Tagged With "Children's Homes of Cleveland County"
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Resilience Screening in Cleveland County
Recently, Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence partnered with Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina (PCANC) to host a community screening of the film Resilience in our Cleveland County-Partners Behavioral Health Management partnership. The screening provided the opportunity for the community to come together to learn not only about the impact trauma has on developing youth and their families but also on the importance of building resilient communities to support them. To introduce the film,...
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Rockstar Recognition
Benchmarks’ PFE would like to take a moment to “shout-out” one of the Rockstar members of our ClevePart Partnership. Alison Clark is the Permanency Planning Program Manager at Cleveland County DSS and one of our amazing trauma champions. Alison recently received the Local Government Credit Union Innovation Award for 2018 for her efforts in a local initiative she developed to boost foster parent recruitment and adoption efforts in the county. The innovative initiative that landed Alison the...
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SaySo and Karen McLeod Honored at NC Child’s Voices for Children Breakfast
The 2019 Voices for Children Breakfast was hosted by NC Child earlier this month. Members of the child advocacy community came together to celebrate achievements in their work with families and children and recognize leaders who have made a difference. SaySo (Strong Able Youth Speaking Out) was awarded the first-ever Community Voices Award. SaySo is a statewide association of youth aged 14 to 24 who are, or have been, in the North Carolina foster care system. As youth who have first-hand...
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Tonier Cain Deserves an Evidence-Based Apology
Tonier Cain spoke at the Benchmarks' Partnering for Excellence conference last month in North Carolina. If you don't know her name you might recognize her as the woman featured in the Healing Neen documentary ( which is must see). I am just starting to recover from her speech. Seriously. It was hard to stand after she spoke. When I did, I went right to a yoga mat in the self-care calm room for a while. I took off my high heels and curled up in a ball for a bit. I'm still digesting her words.
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Training: Ways of Sharing Resources
This is saved as a blog post and there's an attachment. Sharing resources as a blog post is easier to make visual.
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Why We Suck (at Self-Soothing & Self-Care): Dr. Dawn O'Malley
Without coffee and yoga, I'm kind of a jerk. These are my personal "puppy uppers and doggie downers" and prevent me from being cranky, quick to cry, and ready for conflict. Coffee and calming make life more manageable. Humans seem tolerable. Without helpers I might veer into hating humans for being so needy which is not a great trait for a parent, partner or a professional. Or a self. My partner says coffee and exercise are acts of kindness, services he does to promote public safety. In...
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A Kaiser pediatrician, wise to ACEs science for years, finally gets to use it
Dr. Suzanne Frank has known about the impact of childhood adversity on young lives for decades. She’s seen the fallout in the faces of young people huddled in beds at a children’s shelter where she worked years ago. She’s seen it as the regional child abuse services and champion for the Permanente Medical Group. And she’s seen it in hospital examination rooms where, as a member of the Santa Clara County’s Sexual Assault Response Team, she’s been called in to examine shell-shocked children...
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A Strength-Based Assignment
Recently, I was tasked with writing a strength-based personal story to use during my CRM trainings. As a trainer of trauma, depending on your content and audience, often it is beneficial when speaking to others to model transparency and even a bit of vulnerability. Therefore, as a part of my process of becoming certified as a CRM trainer, one of the activities is to write a strength-based personal story.This story can be about yourself and what you have experience personally or you can...
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ACEs science can prevent school shootings, but first people have to learn about ACEs science
The shooting in Florida isn’t only a gun regulation issue. It’s a systems change issue. All of our systems have to change their approach to changing behavior — whether it’s criminal, unhealthy or unwanted behavior — from a blame, shame and punishment approach, to one that is based in understanding, nurturing and healing….in other words, ACEs science.
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Benchmarks' Partnering For Excellence is Looking for a Project Coordinator
Hello ACEs Connection Friends! We are extremely excited to announce that Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) is looking for a Project Coordinator for our Cleveland County DSS and Partners Behavioral Health Management partnership. The position is based in Shelby, North Carolina and requires co-location at Cleveland County's DSS four days per week with one day that can be spent working from home. A few brief additional nuances about the position include: - Data management and data...
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Benchmarks - Partnering for Excellence Job Post - Pitt & Craven County Project Assistant
Hi Everyone! Benchmarks is expanding and we are super excited to announce that we will be hiring for a Project Assistant for Pitt and Craven County’s Partnering for Excellence initiative! Attached is a PDF of the job description and qualifications in detail. We anticipate filling this position by the end of January! Please if you would, share with those that you feel may qualify. Thank you in advance! Lavita
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Broken Places in Cleveland County, NC on November 19, 2019
BROKEN PLACES explores why some children are severely damaged by early adversity while others are able to thrive. By revisiting some of the abused and neglected children we profiled decades ago, we’re able to dramatically illustrate how early trauma shaped their lives as adults. BROKEN PLACES interweaves these longitudinal narratives with commentary from a few nationally renowned experts to help viewers better understand the devastating impact of childhood adversity as well as the inspiring...
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Broken Places Strengthens Cleveland County
In the historical novel, A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway made a significant observation regarding trauma and resiliency. He wrote “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are stronger in the Broken Places .” These very words inspired Roger Weisberg, writer, producer and director, to create a unique film that reexamined four decades of film footage in relation to the impact of toxic stress on children. Thus, the film, Broken Places, was produced by Weisberg who invited the viewer into the...
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Cleveland County's 12th Annual Minority Health Conference
Saturday, PFE’s Program manager, Jasmine Cain was invited to speak at Cleveland County’s 12th Annual Minority Health Conference which was hosted by the county’s Public Health Department and put on by the local Minority Health Council. Each year the conference focuses on educating minority leaders and members in the community about issues facing African American and other minority groups locally. The conference also serves as a platform to address and discuss disparities faced by minorities...
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Farewell Friend: Longtime Benchmarks NC Member & PFE Champion Margie Christopher Retires
Last month, Benchmarks North Carolina celebrated another year at our Annual Dinner and Conference. While there was much to celebrate, Benchmarks had the bitter sweet privilege of honoring and saying farewell to long time member and child and family advocate Margie Christopher, Executive Director of Children’s Homes of Cleveland County (CHCC). This year’s annual meeting was the last in which long time Benchmarks member and innovative thinker Margie Christopher will have been in attendance.
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Finding Resilience in the Midst of Hurricane Florence
Avis and her brother, Bruce, have seen some hard knocks in their lives. At 60, she's his sole caretaker. She's taught school, worked as a receptionist, always worked, or wanted to work. Since she started caring for her brother, full-time work has seemed hard to find. He was born with autism 51 years ago. They share her little house in Pamlico County, North Carolina, where she now hopes to be called in to substitute teach, and he looks forward to her home cooked meals. Their lives revolve...
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How One Farm Saved This Tiny Town’s Survival Rate (rd.com)
By the summer of 2005, the Reverend Richard Joyner of Conetoe Chapel Missionary Baptist Church realized he was conducting funerals twice a month—a startling number given his town’s tiny population. Nearly 300 souls call Conetoe (pronounced “ka-‘nee-ta”) home. The predominantly African American hamlet is situated in North Carolina’s Edgecombe County, where a quarter of households live below the poverty line and heart disease kills more
20- to 39-year-olds than do car accidents. “I’ve closed...
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Juvenile Justice Partnerships / County Collaborative Forum
Last week, Partners Behavioral Health Management held the Juvenile Justice Partnerships / County Collaborative Forum in Statesville, North Carolina. The focus of the forum was “Effectively Engaging High Risk Youth in Communities: Identifying Adolescent Substance Use Trends and Using Data to Strengthen Community Collaboration.” Eric Rowles, President and CEO of Leading to Change, led an interactive training in which he provided participants with tools and strategies to implement to connect...
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Lessons Learned from Sandra Bloom: Tackling STS at the Workplace
"We must be conscious and deliberate in engaging in self-care behaviors." ~Dr. Sandra Bloom Benchmarks North Carolina hosted our annual meeting at the beautiful Grandover Resort in Greensboro. At this meeting, successes are celebrated, and visions are sketched for the upcoming year. This year, members had the privilege of hearing from keynote speaker, Dr. Sandra Bloom, founder of the Sanctuary Model. Dr. Bloom shared how chronic stress and trauma impacts us at an organizational level.
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Navigating Adult ACES
Often we blame adults for their behavior or decision making without taking time to realize that they have untreated trauma that is affecting their lives. We all focus on children and have made great strides to identify and treat ACES but the system isn't perfect, which means sometimes it fails to identify a child in need. These children then grow up with trauma that affects their mental and physical health which makes relationships with others oftentimes difficult. This untreated trauma can...
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Old Services, New Lens: A Closer Look at DBT and MST as Trauma-Informed Models for Children
Last week Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence hosted a webinar titled “ Old Services, New Lens: A Closer Look at DBT and MST as Trauma-Informed Models for Children.” The presenters highlighted two services that are trauma-informed, but not necessarily recommended often: Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Multi-Systemic Therapy (MST). Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT) Dr. Katie Rosanbalm, Senior Research Scientist, Duke Center for Child and Family Policy, shared that DBT historically...
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Partnering for Excellence Joins ACEs Connection!
Partnering For Excellence is excited to join ACEs Connection! Benchmarks' Partnering for Excellence (PFE) is an initiative in North Carolina which aims to align the Mental/Behavioral Health System and Child Welfare System to create better outcomes for children and families whom have experienced trauma and are now involved with the Department of Social Services. The Partnering for Excellence Model is able to assists these systems and others in collaborating to form trauma-informed...
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Personal stories the set tone of hearing in U.S. Senate HELP Committee on Opioid Crisis Response Act
Jennifer Donahue, Delaware Office of the Child Advocate, testifies before the HELP Committee (Jennifer Perry to her right) ____________________________________________________________ Some seasoned advocates say legislators are influenced by stories while their staffs are swayed by data. There was some of both at the April 11 hearing on the draft Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 of the U.S. Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor & Pensions) Committee but it was the personal stories that...
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PFE Booster
Have you ever needed a boost ? Perhaps it was just a little help to make you taller or did you need a few encouraging words that could help redirect your path? The staff at Cleveland County DSS were showing signs that they needed a boost up after implementing the Partnering For Excellent (PFE) initiative in Cleveland County, NC almost four years ago. With changes in leadership, staff and organizational structure, including the welcome of a new director, along with general fatigue and...
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PFE Hosts Tri-County DSS Meeting
Benchmarks' Partnering for Excellence (PFE) works to implement trauma informed practices inside local social service agencies while also assisting in building a bridge between child welfare and Medicaid managed care for behavioral health (LME/MCOs). Annually, PFE gets the child welfare agencies, Medicaid LME/MCOs, private mental health providers, and stakeholders together to review the current state of the initiative. Out of the last meeting came the idea that the child welfare agencies...
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PFE Presents at The 32nd Annual Research and Policy Conference on Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Behavioral Health
Earlier this month, Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) Program Manager, Jasmine Cain and Ollie Harris Behavioral Health Center's Director, Katie Munger presented in collaboration at the 32 nd Annual Research and Policy Conference on Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Behavioral Health in Tampa, Florida. This collaboration began in an effort to assess the need for trauma-informed behavioral health services for adults in Cleveland County. As a result of Benchmarks’ PFE goal to...
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Reflections on the Film Suicide: The Ripple Effect
To start off Mental Health Awareness month I attended a screening of the film Suicide: The Ripple Effect. The film is a documentary that explains the events and mind frame that led to Kevin Hines—known widely as “The Golden Gate Jumper”—to attempt death by suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. The film focuses on Kevin’s life, advocacy, and influence after surviving such an attempt and the healing process that followed. As someone who is immersed in ACEs science, I could not help...
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Re: PFE Presents at The 32nd Annual Research and Policy Conference on Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Behavioral Health
Jasmine!!! I love reading this and wish I heard you!! How have parents reacted to sharing ACEs? What gelding options are available for 2 and 3 gen approaches. Lots of us debate the use of screening in kids and adults but I love hearing from those doing it and those it’s been done to. Can I share on rider ACEs home page? Cis
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Introducing Benchmarks’ Standardized Assessment Protocol
According to leading research, 99% of children entering the foster care system have experienced trauma in their lifetime, and few of those children receive the trauma-informed healthcare they need to recover and prosper. These children are more likely to not only suffer short-term from their trauma, but long term as well. Children who do not receive effective, holistic healthcare experience a lifetime of mental health disorders, substance misuse, and physical illnesses, including diabetes,...
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Creative Engagement: Celebrating Achievements
When employees are celebrated, they tend to have a greater connection to their work and sense of being valued. As more people are working from home, alternating days in the office and practicing social distancing, employees can begin to feel disconnected. Creating opportunities for engagement may also be challenging for organizations navigating remote working environments. Over the past month, Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) and Standardized Assessment Protocol (SAP) teams have...
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Worth the Effort: Building Resilience in Social Workers
Let’s talk ·R·E·S·I·L·I·E·N·C·E! Resilience is an individual’s ability to overcome adversity, and it is influenced by many factors. A person’s resilience is strongly impacted by their environment and support systems within their lives. A supportive environment, relationships, and connections with other trusted and dependable human beings can make a tremendous difference in the lives of children and families who have endured toxic stressful and traumatic situations. We know how important...
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Benchmarks Unveils New Infographic
Benchmarks' Partnering for Excellence redesigns the local child welfare/behavioral health system, changing the way DSSs, MCOs, local providers, and the wider community understand trauma and the need for accessible, appropriate mental health services for children, youth and families who have experienced potentially traumatic events. PFE aims to lead communities to an understanding of the importance of trauma-informed and trauma-responsive communities, to create a lasting change in the...
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Rock Star Partner Highlight: Easter Seals UCP
While the COVID-19 pandemic has presented many unique challenges, it has also been a catalyst for creative solutions to help support those who need it most. This week we would like to highlight the work of Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) partner, Easter Seals UCP. Easter Seals UCP is working in partnership with PFE in Pitt and Craven county DSSes and Trillium, the area’s LME/MCO. Easter Seals UCP has taken on the challenge to help their clients and staff navigate the pandemic,...
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Bridging the Academic Gap During the Pandemic – Tutoring & Caregiver Resources
For most, COVID-19 has completely changed the way people approach their everyday activities, such as attending school. This disruptive turn of events has drastically changed the way education is being delivered, with many school systems switching to a virtual or remote learning platform. For many children and families, these needed yet significant changes have added challenges that many are seeing impact children’s ability to succeed in school. In response to this, our newest Benchmarks’...
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Using Social Determinants of Health to Improve Outcomes for Child Welfare Involved Children and Families
Health can be significantly inconsistent between individuals and populations. Variables called the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) assist in understanding the range of factors that affect a person’s overall well-being. SDoH are defined by the World Health Organization as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.” These environments are mostly shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources and have substantial impact on education, occupation, policies,...
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Prioritizing Partnerships with Aligning Values—An Introduction to Youth Villages
Youth Villages opened in 1986, and now provides children’s mental health services across 24 states in over 100 locations. They take pride in increasing positive outcomes for the children and families who participate in their services. In 2018, they reported 88% of the children they previously served are living successfully at home with their families 12 months after completing their programs! Youth Villages offers various programs for children and families involved with foster care. They...
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Labor of Love: Why TiCCAs? A Clinical Coach Conversation
In an increasingly stressful, productivity driven world, one might ask themselves, “Why would mental health professionals add more to their plates? Why would they agree to do a Trauma Intensive Comprehensive Clinical Assessment (TiCCA) for clients, rather than a regular Comprehensive Clinical Assessment (CCA)? Are we just reinventing the wheel?” Benchmarks’ Clinical Coaches, Jacqueline Millican-Crabb, LCSW, LCAS, CCS of Nazareth Child & Family Connection, and Celena Ditz, MS, LMFT of...
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Social Workers are Essential: Highlighting National Social Work Month
The month of March brings an abundance of things to celebrate, including National Social Work Month! The National Association of Social Workers dedicates March as a time to celebrate the incredible social work profession and to educate others on the many contributions made by social workers in our communities. This year’s theme “Social Workers are Essential” calls our attention to the indelible role of the social worker in responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency. Indeed, for...
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How Benchmarks Center for Quality Integration’s Organizational Culture Influences Community Work
Organizational culture is the overall personality of an organization. This is comprised of attitudes, experiences, beliefs, and the values of an organization. An organization’s culture shapes and controls the interactions within the partnerships between agencies. Benchmarks’ Center for Quality Integration (The Center) internal organizational culture is reflected and filtered down to our communities through the daily work we do. The Center strongly values advocacy for the child welfare,...
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Yes! Because We Care!
YES! A resounding YES! This is the standard response given from Children's Homes of Cleveland County (CHCC) when asked about opportunities to come together to learn, grow, and develop in a safe, stable environment for children and families. After all, these are the words penned in the mission statement of the organization, but it is worth noting that this organization strives in every way to live this out. As a trauma informed agency, Children’s Homes of Cleveland County has been a leader in...
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Nazareth Child & Family Connection: Empowering Youth and Families
Nazareth Child and Family Connection has been a vital member to Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE) partnership since 2012. While they offer amazing services to the children and family involved in the project, Nazareth is also a huge contributor to innovative and best practice in and around their community. Nazareth was founded in 1906 and has since continued to provide an array of services to meet the needs of children and families located in Rowan and Davidson Counties. Their...
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Partners Health Management Spotlight
Without the efforts of a dedicated multidisciplinary team, the work of the Standardized Assessment Protocol (SAP) would not be possible. SAP is proud to be aligned with Partners Health Management—the Local Management Entity-Managed Care Organization (or LME-MCO) for four of the six counties SAP is working with. Partners works diligently to manage services for the behavioral health care needs of those who reside in Burke, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Rutherford, Surry, and...
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Rally for House Bill 914: Support our Direct Care Workforce
Thank you to everyone who reached out to legislators for our rally day on House Bill 914 Support Our Direct Care Workforce! A special thanks to Lutheran Family Services , Universal Mental Health Services , Alexander Youth Network , A Small Miracle and ACI-Dungarvin (North Carolina) , for having attendees who came to the legislature! If we missed anyone else who came to Raleigh, we apologize and hope you will let us know you were there! We had a fantastic press conference with Representative...
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Mental Health & the Great Outdoors
“Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life.”- John Muir What is your favorite season? Is it Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter maybe? Do you find joy in feeling the warm sunshine and the pleasant aromas of flowers in the garden, hearing the faint sounds of bees buzzing and birds chirping? Or is it more enjoyable for you to see the rustic colors of green leaves fading into dark orange and yellow and falling to the ground? Taking evening strolls hearing the crunch of...
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An Introduction to Support, Incorporated
We are pleased to announce one of our partnering clinical agencies for Burke and Rutherford counties within the Standardized Assessment Protocol project--Support, Incorporated! Support, Inc, which was founded in 2001, is located in Gaston, Lincoln, Cleveland, and Catawba County and is contracted with several Managed Care Organizations within North Carolina. Support, Inc has a strong clinical model that incorporates behavioral practices and ecosystemic principles—they aim to combine both...
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Shawn Squirewell
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Jaclyn Kiger
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Celena Ditz
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Pandemic Fatigue in the Child Welfare Workforce
Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence project works closely with child welfare workers to address trauma in families across the state of North Carolina. We are often inspired by the hard work and dedication we see from our state’s child welfare workers. Their days are centered around supporting those in need, and often helping those who find themselves in crisis. It is demanding work and research shows child welfare work and professionals in social services experience higher rates of stress...
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Interpersonal Violence Effects on Mother and Her Unborn Child: Implications from the Womb throughout the Lifespan
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. During this month, efforts to increase awareness regarding interpersonal violence are more prominent via media outlets and community events. Though interpersonal violence affects many different groups, a particularly vulnerable group are pregnant women. According to research by University of California at San Francisco, twenty percent (20%) of women experience violence during pregnancy. Experiencing interpersonal violence is more common...