Tagged With "Systemic racism"
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Racism, Not Race, Causes Health Disparities for Black Mothers (nonprofitquarterly.org)
The health disparities that exist for Black mothers in America are well documented. Black women are three to four times more likely to die from childbirth than their White counterparts. Yet, aside from listing “being Black” as a risk factor for maternal death, little has been done to address this alarming statistic. The inaugural Black Maternal Health Week , held from April 11–17, 2018, sought to change this through offering a forum for continued conversation. Importantly, they shed light on...
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So how do you start to think and talk about ACEs and Maternal Mental Health?
Give them an info graphic to show the connection between toxic stress and health outcomes for moms and babies? Check out the attached 3 handouts! Have some talking points ready to get the conversation started with prenatal care staff? ...
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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...
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Standing Strong – The knowledge, skills and peer support parents need to lead (www.risemagazine.org)
Cissy's note: I admire the work of this parent-led and parent-focused organization. I read everything they post. For those not familiar with what they do, this is a recent interview with three staffers and gives a really good look at what and how they work to support families and make systems change. Here's an excerpt. The full piece is here. To read more of this piece recently published in Rise Magazine, go here.
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Suffering in Silence Mood Disorders Among Pregnant and Postpartum Women of Color
Pregnancy and childbirth can bring joy and fulfillment to a woman's life. They can also bring anxiety, depression, and stress. If left untreated, postpartum depression and other mood disorders can grow severe and even fatal for both the mother and her child. The American Psychological Association estimates that 1 in 7 women experience postpartum depression, yet the true statistic is unknown, as most women do not recognize the symptoms associated with the condition. 1 According to the World...
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Symptoms of Depression During and After Pregnancy
In order to have the best chance of improving outcomes for the mother and infant, routine screening and treatment for depression should begin early in pregnancy, a time when women have increased contact with the health care system.
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The Trauma-Sensitive Parenting Summit & Commentary
"Having a history of trauma or loss does not by itself predispose you to have a child with disorganization. It is the lack of resolution that is the essential risk factor. It is never too late to move toward making sense of your experiences and healing your past. Not only you but also your child will benefit." That's a quote from the book Parenting from the Inside Out: How A Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive, which was published fifteen freaking years ago. It's...
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‘This is not a child safety crisis. It’s a poverty crisis, a racism crisis.’ – A social worker and former foster youth featured in HBO’s ‘Foster’ shares her vision of societal and system change (www.risemagazine.org)
Excerpts from article by Sarah Harris from Rise Magazine . Q: What led you to work in the foster care system? A: I am a former foster youth and I’ve been a social worker at the L.A. Department of Child and Family Services for 5 years. I entered foster care through probation, and I got into probation through survival. I was breaking the law for clothes and food. In foster care, I bounced around a lot. For the most part I was AWOL. I was in group homes but I stayed with family or friends.
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TIC: News and Notes for the Week of October 21, 2019 [dhs.wisconsin.gov]
ACEs, Adversity's Impact There is only one boat: The myth of normalcy by Dr. Gabor Mate Understanding historical trauma to strengthen community Childhood trauma linked to early, premarital childbirth and poor health for women Early life racial discrimination linked to depression, accelerated aging When mothers are killed by their partners, children often become 'forgotten' victims. It's time they were given a voice Children's language skills may be harmed by social hardship Does racism...
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How It Feels & How We Heal: Parenting with ACEs Chat Quotes (You Tube, Database, PDFs, Links)
Parenting with ACEs is sharing inspiration, information, and expertise from our chat series in 3 formats. Parenting with ACEs: How It Feels & How We Heal Quote Collection (pdf version below as well) Quotes Database (pdf version below as well) Links to Chat Transcripts and before and after-the-chat blog posts. Thanks to everyone who showed up, who shared, and who is doing the important work that is our mission (prevent ACEs, heal trauma, build resilience). We know that work happens...
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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...
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Why Reducing Toxic Stress can Improve the Health of an Unborn Child [pbs.org]
By Stephanie Sy, Public Broadcasting System, December 17, 2020 Researchers are trying to better understand the biology of stress and its impact on child health. Now, data suggests those connections may form as early as the womb, with studies indicating frequent and prolonged adversity for pregnant women can affect the development of their babies. Stephanie Sy reports on a program aimed at easing the stress and struggles of mothers and their unborn children. [ Please click here to read the...
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World Premiere: Stress & Resilience: How Toxic Stress Affects Us, and What We Can Do About It [developingchild.harvard.edu]
By Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, November 13, 2019 When the stress in your life just doesn’t let up, and it feels like you have no support to get through the day—let alone do everything you need to do to be the best parent you can be—it can seem like there’s nothing that can make it better. But there are resources that can help, and this kind of stress—known as “toxic stress”—doesn’t have to define your life. In this video, learn more about what toxic stress is, how it...
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Yoga Transformed Me After Trauma and Sexual Assault [yogajournal.com]
Laura's note: This story of sheer determination of transformation of self and community in the face of personal trauma AND systemic racism is breathtaking. Be warned: it may blow you away, as it did me. As a child, Ebony Smith survived sexual assault but didn’t have the tools to cope with the trauma until years later, when she found yoga. Now, she’s bringing the practice to her community, and others in crisis. Exactly 247 people came to practice yoga with me today. Why is that such a big...
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Call for Abstracts for NCHDV 2020 conference
The National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence (NCHDV) seeks submissions that highlight research reports, practice innovations, advocacy initiatives, educational advances, and/or community programs that address one or more aspects related to domestic/sexual violence, other forms of violence, and health. The Call for Abstracts (CFA) invites leaders working in the fields of health and domestic/sexual violence to present their work at the 2020 Conference. Submission Deadline: Monday,...
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From Treatment to Healing: Inquiry and Response to Recent and Past Trauma in Adult Health Care [Institute of Women's Health]
Abstract: In 2015, a national working group developed and published a conceptual framework for trauma-informed primary care (Machtinger, Cuca, Khanna, Dawson-Rose, & Kimberg, 2015). Since that publication, there has been increasing recognition that childhood and adult trauma underlie and perpetuate many physical and behavioral health conditions seen in health care settings and that addressing trauma could fundamentally improve the experience and efficacy of care for both patients and...
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ACEs Science Champion Series: Dr. Angela Bymaster: This Faith-Based Physician Integrates ACEs Science with Healing Arts
Dr. Angela Bymaster, a family physician at Washington Elementary School in San Jose, CA, operates her clinic in a portable unit on the school property.
Because the unit faces students as they are dropped off by their families, she gets to “pick up the kids” before they are sent to the clinic, practicing “upstream medicine.”
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Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study: Beyond Screening in Pediatrics
The evidence is clear. When bad things happen to us as young children, we are at significantly increased risk for not only mental health problems, but also a wide range of physical health problems including asthma, heart disease, and even early death. These "bad things" all involve disruptions in caregiving relationships. A national movement directed at screening for ACEs in pediatric practices has emerged from this work. My suggestion that the implication of the Adverse Childhood...
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Aligning Systems for Health: 2019 Call for Proposals [rwjf.org]
By Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, November 1, 2019 Required Components Aligning Systems for Health will explore the degree to which health equity is impacted or results from current models of collaboration incorporating health care, public health, and social services. Gaps in health are large, persistent and increasing, and RWJF is committed to a system that meets people’s goals and needs and addresses these gaps that many populations face. Studies should include a focus on health equity by...
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Association of Exposure to Civil Conflict With Maternal Resilience and Maternal and Child Health and Health System Performance in Afghanistan [jamanetwork.com]
By Nadia Akseer, Arjumand Rizvi, Zaid Bhatti, et al., JAMA Network Open, November 8, 2019 Key Points Question: Is conflict severity associated with the performance of health systems and population health outcomes in Afghanistan during the 2003 to 2018 reconstruction period? Findings: In this survey study of 64 815 women in Afghanistan, notable health and health system improvements were made despite increasing conflict after 2010. However, regions with greater conflict had lower gains in...
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Structural Racism and its Impact on Black Maternal Health (New Security Beat)
By Deekshita Ramanarayan, July 21, 2020, New Security Beat. “The past months have been profoundly difficult for our nation, and for Black communities in particular,” said Representative Lauren Underwood (D-IL-14) at a recent March of Dimes event on the impact of structural racism on maternal health. COVID-19 has highlighted health outcome inequity caused by race and racism. Though Black people constitute 13 percent of the U.S. population, the CDC estimates they represent over 30 percent of...
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Perinatal Equity Initiative [cdph.ca.gov]
From California Department of Public Health, July 2020 In 2018, recognizing an alarming statewide gap in Black infant mortality, the state Legislature passed the Budget Act of 2018 which included the establishment of the California Perinatal Equity Initiative (PEI) within the Department of Public Health. While declines in infant mortality have been achieved, the statewide mortality rate for Black infants continues to be two to four times higher than rates for other groups. The PEI aims to...
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ACEs research roundup: ACEs, racism, promoting equity and resilience
Racial /Ethnic Disparities in Health Care Access Are Associated with Adverse Childhood Experiences , Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Racism , Psycho-Social Stress, and Health-related Quality of Life International Journal of Maternal Child Health and AIDS Promoting equity and resilience: Wellness navigators' role in addressing adverse childhood experiences American Psychological Association Co‐Occurring Youth Profiles of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Protective Factors:...
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Upcoming 4CA Webinar on 8/27/20: The Impacts of COVID-19 on California’s Children, Families, and Communities
The California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA) invites your participation in an upcoming 1.5 hour interactive webinar entitled “ The Impacts of COVID-19 on California’s Children, Families, and Communities ” on August 27, 2020, from 1:30 PM – 3:00 PST that will explore the economic impacts of COVID-19 and how it has affected, and continues to affect, California communities. Featuring a panel of experts, Dr. Flojaune Cofer, Public Health Advocates, All Children Thrive, California...
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'A Better Normal:' Can universal ACEs screening be equitable? -- Concerns and solutions
Can universal ACEs screening be equitable? A conversation about concerns and solutions. When: Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2-3:30 pm PDT/5-6:30 pm EDT This webinar explores what it takes to ensure that equity is built into the process of screening and providing support for families who have experienced trauma and want help. REGISTER HERE Background At the beginning of this year, California, through the ACEs Aware initiative began rolling out universal screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs),...
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Report on WIC Role in Reducing Maternal Mortality (California WIC Association)
CWA Flash Newsletter - October 13, 2020 (Blue text=hyperlinks) Report on WIC Role in Reducing Maternal Mortality The National WIC Association released a report titled " The Role of WIC in Reducing Maternal Mortality ." NWA’s Maternal Mortality Task Force created the report to consider ways in which maternal mortality is addressed and discussed with program participants throughout the WIC appointment, as well as explore opportunities for additional focus on the topic. The report highlights...
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Social Science Framework Focuses Attention on Policy Initiatives to Reduce Childhood Adversity in California
An important report challenges California policy makers to move well beyond ACEs screening in order to achieve the state's "bold goal" of reducing exposure to childhood trauma. The report employs a broad social science framework to examine the sources of adversity in systemic racism, economic inequality, environmental hazards, and inadequate community resources to support community resilience.
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Low levels of choline in pregnant Black American women associated with higher levels of stress (Mirage News)
NOVEMBER 17, 2020 5:08 AM AEDT Women with lower levels of choline delivered prematurely by 2 weeks, increasing risk of later mental health problems for their offspring. Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campu s have found that many pregnant Black Americans have low levels of choline, an essential nutrient that aids in prenatal brain development. Stress caused by institutional racism may play a role. The study, out now in Schizophrenia Bulletin , also found that these...
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A San Francisco Experiment Will Give Some Pregnant Women $1,000 a Month. Could Other Cities Be Next? [time.com]
By Abigail Abrams and Abby Vesoulis, Time, March 18, 2021 When Maile Chand reminisces about her 2016 pregnancy, the first thing that comes to mind isn’t how she prepared her daughter’s nursery or vetted baby names. Instead, she remembers constantly struggling to find enough money for food and rent in San Francisco. Chand was just 20 years old at the time, living in the nation’s most expensive city, and working a low-paying retail job while attending community college. Navigating San...
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To solve the Black maternal mortality crisis, start with upending racist practices
It’s been all over the news for months: Black women in the United States are dying from complications during their pregnancies or in childbirth at alarming rates, and those deaths are preventable. Less well explored is how systemic racism and historical trauma have been at the core of what’s driven up these rates over several decades. A March 20 conference entitled The Impact of ACEs on Black Maternal Health took an in-depth look into why Black maternal mortality and complications during...
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Maternal Health’s Ongoing Mandate for Women of Color: The Call for Wholistic Health Equity
Last month’s CDC declaration that Racism is a public health crisis was long overdue. Yet, vital health and mental health disparities for women of color rage on amid this latest societal call to arms. Too many women of color, their families, and friends lay victim to gaping wounds, residual scars, and profound trauma from egregious maternal health experiences. Current facts speak volumes. The U.S. has the highest rate of maternal mortality among developed nations, rising steadily the past 40...
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Adverse Babyhood Experiences (ABEs): 10 New Categories of Adversity Before a Child's 3rd Birthday (Download Journal Article)
Adverse babyhood experiences (ABEs) are a new construct derived from large bodies of evidence that identify a different group of risk factors from adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ABEs occur before a child’s 3rd birthday and influence infant as well as maternal morbidity and mortality. ABEs are also risk factors for chronic illnesses and other chronic conditions in the child , symptoms such as postpartum depression and PTSD in parents and offer opportunities for prevention and repair.
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New Child Trends reserach examines how racism drives disparities in maternal and child health
New Child Trends research uses data from Zero to Three’s State of Babies Yearbook 2021 to examine disparities in maternal and child health, and discusses why these disparities exist. The researchers also highlight strategies that policymakers and practitioners can use to promote racial and ethnic equity to improve maternal and child health. For example, paid family leave is tied to lower rates of infant mortality and maternal depression and increased rates of breastfeeding and infant...
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Alameda County program counters health industry racism experienced by Black expectant mothers [eastbaytimes.com]
By Claudia Boyd Barret, East Bay Times, August 21, 2021 Krista Hayes, 32, of Oakland was delighted when she found out she and her husband were pregnant with their first child together. But she was also scared. She’d seen statistics showing that, as a Black woman in America, she was far more likely to die in childbirth, suffer labor complications or have a preterm baby than other women. She feared entrusting the momentous process of having a baby to a medical system that she felt had often...
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Racism a Strong Factor in Black Women's High Rate of Premature Births, Study Finds [khn.org]
By Anna Maria Barry-Jester, Kaiser Health News, October 5, 2021 The tipping point for Dr. Paula Braveman came when a longtime patient of hers at a community clinic in San Francisco’s Mission District slipped past the front desk and knocked on her office door to say goodbye. He wouldn’t be coming to the clinic anymore, he told her, because he could no longer afford it. It was a decisive moment for Braveman, who decided she wanted not only to heal ailing patients but also to advocate for...
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Virtual premiere of From the Ashes: Nov 6
Bay Area nonprofit, Supporting Mamas, is proud to co-host the premiere of From the Ashes , a personal film from Theresa Fortune about her own journey with postpartum depression. The premiere will feature a panel of mental health experts exploring the inequities of maternal mental healthcare faced by women of color. From the Ashes is a multidisciplinary narrative of a black woman’s journey through postpartum depression and towards spiritual rebirth. Through the use of photography, video...
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Examples of Current Trauma-Informed Judicial Systems
Please join us for a new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly virtual Zoom series will feature conversations facilitated by Porter Jennings-McGarity, PACEs Connection’s criminal justice consultant, with special guests to discuss the need for trauma-informed criminal justice system reform. Using a PACEs-science lens, this series will examine the relationship between trauma and the criminal justice system, what needs changing, and strategies being used in this area...
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Homicide is a leading cause of death in pregnant people, a new study finds. Black women are at greatest risk. [thelily.com]
By Cecilia Nowell, Illustration: iStock/Washington Post Illustration, The Lily, December 6, 2021 At the Safe Sisters Circle, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., founder and executive director Alana C. Brown said she has worked with “countless” survivors of intimate partner violence who were abused while pregnant. While providing legal services to survivors in the city’s predominantly Black Ward 7 and 8, Brown said she’s witnessed that sometimes the abuse isn’t only physical; she’s seen...
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The Dismal State of Maternal Wholistic Health for Women of Color
Change is long overdue for this massive maternal health chasm of wholistic health disparities, transcending physical, behavioral, and psychosocial health, and particularly for women of color (WOC)
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Black Maternal Mental Health - Film Screening & Fireside Chat
We invite you to join us on Wednesday, November 9 th at 5:15PM for a documentary screening and conversation on maternal mental health in the Black community. Constructed with service providers in mind (but, open to all), we hope that this virtual offering informs your practice and supports you in providing culturally-responsive and equitable care. We hope to see you there! LINK TO REGISTER: From the Ashes Screening & Fireside Chat Registration About the film: From The Ashes is a...
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Jeoff Gordon sees PACEs science, PACEs Connection playing a vital role in ‘relieving some of the most anguishing pain in our society.’
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...
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How much would the NAS poverty reduction packages reduce referrals to CPS and foster care placements? Would they reduce racial disproportionality in child welfare? (nasonline.org).
Because of a collaboration with Columbia University and UW-Madison, we have answers to these questions. By Peter Peter Pecora, Casey Family Programs, March 17, 2023 - Overview The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recently released a “ roadmap ” to reduce child poverty by as much as half through the implementation of a series of social policy packages. The aim of this study was to simulate the reductions in Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement and foster care placements that are...
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Register Now for Inaugural Statewide Summit: Leveraging North Carolina’s Assets to Prevent Childhood Trauma — Virtually & In Raleigh April 27-28!
Information from Summit Brochure and registration site available here . North Carolina’s first Statewide Trauma Summit – a virtual and in-person summit – will beheld Thursday and Friday, April 27-28, in Raleigh, at The McKimmon Conference and Training Center, Summit leaders announced recently. “Momentum is growing in NC for building trauma-informed systems that strengthen resilience and weed out systemic and often intergenerational sources of child trauma. To advance this work, it is...
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PACEs Research Corner — May 2023, Part 2
[Editor's note: Dr. Harise Stein at Stanford University edits a web site — abuseresearch.info — that focuses on the effects of abuse, and includes research articles on PACEs. Every month, she posts the summaries of the abstracts and links to research articles that address only ACEs, PCEs and PACEs. Thank you, Harise!! — Rafael Maravilla] Domestic Violence – Effects on Children Makris G, Eleftheriades A, Pervanidou P. Early Life Stress, Hormones, and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Horm Res...
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“Caring for our own” theme emerges at May Meeting of North Carolina Chief Justice’s Task Force on ACEs-Informed Courts
Ben David, co-chair of the North Carolina Chief Justice's Task Force on ACEs-Informed Courts, shares plans to sustain the work done during the two-year term of the Task Force, to "care for our own" speaking of North Carolina's children, youth, families, communities, victims of crimes, members of law enforcement, the judiciary and court officers and staffers. He also shared Chief Justice Paul Newby's hopes of "getting ACEs-informed courts" into the culture, and said a national conference for...
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Review of “First 60 Days” booklet: Leveraging author’s work and movement could spark revolution to prevent and heal trauma, one precious baby, child, and caregiver at a time.
(This is a review of what I believe is an important new resource for the PACEs [for positive and adverse childhood experiences] science movement. Opinions expressed are my own, and are shared as a parent, advocate, author, and longtime student of trauma, healing, and prevention. Thoughts are also shared through my lens as someone who believes, deeply, in the incredible importance of and value in building healthier, more compassionate communities to support and nurture pregnant and new...
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Health Equity and the Social Determinants of Health Are NOT Synonyms
Successful health equity strategies must be inclusive, and focus on all marginalized and minoritized persons and their communities. Any lesser view will continue to yield a faulty health equity equation.
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Healing the Generations - Historic, Two-Day Event Virtual Event On Trauma, Race, and The Body
Presented by Clifford Beers Community Care Center, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and KPJR Films, Healing the Generations is a two-day conference which brings together trauma-informed authors, leaders, and changemakers whose work focuses on resilience, trauma, and anti-racism. REGISTER HERE Collectively, we recognize the health implications that grief, loss, political unrest, and racial trauma have on the human body. We are convinced that in our families, communities, and ancestors,...
