Tagged With "Glacier Valley Elementary School"
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#1 Top Story of 2018: ANTHC opens Walk-in Clinic for non-emergent health care services
An important part of ANTHC’s plan to achieve our vision is to provide the right care at the right time in the right place. As our Alaska Native population continues to grow, demand for health services at ANMC also increases and ANTHC is improving access by creating more clinical space. For our patients living outside of the Anchorage Service Unit, ANTHC now offers a new specialty clinic, the Walk-in Clinic, for non-emergent health care services for our people while visiting Anchorage. ANTHC...
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2016 Arctic expedition incorporates culture and Resilience into education
Gatineau, Quebec: July 18, 2016 – On July 21, more than 100 high school and university students from across Canada and around the world come together in Ottawa to begin a two-week expedition to the Canadian Arctic and Greenland with Students on Ice (SOI). They are led by an expert team made up of 80 scientists, artists, Inuit leaders, dignitaries and polar explorers on this life-changing journey of discovery, reconciliation and adventure. Expedition dates are July 21 – August 5, 2016.
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2019 Hope Endowment/CBJ Social Services Grant Awards [Philanthropy Northwest]
Juneau Community Foundation awards $1.8M in grants to local nonprofit service providers in the areas of homelessness, food security, substance abuse disorders, domestic violence, suicide prevention, senior care, hospice, mental and physical health, education and income stability. These grants are provided through a unified process that includes funding from the Juneau Community Foundation’s Hope Endowment Fund ($1,053,978) and the City & Borough of Juneau’s Social Service Funds...
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ACE Resolution introduced in the Alaska Legislature
Representative Geran Tarr, (D-Anchorage) introduced a resolution in the Alaska State House of Representatives yesterday to encourage the governor and legislature to address ACEs in Alaska. Here is the title of the Resolution: “Urging Governor Bill Walker to join with the Alaska State Legislature to respond to the public and behavioral health epidemic of adverse childhood experiences by establishing a statewide policy and providing programs to address this epidemic.” The...
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Alaska Day—Not Just for White People Anymore [progressive.org]
Gerry Hope of the Sik'nax.ádi clan of the Tlingit tribe sees good reason for native people to question Alaska Day, an annual celebration of the U.S. acquisition of this land from Russia. The acquisition happened 150 years ago, but the Tlingit people have called this land home for 10,000 years. “Our hurt, anger, and resentment have been simmering and smoldering for the past 150 years,” Hope said. Alaska Day parades feature charming homemade floats, proud high school marching bands,...
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Alaska House Health and Social Services Committee refers HCR 21out of Committee
The Alaska State House Health and Social Services Committee, chaired by Representative Paul Seaton, took testimony on HCR 21, titled "Urging Governor Bill Walker to join with the Alaska State Legislature to respond to the public and behavioral health epidemic of adverse childhood experiences by establishing a statewide policy and providing programs to address this epidemic." [ LINK HERE ] HCR 21 now goes to the House Finance Committee but it has no fiscal note, so that shouldn't be an...
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Alaska legislature takes up ACEs resolution similar to those passed in Wisconsin and California
A hearing will be held April 2 on Alaska House Concurrent Resolution 21 (HCR 21) to respond to adverse childhood experiences. The resolution is very similar to those passed in Wisconsin and California . Testimony will be heard in the Health and Social Services Committee on the bill introduced by Representative Geran Tarr. In her statement about the bill , Tarr calls on Governor Walker “to establish policy and programs to address the public and behavioral health epidemic of adverse childhood...
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Anchorage premiere of the film 'Paper Tigers' [AlaskaDispatchNews.com]
Alaska Children's Trust is hosting an exciting new documentary around Alaska. Paper Tigers follows the lives of six students in Walla Walla, Wash., as they attend an alternative high school that has begun to look at how chronic stressful events such...
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Artists in the ACE and Resilience Movement: Creative Avenues to Change
They began with a song and ended with a poem. In-between, there were photographs and giant graphic renderings, movement exercises and a “human pulse” formed when 90 people stood in a circle and squeezed each other’s hands. At a June summit in Whatcom County, Washington, titled “Our Resilient Community: A Community Conversation on Resilience and Equity,” the arts played a starring role. Kristi Slette, executive director of the Whatcom Family and Community Network, one of two Washington sites...
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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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Conference in Anchorage Aug 18th on Complex Trauma and Addictions
Longitudinal Progression of Complex Trauma and Addiction: Case Studies and Interventions The University of Alaska Anchorage - Department of Human Services is hosting a conference on August 18, 2017 from 8 am -5:30 pm with a Dinner presentation from 6 pm - 7:30 pm at the UAA Lucy Cuddy Hall. The conference will spotlight case studies highlighting the necessity of a multi-disciplinary approach in addressing the complexity of trauma combined with addiction. See attached flyer for more...
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Do you live in Arizona, Hawaii, California, Nevada or the US Pacific Islands? Come to our no-cost mental and school mental health Winter Institute!
Do you live in Arizona, Hawaii, California, Nevada or the US Pacific Islands?If so...Check it out! 👇 NO COST. MENTAL HEALTH & SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH WORKFORCE. AMAZING FACULTY. JANUARY 14, 15, & 16th! LONG BEACH, CA. JOIN US. 🤝 👏 Learn more here: http://bit.ly/mhttc-winterinstitute-flyer Register here: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07egq2f9gaebafa6bd&llr=8wdk4ubab
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Dr. Linda Chamberlain's Toolkit on DV & ACEs now available
Dr. Linda Chamberlain from Homer, Alaska introduces the Domestic Violence and ACEs toolkit that she developed and tested throughout the Arctic.
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Fighting 'toxic stress' [Frontiersman.com]
PALMER — School and public health officials say teachers need to know what’s going on in their students’ home lives to help them succeed. At the Glenn Massay Theater on Saturday night, Mat-Su Health Foundation (MSHF)...
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First statewide meeting of the Alaska Resilience Initiative
Last Thursday, the first statewide meeting of the Alaska Resilience Initiative was held. Over 80 people from different regions in Alaska who work in different sectors, organizations, schools, tribes, etc. gathered around the same goal of building healthy families and communities and moving beyond trauma and the intergenerational transmission of trauma. Participants rolled up their sleeves and got to work on how to structure this collective impact initiative so that it is inclusive,...
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Former student starts up makeshift food bank at Abbott Loop Elementary (KTUU)
By Samie Solina, Oct 18, 2019, for KTUU ANCHORAGE (KTUU) - A make-shift food bank lives in the office of Abbott Loop Elementary in Anchorage inside of the school’s family services coordinators office. Abbott Loop Elementary is a Title I school, which means it has high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families. These schools receive financial assistance to help their students meet goals. Melinda Jarvis, a former student and now parent volunteer, knows what it’s like to...
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Free Discussion Guide and Movie Loans
Do you ever see a post from us and wonder about ACEs? Want to educate your friends? We can help! For free, ARI can lend you an hour-long documentary (Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope) about the history of ACE science and early years of the Resilience movement, as well as a hard or soft copy of the movie’s discussion guide. This guide ( https://www.recharge4resilience.org/sites/default/files/slides/Resilience%20Guide%20-%20FINAL.PDF ) created in partnership with the...
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LEARNING/TA OPPORTUNITY FOR TRAUMA-INFORMED COMMUNITIES! -- Applications due Jan 8!
LEARNING/TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE OPPORTUNITY!
Announcement & call for submissions from the for the National Council on Behavioral Health’s:
• 2017 Trauma-Sensitive School Learning Community for schools and districts
• 2017 National Trauma-Informed Care Learning Community for behavioral health, social service, community and large system organizations.
Applications are due 5:00 PM EST on January 8, 2017.
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Greetings & introduction!
Hello Alaska ACEs Action members! I want to introduce myself, as I am the new Program Director for the Alaska Resilience Initiative and will be working to enliven this ACEs Connection group and make it an active and useful space for us to learn and organize together. The picture is of me with my now two-year-old daughter, Ida Luna. I am mama to her and to a baby boy due in late July. I just began at the Alaska Children's Trust a few weeks ago as the Program Director for the Alaska Resilience...
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Guidance from Alaska Native & Native American Gathering on Trauma & Resilience in Alaska
In May, the Alaska Resilience Initiative partnered w/ First Alaskans Institute & the Native Village of Chickaloon to convene a gathering of Alaska Native and Native American people from every region of Alaska who work on issues of child & intergenerational trauma. The goal was to seek input that would be used to guide the Alaska Resilience Initiative, the training-of-ACEs/Resilience trainers and the curriculum used to present on ACEs, and the overall framing & approach to this work.
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Healing in the Classroom: Juneau School Tries New Tack to Help Students [juneauempire.com]
By Michael S. Lockett, Juneau Empire, December 4, 2019 Just as a house built on a shattered foundation won’t stand straight, mounting research points toward a child’s earliest years as setting a pattern that will last their whole life. “What happens early in your life has really big and dramatic impact on the later parts of your life,” said Alex Newton, the counselor at Glacier Valley Elementary School – Sít’ Eetí Shaanáx. “All development for kids starts with their early caregiver...
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Homework: Moving Toward Compassionate, Trauma-Informed Schools
It was the little red trauma-informed schoolhouse. Katherine Wickersham-Wade, the Nay’dini’aa Na’ Kayax (Chickaloon Village) clan grandmother who started the Ya Ne Dah Ah School , Alaska’s first Tribally operated school in 1992, might not have used that language. But she did envision a school that would wrap its students in Native ancestral traditions and Ahtna language, instill self-confidence and repair some of the damage inflicted by historical trauma—the disruptions to culture and...
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Investigating historical trauma endured by Native Americans, Alaska Natives [AlaskaPublic.org]
An Ojibwe woman and independent journalist Mary Annette Pember recently visited Alaska for a series of stories on historical trauma and Native American mental health practices. Pember says the troubled lives of Native Americans reflect their troubled...
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Kindness for children with an incarcerated parent [juneauempire.com]
11.2 percent. More than 1 in 10. This is the number of adults in Alaska, that had experienced having a family member in jail at some point during their childhood. Seventy percent of those reporting an incarcerated family member grew up with four or more adverse childhood experiences (i.e. witnessed or experienced domestic violence, substance abuse in the household, sexual abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, household mental illness). These ACEs can lead to physical and mental health issues...
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Lunch & Learn: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), Resilience and Trauma-Informed Policy-Making
Join me in Juneau to learn about the impact of ACEs on our communities, workplaces and state. ACEs are a significant contributor to all the issues we struggle with, and cost Alaskan an estimated $866 million per year. Learn examples of trauma-informed approaches to business and policy-making. For those not in Juneau, the Lunch and Learn will be broadcast live and archived at www.360north.org/watch . When: Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at 12 PM – 12:45 PM Where: Capitol Building in Juneau,...
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MARC Booklet 2016: Features Alaska
Please find attached the 2016 booklet for the Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) project, including Alaska and the other 13 communities that have been selected to participate in this 2 year learning collaborative. This is a great summary of the work happening in all 14 communities across the country. I look forward to working with you all in Alaska!
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Mat-Su Valley Faith Leaders
Mat-Su Valley faith leaders and all those in faith communtiies who work with children, families, and communities: On April 5th, the Mat-Su Faith Leaders Forum on "Safe Children, Healthy Families" will be held, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at Turkey Red restaurant in Palmer. This is an opportunity to learn about the research on trauma and resilience, hear examples of how other faith communities have applied this research to their services and approaches, and brainstorm with your peer ... s about what...
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Mining the “lessons learned” from trauma legislation successes
L to R: Afomeia Tesfai, Rep. Geran Tarr, Jeff Hild _____________________________________________________________________ The planned agenda for the “Learning Series: Policy Approaches to Childhood Adversity” workshop at the 2018 ACEs Conference: Action to Access went out the window when an unexpected guest— California Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, MD —was invited to open the session and join the other participants in lively exchanges about their advocacy experiences and perspectives on...
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New Alaskan Youth Healthy Relationships Community Toolkit
A Step-by-Step Guide to Using the ANTHC Healthy Youth Relationships Community Toolkit The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium has collaborated with rural and urban communities to make locally and culturally-relevant resources...
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Now available: recording of Chris Blodgett's talk on trauma-informed communities
Dr. Chris Blodgett spoke on Thursday, Nov 3rd at the Anchorage Loussac Library to a room of nearly 140 people and 60 more online. His talk "From ACEs to Action: How Communities Can Improve Well-Being and Resilience" was approximately two hours long. Access the webinar video, audio file, and slides here.
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One Student; 123 Bowls for the Needy [Anchorage Press]
The Nov. 30, 2019, earthquake destroyed more than half of the bowls Molly Estes had made in her quest to help others in need via the 25 th Annual Empty Bowl Project set for Sat., March 9 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Dena’ina Center in downtown Anchorage. “The whole week (students were out of school post the quake), there was this rush of worry,” Estes said, noting that she had finished 63 bowls prior to the seismic event. “I was anxious to get back.” But it didn’t stop her drive. The...
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“Paper Tigers” Makes an Impact at University of Alaska, Anchorage
On Tuesday evening students, staff, and community members attended a showing of “Paper Tigers” on campus at UAA. The showing was a joint effort of Alaska Children’s Trust, Prevent Child Abuse America, and UAA Residence Life in recognition of National Public Health Week. The room was packed and there was an animated discussion after the film. “Paper Tigers’ clearly had a strong impact on everyone who attended. In the written evaluations everyone indicated that they would recommend the film to...
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Principal Progress: Trauma-Informed Efforts at One Alaska Elementary School
Before Deanna Beck had ever heard of the 1998 ACE study, before she became principal of Northwood ABC Elementary School in Anchorage, she was a special education teacher who saw the ways trauma scrawled through her students’ lives.
On the one-minute reading tests Beck administered, she would notice steady progress—40 words a minute, then 50—followed by dramatic drops; a child would suddenly be stumbling along at three or four words a minute.
She began to ask the kids what had happened.
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Program increases awareness of effects of childhood trauma [JuneauEmpire.com]
Posted January 14, 2018 06:24 am - Updated January 14, 2018 05:44 pm By ALEX McCARTHY Those running CLEAR hope to help students who have suffered from trauma to perform better in school and society. As Natalie Turner walked into a fourth-grade classroom at Glacier Valley Elementary on Friday, the fingers started wiggling. The fourth-graders greeted her silently, holding up their index fingers and bending them up and down. Turner returned the gesture, which they call the “one-finger wave,”...
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Putting Alaska Native hopes, voices at center of state’s ACEs movement (socialjusticesolutions.org)
Before the Alaska Resilience Initiative could push forward on any of its goals—to grow a sustainable statewide network; to educate all Alaskans on brain development, adverse childhood experiences , and resilience-building; and to support organizational, policy and practice change to address trauma—its leaders had to start by listening. Specifically, they had to listen to Alaska Native people. That’s why Laura Norton-Cruz, program director of the Alaska Resilience Initiative, partnered with...
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Reading the Signs of Trauma
I lived in Kotzebue, AK, for four months. One reason I was attracted to the community was an opportunity to introduce the concept of childhood trauma and ACEs. I did that. The Northwest Arctic School District had a wonderful and compassionate superintendent, Dr. Norm Eck. I had a few conversations with Dr. Eck about ACEs and how it affects children as they become adults. Dr. Eck accepted the information and had plans to examine it more deeply, but eventually retired and the spread of...
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Sen. Heitkamp Discusses the Need for a Commission on Native Children [Indian Country Today]
In this interview published February 5, Senator Heitkamp (D-ND) specifically addressed trauma in the Native American community—both historical and individual—and says that the proposed Commission on Native Children must develop...
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States Produce a Bumper Crop of ACEs bills in 2017—nearly 40 bills in 18 states
A scan done in March by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) through StateNet of bills introduced in 2017 that specifically include adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the text produced a surprising volume of bills (close of 40) in a large number of states (18). A scan done a year ago produced less than a handful. NCSL is a bipartisan organization that serves both state legislators and their staffs. The shear volume of bills in so many states represents a promising...
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Stemming the tide of childhood trauma [ADN.com]
As parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, neighbors and community members, we all know children and care about their well-being. Likely all of us know at least one child who struggles in school, who acts out in class or shuts down and withdraws, who often goes to the nurse or goes home sick, and who shows up at school late many days — if at all. Perhaps we find ourselves wondering what is the most likely cause of all these different problems and what we can possibly do to help. The good...
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Stopping the flow of childhood trauma from one generation to the next [JuneauEmpire.com]
During opening remarks for the Juneau Suicide Prevention Coalition’s conference, “Adverse Childhood Experiences and Suicide,” Alaska Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott talked about the challenging and traumatic experiences he and his family experienced. “My mother — a full-blooded Tlingit lady — her entire experience of life was that of adversity. Her mother was born, and living at the time that missionaries came to our community and changed our world forever,” he said to an audience of more than 200...
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Suicide Rates Rise in the U.S.
I became extremely interested in suicide prevention after two of my young cousins committed suicide within six months of each other. I began to study the current state of suicide prevention in 2008 and began to envision what I refer to as a future state in about 2009. I wrote a very quick paper summarizing my research because two of my dear friends were deeply engaged in suicide prevention, one as chair of a prevention task force and the other as a teacher, coach and mentor. I gave three...
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Summer reading list: Turn your everyday kid into a resilient revolutionary [ADN.com]
In my last column , I wrote about how getting lost in a good book can help students hang on to academic advances they made during the school year. What I didn't talk about then is how reading offers an equally crucial benefit to young people by developing what are known as "soft skills" — the emotional intelligence we need in life to feel confident, make good decisions and endure bad things. This is especially critical in Alaska, a state where too many children are victims of society's dark...
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Support needed for HCR 21 (ACEs Bill) -- incl. testimony THIS Saturday
1.) Write a letter of support for HCR 21. Please email them to Rep. Tarr's office as soon as possible so we can add them to the bill packet.
2.) If there’s an opportunity to give public testimony, please send Rep. Tarr's aide your name and contact number before Wednesday, March 30th.
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Thank you, Alaska!!
It was a terrific and fast five-day visit, and I definitely want to return. The start of the trip was in Anchorage, where on Friday, May 29, I met about 25 people who gathered at Alaska Children’s Trust to chat about what’s...
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Toxic Stress, Toxic Streets (4 minute video)
This video is about 2 years old, but I just came across it last week and wanted to share with you all. It is a powerful statement by the students at Leadership High School in San Francisco, CA. They speak about the ongoing adversity and toxic stress in their daily lives and in their community, all through the power of music. The youth voice is so important as we work to bring trauma-informed and resilience building practices to communities. Link to video: Toxic Stress, Toxic Streets
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Transforming perspectives on trauma through paintings of hope [AlaskaPublishing.org]
Tarah Hargrove stands before a massive painting. One side is dominated by grey cinder blocks and stencils of guns. The other by a yellow sky filled with birds. And in the center is a giant portrait of Hargrove, herself. Her chin is lifted, and she looks defiantly at the viewer, magenta radiating from her hair. “So my inner narcissist was like, ‘Yay! My face!” Hargrove said, laughing about her first impression of the four-panel mural painted by University of Alaska Anchorage students. Though...
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U.S. Senator Heitkamp spreads the word about trauma to Senate colleagues and urges advocates to do more
At a March 8 breakfast meeting in Washington, D.C., the featured speakers—U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota (left) and Judith Sandalow, Executive Director of the DC Children’s Law Center (CLC)—used the vivid image of children growing up with “black mold climbing the walls,” referring to unsafe physical and emotional environments at home and in communities, exacerbated by poverty but not limited to poor households. Heitkamp described how the science now explains what we already...
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Wisconsin state agencies end year one of trauma-informed learning community; goal is to be first trauma-informed state
Here in California, many people think that it’s only liberal Democrats who have a corner on championing the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and putting it into practice. That might be because people who use ACEs science don’t expel or suspend students, even if they’re throwing chairs and hurling expletives at the teacher. They ask "What happened to you?" rather than "What's wrong with you?" as a frame when they create juvenile detention centers where kids don’t fight, reduce...
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Youth Alliance for a Healthier Alaska (YAHA) needs applications from teens by 3/31
I wanted to share this flyer and message from Jenny Baker at the State of Alaska's Adolescent Health Program, because it's a fantastic way to get Alaskan teens involved in a meaningful leadership position (which we all know is a protective factor that builds resilience) and it's a way to have their experience and voices shaping health and social service programs in Alaska so that these programs can be more effective with youth -- which is our goal, right? Please share with teens in your...
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