Tagged With "Childhood"
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12 Things I Wish My Doctor Understood About Childhood Trauma
It doesn’t happen that often anymore, but one place where I almost always get triggered with my Childhood PTSD symptoms is when I visit the doctor. I could never even put this into words before. But now that I’m mostly healed from my Childhood PTSD symptoms, I want to express what I wish my doctors – all the doctors of my life – had understood about the effects of Childhood trauma, about me. Note: This is one of my most personal posts ever. Unless you’re someone who really prefers text, I...
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ACEs - More Than Information; It's An Experience
In my opinion we as ACEs/trauma educators must be very mindful that whether we talk about ACEs in front of a large group of people or one on one, it’s not just information. We are giving people an experience, an experience that may rock them to their core especially if they have never heard the information before.
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Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Toolkit [emergingminds.com.au]
From Emerging Minds, February 2020 This toolkit contains information, advice and practical tools for individuals and professionals who work with, or care for, children who have had adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs are very stressful events or circumstances that children may experience during their childhood. They can have significant impacts on children’s physical health, mental health and social functioning during childhood, adolescence and later life. The resources in this...
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Building A Trauma Informed System of Care Toolkit
We are delighted to make available the Building Strong Brains of Tennessee funded, Building A Trauma Informed System of Care toolkit. This toolkit is based upon the work of the Northeast Tennessee ACEs Connection group and it's many partners since 2015. In time, Building Strong Brains of Tennessee will also have printed copies available. In preparing this toolkit, Dr. Andi Clements and I tried to share in a very transparent fashion the steps we've taken, mistakes we've made and inspiring...
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Building Trauma-Informed Connections via Telehealth During COVID-19 [acesaware.org]
From ACEs Aware, April 21, 2020 The physician speakers will share opportunities and guidance for providing trauma-informed care via telehealth as well as resources providers can offer to patients to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 related stress on physical and mental health. This is particularly critical for patients who have experienced, or who are currently experiencing, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) or other adversities. Futures Without Violence will share resources providers...
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Essentials for Childhood Framework
From the CDC’s Injury Prevention & Control, Division of Violence Prevention: "Safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments are essential to prevent child abuse and neglect and to assure all children reach their full potential. The Essentials for Childhood Framework proposes strategies communities can consider to promote relationships and environments that help children grow up to be healthy and productive citizens so that they, in turn, can build stronger and safer families and...
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Implementation of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Conversation in Primary Care [academic.oup.com]
By Victoria Bodendorfer, Afton M Koball, Cary Rasmussen, et al., Oxford University Press, November 23 ,2019 Abstract Background Research has focused on screening for adverse childhood experiences, rather than provision of education as a part of routine anticipatory guidance. An adverse childhood experiences ‘conversation’ is one method that has not been studied empirically but represents a complimentary or alternative approach to screening which could overcome many existing barriers.
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Inside the Adverse Childhood Experience Score: Strengths, Limitations, and Misapplications [ajpmonline.org]
By Robert F. Anda, Laura E. Porter, David W. Brown, et al., American Journal of Preventive Medicine, March 25, 2020 INTRODUCTION Despite its usefulness in research and surveillance studies, the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) score is a relatively crude measure of cumulative childhood stress exposure that can vary widely from person to person. Unlike recognized public health screening measures, such as blood pressure or lipid levels that use measurement reference standards and cut points...
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It Makes Sense
I felt inadequate and ill-prepared to speak to licensed mental health professionals about ACEs. But when I was asked to attend the 40th Annual Training Institute on Behavioral Health & Addictive Disorders in Clearwater, Florida to represent ACEs Connection, I was honored and eager. My background is in health planning, not mental or behavioral health. I review health data and look for gaps and inequities. My time is spent looking for and addressing the health needs of a community. So,...
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Looking for online training and consulting?
Looking for tools to help your organization or community integrate a trauma-informed and resilience-building approach? At Origins, we offer training courses to support you from your aha moment to your action plan. It all starts with The Basics, a 90-minute online training that will provide you with an overview of the key concepts behind a trauma-informed approach. When you’re ready to move from aha to action, sign up for The Resilience Champion Certificate, a self-paced 6-week online training...
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Podcast: "Honoring Culture, Language, and Family: Stories from the Navajo Nation" (30 min)
The Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) is excited to share the fifth episode of In the Arena with NOW , a podcast series that lifts up the voices of community leaders who are “in the arena” -- in classrooms, playgrounds, Congressional halls, hospitals, and neighborhood streets -- working to make sure that all children and families can live healthy, thriving lives. In our fifth episode, Honoring Culture, Language, and Family: Stories from the Navajo Nation , we speak with...
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Podcast Interview with Jane Stevens
Jane Stevens has worked for nearly 40 years as a journalist primarily covering science, health and technology. When she learned about Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, she saw unmet needs to disseminate the findings of ACEs science and to bring practitioners together. She created Acestoohigh.com and ACESconnection.com , a news site and social networking site which both serve as hubs for education about ACEs and resiliency as well as offering connection for communities striving to put...
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Social policies to prevent adversity -- see Open Access link (until July 1) to “A Critical Assessment of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study at 20 Years”— in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine
The ACEs research by Drs. Felitti, Anda and colleagues focused attention on the important consequences of childhood adversity for adult health. Of course, as many in the resilience-building movement recognize, adversities affect children’s health and life trajectories as well. When we recognize the powerful impacts of harsh life circumstances for children and families, it becomes clearer that social policies to strengthen household and community resources are needed as well as...
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TIC: News and Notes for March 2020
ACEs, Adversity's Impact Lessons learned integrating ACEs science into health clinics: Staff first, THEN patients Launching a revolution Stress is a key to understanding many social determinants of health Is trauma driving some eating disorders? Adverse childhood experiences: What we know, what we don't know, and what should happen next Childhood maltreatment initiates a developmental cascade that leads to relationship dysfunction in emerging adulthood Report reveals link between poverty,...
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TIC: News and Notes for November 2019
ACEs, Adversity's Impact Podcast: Dr. Nadine Burke Harris Vital Signs: Estimated proportion of adult health problems attributable to adverse childhood experiences and implications for prevention - 25 states, 2015-2017 Animal study shows how stress and mother's abuse affects infant brain LGBTQ, traumatized homeless youth more vulnerable to being trafficked: Report How do these pediatricians do ACEs screening?Early adopters tell all When family relationships become toxic: The trauma of...
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Transforming Trauma Podcast: The Blind Spots of Privilege and Complex Trauma in Marginalized Communities
Transforming Trauma Podcast: The Blind Spots of Privilege and Complex Trauma in Marginalized Communities Claude Cayemitte, a clinical social worker and NARM Therapist, joins the Transforming Trauma podcast to examine how complex trauma impacts individuals from marginalized communities and how unrecognized cultural trauma can lead to misattunement in the therapeutic relationship. Using the NeuroAffective Relational Model as a foundation, and his own background as a Haitian-American male...
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Why Employees Who Have Experienced ACEs Can Be Bad for Business
Workplace impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) is an important concept for businesses to understand. Why? Experiencing ACEs impairs worker performance according to findings reported in “ Childhood Abuse, Household Dysfunction, and Indicators of Impaired Adult Worker Performance ,” Anda, R.F., et al., The Permanent Journal, 8(1), 30-38, showed: To be clear – the above is not a direct connection to ACEs-related toxic stress, however many of the above are manifestations of...
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Working from Home? Ten Tips to Look Professional on Zoom
Hi ACEs Community, normally I post about healing from childhood trauma but THIS is a short video I made at home to help those of you who are working from home and using Zoom in new and bigger ways, or for the first time. Enjoy! Since COVID-19 changed our lives, I've been consulting to institutional and corporate clients re: new uses of Zoom for teams, meetings, marketing and leadership. If you'd like some help with that you can reach me at anna@crappychildhoodfairy.com
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NEW Transforming Trauma Podcast: Spirituality in the Healing of Complex Trauma with Dr. Laurence Heller, Creator of NARM
Transforming Trauma Episode 011: Spirituality in the Healing of Complex Trauma with Dr. Laurence Heller, Creator of NARM In this episode of Transforming Trauma, Dr. Laurence Heller, the Creator of the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) , is joined by host Sarah Buino to reflect on a very common question about the role spirituality plays in the healing of trauma: How does spirituality support the resolution of early trauma? Dr. Heller, a renowned clinical psychologist, author and trauma...
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The Healing Place Podcast: Ingrid Cockhren joins Teri Wellbrock LIVE for a SPECIAL EDITION conversation on Racial Trauma
Teri Wellbrock was so very blessed to have Ingrid Cockhren of ACEsConnection join her on a special edition Facebook LIVE conversation on racial trauma.
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I learned the impact of prolonged exposure to stress from my foster child [washingtonpost.com]
By Jenn O'Connor, The Washington Post, June 6, 2020 You know what stress is, right? You’re late for work, your car won’t start, gas costs more than you expected. We’ve all been there, and it’s not pleasant, that palm-sweating, heart-racing anxiety. Luckily, it’s not long-lasting — not toxic. What is toxic stress? It’s prolonged adversity and/or abuse — not having enough to eat or being exposed to violence. It’s the kind of stress that puts you on edge and keeps you there, day after day after...
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Transforming Trauma Podcast: Post-Traumatic Growth in Communities of Color and NARM in the Classroom
Transforming Trauma Episode 015: Post-Traumatic Growth in Communities of Color and NARM in the Classroom with Giancarlo Simpson Transforming Trauma host Sarah Buino and guest Giancarlo A. Simpson, MS, reconnect in the wake of George Floyd’s death and the nationwide protests against racial violence and systemic oppression, providing real-time context to their previously-recorded conversation about NARM’s ability to address complex trauma and support post-traumatic growth in communities of...
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This wasn't the first time
Going out to buy groceries, going out for a walk, driving your kid back home from school. For most people these activities are normal, everyday things with little to no excitement, as they should be. Unfortunately, getting food, exercising, and supporting my son’s education have been a little more out of the ordinary for me. You see, I am a Mexican Indigenous man, brown skin, shaved head. My ethnicity and physical appearance are by no means unusual, especially in the part of the country...
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Trauma 101 Workshops for Massachusetts Early Education and Care
STRIVE (Supportive Trauma Interventions for Educators) FALL 2020 TRAININGS Trauma 101 Workshops for Massachusetts Early Education and Care Saturdays from 9:30-12:30pm September 26th - REGISTER HERE October 3rd - REGISTER HERE October 17th - REGISTER HERE November 7th - REGISTER HERE STRIVE is a collaborative project between Boston Medical Center’s Child Witness to Violence Project and Vital Village Network that aims to help schools and early education systems of care increase their capacity...
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COVID, ACES, and Radical Self-Care
COVID, ACES and Radical Self-Care Dr. LateshIa Woodley, LPC, NCC & Alexis Kelly, MPA COVID Thursday, March 13, 2020, I woke up thinking I love my life, I have the best job in the world, I get to wake up every day and strive to make a difference in the lives of students and families. Little did I know that a few hours later my life, the lives of my family, and the lives of the families that I serve would forever be changed due to the COVID pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, I was leading...
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Resilient Georgia Brief: The Case for ACEs Prevention
In their latest brief, Resilient Georgia makes a compelling evidence-based 'Case for ACEs Prevention' and an urgent call to action to invest in building resilience now – early intervention is more effective, less expensive, and imperative to averting the next pandemic: mental and behavioral health.
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What if the Earth was Really Flat?
Do you know anyone who thinks the Earth is actually flat? I'm not sure why that question occurred to me. Perhaps, I was looking for a unique or different way to talk about trauma-informed leadership. Don't laugh too hard! Stay with me for a minute, please. If you asked a random person if they had ever heard that centuries ago people thought the Earth was flat, I'm going to guess they will say, "Yes." In fact, some people still do! Not sure about that? Ever heard that people thought...
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New Episode of Transforming Trauma: The Need for Trauma-Informed Care: a Conversation with Dr. Laurence Heller and Dr. Christina Bethell
Transforming Trauma Episode 33: The Need for Trauma-Informed Care: a Conversation with Dr. Laurence Heller and Dr. Christina Bethell In this episode of Transforming Trauma, host Sarah Buino facilitates an important discussion between NARM creator Dr. Laurence Heller and Dr. Christina Bethell, researcher, author, policy advocate, and professor at Johns Hopkins University and the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Bethell is on the Board of Directors for the Campaign for Trauma-Informed...
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The Pandemic Illustrates How Important it is to Understand and Address ACEs
By Joe Parks, MD - Medical Director, National Council for Behavioral Health The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on the health and welfare of so many people, and it seems no one is immune from the fear, isolation or economic anxiety caused by this historic public health crisis. The mental health of young people represents a unique concern that requires attention. In a recent survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 63% of 18- to-24-year-olds...
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Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice with Special Guest, Becky Haas, Pioneer in Developing Trauma-Informed Judicial Initiatives
Please join us for our new series entitled: Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice. This monthly virtual Zoom series will feature conversations facilitated by Dr. Porter Jennings-McGarity, PhD/LCSW, 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...
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The Incredible Healing Power of Music - Healing Childhood Trauma in Adulthood
Hi Folks, I have found music to be a soothing balm for the wounded soul. Trauma disconnects us from ourselves - Music and the Creative Arts are Healing - they can help us reconnect us to ourselves - so please follow your passion & your muse. You deserve it!! “Music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.” – Pablo Casals The Incredible Healing Power of Music - Healing Childhood Trauma in Adulthood - YouTube 9:21 minutes -...
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Peer Support is Risky But Worth It - Healing Childhood Trauma in Adulthood
The trauma in our lives disconnects from ourselves, others and community – peer support is an elixir to help us reconnect. Take care, Michael. “It is only when you learn to be present and available with non-judgment and compassionately hold space for the wounded and broken fragments of yourself, that you are able to truly hold space for another.” - Markus William Kasunich PS Peer Support resources are shared in the video's text section Peer Support is Risky But Worth It - Healing Childhood...
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Just Get Over It - Healing Childhood Trauma in Adulthood
Hey folks, Please take a listen. I talk, share resources & a song about the hurtful statement too many trauma & abuse survivors hear & the impact of trauma & abuse upon the mind, body & spirit. Just Get Over It - Healing Childhood Trauma in Adulthood - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKKraLrAwKo&t=2s “Get over it” is a cruel phrase. It means, “Not only do I not care about how you feel, if you were smarter, you wouldn’t care either.” “ Just get over it” places all of...
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3 More Ways to Rewire Shame from Adverse Childhood Experiences
These three cognitive countermeasures round out the skills for neutralizing shame imprinted in the first 18 years of life. They complement the right brain strategies described in recent articles.
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Moving Forward After Adverse Childhood Experiences: How to Move from Suffering to Flourishing
Once the suffering resulting from adverse childhood experiences is managed, we can turn toward creating a more satisfying life.
Pursuing the honorable life leads to self-respect and inner peace. Compassion for mistakes, understanding their reasons, and applying integrity skills starts us on the path to flourishing.
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Moving Forward After Adverse Childhood Experiences, Part 2: Harness the Liberating Power of Forgiveness
The well-timed choice to forgive deep injuries from childhood, though difficult, can greatly improve psychological wellbeing and free us to move ahead. Four keys to forgiveness lay the foundation for cultivating healing forgiveness skills.
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Lightening the Load We Carry from Childhood: 10 Ways to Forgive the Unkindest Cuts
While the process of forgiving painful offenses from childhood can be very difficult, efforts to forgive bring great rewards. The process begins with acknowledging the pain, applying self-compassion, and taking even small and faltering steps to get the forgiveness ball rolling.
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Finding Joy After Adverse Childhood Experiences
Adverse childhood experiences understandably can numb feelings, including feelings of joy, happiness, and pleasure.
Making time to be joyful rewires the wounded brain. Once healing has progressed, the capacity for joy can usually be expanded through the repeated application of proven joy strategies.
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Bouncing Forward After Adverse Childhood Experiences
Once the healing of hidden wounds from adverse childhood experiences has sufficiently progressed, attention can turn to developing a richly satisfying future. Your innate inner strengths, experiences, and acquired skills will help rewire your brain for a brighter future.
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Drug Addiction and ACEs: A Journey Through the Gates of Hell to Redemption
Attachment disruptions and other hidden wounds from ACEs can render one more vulnerable to drug addiction. Genuine, mature love from others, and for oneself, can change the course of one's life. A recent book highlights the path from childhood trauma to addiction to recovery.
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How to Disarm Shame Mindfully: A Counterintuitive Approach
Shame-based memories imprint primarily in the non-verbal right brain, largely beneath conscious awareness. When our usual attempts to cope with the inner turmoil of shame fail, mindfulness can help. Bringing the various aspects of a disturbing memory to awareness gives the brain a chance to change the memory.
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Rising from the Ashes of Childhood Brutality
Country music artist Allen Karl (Sterner) endured unspeakable childhood cruelty and chaos, yet turned into a caring, competent adult. His story provides many useful insights that can help and inspire others who have endured multiple ACEs.
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Shame Thought Traps and Adverse Childhood Experiences
Disturbing thought patterns linked to shame are learned. They can be challenged and replaced.
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Key Healing Attitudes for Adverse Childhood Experiences
For moving past hidden wounds from childhood, mindset matters. These important attitudes undergird the process of healing from adverse childhood experiences.
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Keys to Calming Anxiety from Adverse Childhood Experiences
Anxiety rooted in the hidden wounds from childhood need not be a lifelong sentence. A combination of effective strategies offer hope and help to alleviate anxious conditions, including excessive worry and panic attacks, that originate in childhood.
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What Children Really Need Is Adults That Understand Development
The brain doesn’t fully develop until about the age of 25. This fact is sometimes quite surprising and eye opening to most adults. It can also be somewhat overwhelming for new parents and professionals who are interacting with babies and young children every day, to contemplate. It is essential to realize however, that the greatest time of development occurs in the years prior to kindergarten. And even more critical to understand is that by age three 85 percent of the core structures of the...
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Releasing the Grip on Your Difficult Past
Three burdensome happens learned in trying to cope with adverse childhood experiences can be changed. Efforts to drop and replace these troubling habits can be extremely liberating.
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Empathy: Can It Make The Difference?
Emotion has an enormous impact on imprinting memory in our brains. I had an experience when I was 6 years old that included emotion and I have the memory of it all of these many years later. It was a 6 year old birthday sleepover party. There were 7 girls invited that lived near each other and played together most days. A girl new to the neighborhood was invited only due to the requirement of the birthday girl’s mother. I was also invited. I lived a block away but did play with these girls...
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Gifting Yourself Peace after Childhood Adversity: After Painful Memories Are Confronted, Healing Continues
Wounds of the heart may persist after troubling memories from childhood adversity have been rewired. Fortunately, pain from childhood adversities can spur us to create a peaceful heart of forgiving, kindness, calm, and purpose.
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The Imposter Syndrome and Adverse Childhood Experiences: Understand the Mask and How to Drop It
Pretending is the imposter’s exhausting attempt to conceal hidden wounds that often trace back to childhood. Most people relate to at lease some aspects of the syndrome. We discuss ways to drop the mask, counter insecurities, and live authentically.