Tagged With "COVID"
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8 Ways to Manage Your Team While Social Distancing [hbr.org]
By Timothy R. Clark, Harvard Business Review, March 24, 2020 The Covid-19 virus has disrupted and rearranged the workplace with breathtaking speed. In the span of a week, organizations across every sector have sent millions of employees home to work remotely. Without warning — and in many cases, without preparation of any kind — managers have been thrust into the position of leading virtual teams, many for the first time. It’s challenging enough to manage yourself in quarantine without...
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CARES Act Funding: Opportunity for Trauma-Informed Programs in Indian Country [natlawreview.com]
By Daniel S Press, The National Law Review, May 11, 2020 There will be many demands on the funds that Tribes and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) receive from the $2.2 trillion U.S. Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, but allocating funds to implement trauma-informed programs to address the surge in mental health problems caused by COVID-19 should not be overlooked. As quarantines end, the trauma caused by COVID-19 will become apparent and tribal communities will be...
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Cleaning Workers Fight Coronavirus, at Their Own Risk [citylab.com]
By Laura Bliss and Sarah Holder, CityLab, March 18, 2020 Earlier this month, as coronavirus infections surged in Seattle, the downtown office building where Lilliana works started to empty out. Employees were heeding the call to work from home to limit the transmission of the disease. But Lilliana had to keep showing up: A day porter for a local property services contractor, she vacuums the floors, empties the trash, and wipes down surfaces at a multi-tenant commercial property. (She asked...
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Coronavirus: Police trauma warning after one officer called to 15 Covid-related deaths in 24 hours [independent.co.uk]
By Lizzie Dearden, The Independent, April 11, 2020 Police officers are being “repeatedly exposed to trauma ” as they are increasingly called to homes where people have died during the coronavirus outbreak, with one officer responding to 15 deaths in the space of 24 hours. While official statistics show that most deaths linked to the pandemic happen inside hospitals, an estimated 7 per cent have happened in private homes and care facilities . Police officers are called to every sudden death...
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COVID-19 and the Ten Principles of the CRISIS Framework Fostering Community Resilience and Preventing Vicarious Trauma
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about community-wide sorrow and vicarious trauma. In order to be prepared to manage traumatic grief and vicarious trauma, healthcare leaders, local behavioral health providers and other professions in related fields, along with individuals, families and organizations, need to take active roles in preparing for community-wide bereavement. The ten principles of Barbara Rubel's CRISIS Framework (Community Resilience in Situations Involving Sorrow) can help you...
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Developing Community Resilience During the COVID-19 Outbreak
I have been fielding requests about community resilience development and want to share with all of you a document that others are finding helpful. I initially created the document (below and pdf attached) for our host entities to distribute to their cohorts (1500-plus people) of N.E.A.R. Master Trainers embedded in 25 states and a province. Dr. Rob Anda, Laura Porter and I train Master Trainers in N euroscience, E pigenetics, the A CE Study, and R esilience; additional information can be...
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"Drive Thru Preschool"
During this time of social distancing and the legitimate scare of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to develop a sense of "normalcy" for our little ones (keiki). We can do this by keeping them on a schedule, making sure that we are listening to their concerns and meet their unmet needs. Due to COVID-19 preschools in Hawai'i have shut its doors to instruction, however this preschool has continued to operate by meeting the needs of the homeless and at-risk homeless families they serve.
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Experts Say Health Equity Strides During Pandemic Unlikely to Permanently Improve American Healthcare
Even before the global COVID-19 pandemic, scholars, healthcare experts and everyday citizens were already turning their attention to some of the deep flaws in the American healthcare system. It is well-known, and well-documented, that healthcare in America is expensive, broken and riddled with inequality. Anne Case and Angus Deaton, authors of the recent book, Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capitalism , summarize the state of our for-profit, employer-based system: “We believe that the...
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FREE WEBINAR "Policy Approaches to Creating Trauma-Informed Change: CTIPP’s National Campaign and Other Opportunities for Advocacy in Illinois"
Join the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative to hear from the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) on their National Trauma Campaign to promote trauma-informed federal legislation throughout the United States.
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How You and Your Kids Can De-Stress During Coronavirus [pbs.org]
By Deborah Farmer Kris, Public Broadcasting Service, March 13, 2020 A few weeks ago, my eight-year-old daughter made a glitter jar for my students: “Tell them that when their brain has a glitter storm, they can shake this up and take deep breaths as the glitter falls.” We could all use some help settling our glitter right now. If you are feeling stress about the COVID-19 pandemic, your brain isn’t misfiring. Stress is a normal, healthy biological response to perceived threats and challenges.
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Leading an Organization Through the COVID-19 Crisis [blog.boardsource.org]
By Phil Buchanan, BoardSource, March 26, 2020 Editor’s note: Running an organization is a huge responsibility on its own, but doing so in today’s environment is truly a different beast. We are in uncharted waters. This post, originally published as a series of tweets by Phil Buchanan — president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) and author of "Giving Done Right: Effective Philanthropy and Making Every Dollar Count" — touches on 15 things to keep in mind as you adjust to the many...
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Resources for Supporting Children's Emotional Well-being during the COVID-19 Pandemic [childtrends.org]
By Jessica Dym Bartlett, Jessica Griffin, Dana Thomson, Child Trends, March 19, 2020 The following guidance, recommendations, and resources are provided by child trauma experts at Child Trends and the Child Trauma Training Center at the University of Massachusetts. The Center is housed at the University of Massachusetts with Child Trends as the lead evaluating agency, with funding from SAMHSA and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and additional support from HRSA. While the Centers...
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Sheltering in Place: ACEs-Informed Tips for Self-Care During a Pandemic
Millions of lives have been affected in unprecedented ways by the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We are all grappling with uncertainty—our daily routines interrupted, not knowing what is to come. For those of us who have Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), these times can be particularly distressing. At the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW), we know that childhood trauma can have a significant impact on an individual’s health and well-being – both physiologically and psychologically. Since the...
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Social Media May Foster Post-Traumatic Growth in Disasters [psychologytoday.com]
By Grant H. Brenner, Psychology Today, May 9, 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic is a prolonged, global disaster of epic proportions, unlike anything most people have experienced in their lifetimes. Tolerating Ambiguity and Isolation Unlike many disasters, which have a predictable course (see Phases of Disaster, below), pandemics don't fit a clear mold, with no clear end date, high levels of uncertainty about whether there will be ongoing waves of reinfection, unclear paths toward normality, limited...
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The Other COVID Risks: How Race, Income, ZIP Code Influence Who Lives Or Dies [khn.org]
By Liz Szabo and Hannah Recht, Kaiser Health News, April 22, 2020 It started with a headache in late March. Then came the body aches. At first, Shalondra Rollins’ doctor thought it was the flu. By April 7, three days after she was finally diagnosed with COVID-19, the 38-year-old teaching assistant told her mom she was feeling winded. Within an hour, she was in an ambulance, conscious but struggling to breathe, bound for a hospital in Jackson, Mississippi. An hour later, she was dead. [...
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Trauma Sensitive Approaches to the COVID -19 Response
We at Alive and Well Communities wanted to take a moment to present some considerations for how our community responds to COVID-19, through the trauma lens. These suggestions assume that additional core institutions will close and/or must limit the ways they typically engage with community members. It is also assumed that a number of community members will have to self-quarantine and “shelter in place.” These suggestions are guided by the principles of trauma informed care: trustworthiness,...
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Webinar: Mental Health During a Pandemic: Helping Clients Through COVID-19
NASW sponsored Webinar: Thursday, March 26, 12 - 1:30 EST Illness and pandemics can produce far-reaching mental health effects. This webinar examines who in the community is most at-risk for worsening mental health in the wake of illness, isolation, quarantine, and instability and how to help them cope. It also considers what types of mental health responses should be mobilized in order to meet needs. Presenter: Karen Zilberstein, LICSW , Clinical Director of the Northampton, Massachusetts...
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What Can State and Local Governments Do to Stabilize Renters during the Pandemic? [housingmatters.urban.org]
By Solomon Greene, Martha Galvez, Corianne Payton Scally, et al., Housing Matters, April 22, 2020 The first weeks of the COVID-19 crisis have brought widespread unemployment that many believe will get worse, especially for low-income renters . State and local governments are on the front lines responding to the housing needs of households affected by COVID-19, but they are working without a clear playbook for delivering housing assistance at this unprecedented scale and are relying on local...
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Working with Trauma During the COVID-19 Pandemic [psychotherapy.net]
By Jacqueline Simon Gunn, Psychotherapy.net, March 19, 2020 I walked into the grocery store Sunday morning after a relaxing run. As soon as I came in the doors, I saw the headline of the newspaper in bold letters reporting that New York was in a state of emergency. Anxiety coursed through me. Earlier that same morning, I’d had a phone session with a patient who was becoming increasingly anxious due to news of the spread of COVID-19. She was starting to feel like she couldn’t leave the house.
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The Black Community, COVID-19 & Trauma [sdvoice.com]
By Latanya West, San Diego Voice, May 15, 2020 In January 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Dr. Nadine Burke Harris as California’s first-ever Surgeon General. An award-winning physician, researcher and advocate, Dr. Burke Harris’ career has been dedicated to serving vulnerable communities and combating the root causes of health disparities. Her work is equally dedicated to changing the way our society responds to one of the most serious, expensive and widespread public health crises of...
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Beyond the Buzzwords: What Does Trauma-Informed Care Truly Mean? [madinamerica.com]
By Rachel Levy, Mad in America, May 20, 2020 On March 4, 2020, Rethinking Psychiatry (in Portland, Oregon) met for our monthly meeting. The topic was “Beyond the Buzzwords: What Does Trauma-informed Care Really Mean?” This subject turned out to be even more relevant, as we are now facing a global pandemic that is causing massive trauma. This was to be our last in-person meeting for the foreseeable future. We are continuing to meet online. Both our April and May meetings were held via Zoom...
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Voter suppression and the impact of COVID-19 on people of color [pbs.org]
By PBS News Hour, May 17, 2020 The Rev. William J. Barber has long tackled the issues of race, poverty and hatred. His Poor People’s Campaign in June will hold a digital assembly and march on Washington to draw attention to civil rights issues. Hari Sreenivasan spoke with the reverend about the impacts of COVID-19 on communities of color for our on-going initiative "Chasing the Dream: Poverty and Opportunity in America." Hari Sreenivasan: Reverend William Barber, thanks so much for joining...
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Prioritizing Physician Mental Health as COVID-19 Marches On [jamanetwork.com]
By Jennifer Abbasi, JAMA Network, May 20, 2020 I n the spring of 2013, Eileen Barrett, MD, MPH, lost a colleague to suicide. The two worked at the Indian Health Service’s Gallup Indian Medical Center in New Mexico, where Barrett was the deputy chief of medicine. Even before the tragic event, she saw workers struggle under administrative burdens and hold themselves personally responsible for problems outside of their control. With her coworker’s death it became painfully clear that clinician...
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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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Covid-19 & Race: Principles [policylink.org]
By PolicyLink, May 2020 A Common-Sense, Street-Smart Recovery From Hurricane Katrina to the 2008 financial collapse, we have seen how recovery efforts that do not deliberately solve for issues facing low-income communities and communities of color only serve to reinforce existing disparities. As we navigate our way through the COVID-19 crisis, we need a Common-Sense, Street-Smart Recovery to build an inclusive economy and equitable nation that works for all. To realize the promise of equity,...
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COVID-19 Pandemic, Unemployment, and Civil Unrest [jamanetwork.com]
By Sandro Galea and Salma M. Abdalla, JAMA Network, June 12, 2020 More than 110 000 people have died in the US because of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, a pathogen that was unknown just 6 months ago. Ubiquitous fear and anxiety that accompanied the emergence of the new coronavirus led to widespread limits on physical contact in attempts to mitigate the spread of the virus. That in turn brought the US economy to a halt, resulting in more than 40 million people filing for...
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Stolen Breaths [njem.org]
By Rachel R. Hardeman, Eduardo M. Medina, and Rhea W. Boyd, New England Journal of Medicine, June 10, 2020 In Minnesota, where black Americans account for 6% of the population but 14% of Covid-19 cases and 33% of Covid-19 deaths, George Floyd died at the hands of police. “Please — I can’t breathe.” He was a black man detained on suspicion of forgery, an alleged offense that was never litigated or even charged, but for which he received an extrajudicial death sentence. “Please — I can’t...
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How the COVID-19 Pandemic is Highlighting the Importance of Trauma-Informed Care: Q&A with Dr. Edward Machtinger [chcs.org]
By Meryl Schulman and Emma Opthof, Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc., July 7, 2020 COVID-19 and the stressors it is placing on individuals’ physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing create a new imperative for health care systems to look to trauma-informed care to support both patients and frontline workers. To learn more about how health care providers are using trauma-informed approaches to care in the current environment, the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) recently...
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28th Annual Latino Health Forum: Discrimination and Health (7-day Series) [latinohealthforum.org]
From Latino Health Forum, July 2020 The LATINO HEALTH FORUM is one of the bay area’s premier educational conferences. Our goals include: Inform professionals about some of the most relevant problems facing the Latino population in Sonoma County; Enhance access to health services; Encourage students and individuals to pursue careers in health and medicine; Facilitate networking among healthcare providers. Dates & Speakers: Please note: There are no presentations on Saturday 8/1 or Sunday...
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As schools reopen, addressing COVID-19-related trauma and mental health issues will take more than mental health services [childtrends.org]
By Brandon Stratford, Child Trends, July 28, 2020 Regardless of whether students return to school in person or via distance learning , education leaders and policymakers across the country must equip schools to address the social, emotional, and behavioral effects of the ongoing pandemic. To address these issues, many policymakers are turning to school-based mental health services as a key strategy for supporting student wellness. Although mental health services are a critical, often...
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Asking mental health to take a backseat during the coronavirus pandemic is a dangerous proposition
Understanding and limiting the spread of coronavirus has consumed our focus over the past few months. Physical distancing, child care and school closures, the persistence of masks, hand washing, have been essential steps to help protect each of us from the virus. However, this physical distancing has consequences that we need to talk about: isolation, loneliness, boredom, monotony, stress, anxiety, and fear. Mental health often takes a backseat when physical health is at risk. Health is both...
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The Health Care System Has the Black Community in a Choke Hold [chcf.org]
By Vanessa Grubbs, California Health Care Foundation, August 4, 2020 It was the Black woman’s third trip to the emergency department because she was feeling short of breath. She was starting to panic. She knew the COVID-19 death toll was climbing and that it was far worse for Black people than white people , and yet the doctors told her to go home again. But this time she pleaded, “If you all don’t admit me to the hospital, I’m going to die. I can’t breathe.” This is the story told by Sheila...
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Staying Close from a Distance: Trauma-Informed Considerations in Virtual Human Services
Based on a longer white paper, this blog offers COVID-specific adaptations to trauma-informed approaches to improve human services that moved to the virtual space.
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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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Trauma-responsive school thinks outside-the-box to engage students during pandemic
Before the pandemic, Sara Buckley, an 8 th grade science teacher at Park Middle School in Antioch, California, could handle students who were acting out during class. Understanding that trauma lies beneath disruptive behavior, she didn’t send kids to the principal for punishment. Instead, she’d talk with them to find out what was going on at home or outside of school—and then work out a plan for how to respond differently the next time they were triggered. They could visit the school’s...
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Maternal Mental Health
Like many of you, I’m a bit out of sorts and somewhat disoriented right now. Our collective mental health is deteriorating during Covid-19. Recent stats report an increase from 20-40% of adults struggling with mental illness since the advent of the pandemic. Maternal mental health is particularly at risk. Helping children with distance learning, navigating exposure to the news, trying to keep life a bit “normal”, keeping family members fed and supplied, juggling career and income loss, all...
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New Book Integrates Trauma-informed Practices For End-of-Life Care
The pandemic has forced professionals and their organizations to practice without a relevant playbook. Reactive attention to suffering for high volumes of critically ill patients many with limited chance of survival, have replaced proactive dialogues on pain relief, symptom management, and quality of life. Trauma-informed practices have never been more vital to understand and render across populations.
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Trauma-Informed Care Toolkit
Becoming Trauma-Informed "As we come together facing this global pandemic, we are all experiencing heightened levels of stress which could be viewed as a collective trauma. The purpose of this toolkit is to build a better understanding of what trauma is and how trauma affects the thoughts, actions and behaviours of people affected by it so that we can come together in solidarity and hope. As we come together facing this global pandemic, we are all experiencing heightened levels of stress...
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The Leadership Challenge of Our Lifetime: Creating a Strategic Recovery Plan to Maximize Staff Health and Program Outcomes
As someone who focuses on trauma-informed leadership and self-care as well as trauma-informed care, I've been working hard to get the idea of a Recovery Plan out there into the world. I wanted to share a training description with the PACEs community, not as an advertisement but what I think people need to be focusing on in this crucial time. I have just finished my first series with the United Way here in Denver and it went great and was well received by leaders. Few periods in recent...
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Workforce Trauma, Shortages, and Retention Remain Interprofessional Challenges
Global data emphasizes the impact of chronic and recurrent COVID-waves for front-line physicians and nurses; no doubt these disciplines have endured, and continue to take a powerful hit; >80% ready to leave the industry. Concern exists whether there will be enough practitioners to render care. However, what of other disciplines? Disregard for the health, mental health, and well-being of all members of the workforce is a grave concern.
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Workforce Trauma, Shortages, and Retention Are Interprofessional Challenges: Resolution Tactics
Global data emphasizes the impact of chronic and recurrent COVID-waves for front-line physicians and nurses; no doubt these disciplines have endured, and continue to take a powerful hit; >80% ready to leave the industry. Concern exists whether there will be enough practitioners to render care. However, what of other disciplines? Disregard for the health, mental health, and well-being of all members of the workforce is a grave concern.
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Trauma-Informed Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Through the Lens of the COVID-19 Pandemic [cureus.com]
Abstract Trauma is rooted in an individual’s experience of an event that leads to physical or mental harm and can have a long-lasting, unfavorable effect on their well-being and functioning. Being aware of the effects of trauma, recognizing its signs, understanding how it informs individual responses, and actively trying to prevent re-traumatization are the tenets of trauma-informed care. Admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is widely considered to be an extremely stressful...