Blog

ORIGINAL POST 1/20/18 Right after the New Year, Jocelyn Goldblatt, Cissy White, and I discussed Jocelyn's capstone project for her Master's Thesis. The screening and panel discussion of the documentary Resilience was her brain child and the cornerstone of her project. But it would also doubly duty as the launch event for the new ACES Connection chapter in Keene, NH (Monadnock Thrives). During the discussion, I boldly announced that we would be lucky to get 30 people in the audience. And I...

For most people, a single doctor’s visit can be a financial obstacle course. Many patients throughout the year pay hundreds or thousands of dollars in premiums, most often through workplace contributions. Then, at the doctor’s office, they are faced with a deductible, and they may need to pay coinsurance or make a copayment. If they have prescriptions, they’ll likely fork over cash for those, too. And that’s just for basic primary care for one person. Repeat that process for an entire...

Too many Americans are overweight and eat unhealthy food, a problem that falls disproportionately on poor and low-income people. For many urbanists, the main culprit has long been “food deserts”—disadvantaged neighborhoods that are underserved by quality grocery stores, and where people’s nutritional options are limited to cheaper, high-calorie, and less nutritious food. But a new study by economists at New York University, Stanford University, and the University of Chicago adds more...

Cissy's note: I don't have a public health background and am constantly learning about sectors and cross-sector work as relates to work related to all things ACEs and ACEs science. I found it heartening that most of the public is as confused as I was about what cross-sector work is and how and why it can be innovative and effective. Like most people, I assumed this working together was already happening some or most of the time. So, when I heard about cross-sector models as innovative I...

Hi all & happy 2018! Our Greater Richmond TICN formed a Trauma-Informed Legal/Courts Committee two years ago with the intention of bringing a focus to professionals within the disciplines related to legal/courts (law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, sheriffs, judges, clerks, probation/parole officers, detention center staff). We know that these professionals are exposed to primary, secondary and vicarious trauma on a regular basis and acknowledged that training and supports...

On December 11, 2017, more than fifteen agencies sent representatives to participate in our Trauma Informed Agency Champion training. Many folks expressed an interest in continuing to come together and to share resources. We invite all of the workshop participants and other interested community members to find connection right here via ACEs Connection! I encourage you all to use the ACEs Connection websites and live groups which offer many resources for you including: The new online Becoming...

I began riding the “trauma-informed care” wave three years prior to realizing I was part of something bigger than my own vision to bust open the conversation on trauma. When my life as a writer, editor, and advocate for parenting survivors of childhood abuse collided with my professional life as a mental health care manager, I knew the universe was trying to tell me something. Having long ago succumbed to the realization that everything really does happen for a reason, I started to see my...

http://www.richmond.com/news/special-report/making-a-difference/making-a-difference-karen-w-henderson/article_5bf01368-631d-5af5-add1-dc4ad5445e7e.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share

Excerpt from piece in Mad in America written by Zenobia Morrill : Read more .

From the website: Many of the people we interact with every day have been affected by overwhelming stress or traumatic experiences. Traumatic experiences change a person and can create turmoil within a person and in their life. This is especially true if events and/or conditions happen in childhood. The consequences of trauma are far reaching and can be directly or indirectly linked to mental illness, addictions, chronic disease, suicide, and overall, a failure to thrive. The purpose of the...

A year ago, I wrote this blog, urging a shift from focusing primarily on self-care as the antidote to vicarious trauma/secondary traumatic stress to a broader concept of creating cultures of staff wellness and resilience which includes self-care as well as changes in organizational practices, protocols and policy. It is gratifying to see visible progress toward that shift as illustrated by two recent articles. One from the Worcester Telegram about a proposed policy by the Massachusetts...

I am not even sure where to start. But, I know I need to write about this. I need to give this to the world. Perhaps to another mother who is facing the darkness and can’t see her way out. Perhaps she is watching her children caught in the cyclone that is her life. I think she is who I am writing this for. And maybe for me too. I am doing some amazing work with a community that is fast becoming dear to my heart. I look at the people who keep showing up that are trying to wrap their heads...