20, 2020 Academia is a space for immense learning and knowledge building. It is a place where ideas are crafted into resolutions for some of the world’s greatest concerns. Yet, because of its potential to do good, we often overlook academia’s complicity and collaboration in harmful research projects and practices. The “Ivory Tower” has notably harmed Black and Indigenous folks historically and in the present context. This is exemplified in its past...
Blog Post
MSU opens 1st-ever sexual assault health care program [statenews.com]
By Anastasia Pirrami, The State News, November 17, 2020 On Thursday, Nov. 12, Michigan State University opened up its first-ever sexual assault health care program for MSU students, staff, faculty, and anyone in the tri-county area and Clinton county. MSU’s sexual assault health care program provides the option for survivors of sexual assault to receive treatment. The Center for Survivors designed the program for people who have been sexually assaulted within the last 5 days, have access to...
Blog Post
UC to Launch Its First Bachelor's Program in Prison [kqed.org]
By Vanessa Rancano, KQED, December 15, 2020 UC Irvine and the state prison system have reached a deal to create the first University of California bachelor’s degree program behind bars. Since California opened the door for community colleges to teach in prisons in 2014, some 2,000 incarcerated men and women across the state have earned associate degrees, said Brant Choate, director of rehabilitative programs for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. But opportunities...
Blog Post
How counseling aims to help CSU freshmen graduate in four years [edsource.org]
By Larry Gordon, EdSource, December 17, 2020 Right out of high school and not sure where the advising office is, let alone how to register for classes, freshmen need special care at California’s big public universities. Without it, they are at higher risk of not making it back for a second year. That’s why about a quarter of the 23 campuses in the California State University system recently overhauled their academic advising to first-year students. [ Please click here to read more .]
Blog Post
UC to Launch Its First Bachelor's Program in Prison [kqed.org]
By Vanessa Rancano, KQED, December 15, 2020 UC Irvine and the state prison system have reached a deal to create the first University of California bachelor’s degree program behind bars. Since California opened the door for community colleges to teach in prisons in 2014, some 2,000 incarcerated men and women across the state have earned associate degrees, said Brant Choate, director of rehabilitative programs for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. But opportunities...
Blog Post
Reaching Lithuania with Resilience Science
(Pictured here are LLC International University students who serve as core leaders of Lithuanian non-profit Gausus Gyvenimas) In a year when the world has weathered trauma surrounding the global pandemic of COVID-19, quite surprisingly, new doors opened for me to share about the science of resilience in Lithuania. In 2017, a faith-based organization served as a means of introduction to a young minister from Pakistan named Robin Mubarik. Since our initial meeting we have only remained...
Blog Post
Partnering with Local Mental Health Providers to Support Foster Youth in College [cccstudentmentalhealth.org]
LAST YEAR, NEARLY 18,000 CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS WERE CURRENTLY OR FORMERLY IN FOSTER CARE. These students, and students from other vulnerable or underserved groups, are motivated and resilient. However, many face higher rates of trauma and unmet mental health needs, coupled with systemic barriers that prevent them from accessing services. Without support, these challenges can contribute to lower college completion rates. BACKGROUND In 2018-2020, John Burton Advocates for Youth...