Blog

This is an urgent call to those of us who believe in trauma-informed and healing-centered schools that support the whole person. After reading the recent NBC article “Parents protesting 'critical race theory' identify another target: mental health programs , ” I quickly put aside the blog I had been working on because I knew this was too important. Concerns from colleagues about the rising backlash against increased priorities of mental health and social-emotional learning (SEL) have been...

By Iridian Casarez, Photo: Kaite Rodriguez/Cooperation Humboldt, North Coast Journal, December 2, 2021 M ost of the seven stress-busting strategies the California Surgeon General's Office have identified to help reduce toxic stress feel so simple, like being out in nature, eating a balanced, nutritious diet or getting sufficient, high-quality sleep, but they work. So when Mary Ann Hansen was looking through applications for the 2021-2022 First Five Humboldt and Humboldt County Department of...

Our interview for this profile took place over two continents, from the U.S. to Lima, Peru, where Lourdes Valdez, pediatrician in Butte County, California, for 23 years, was attending to family affairs after the death of her mother. Valdez grew up in Lima, and later earned her medical degree in Peru before moving to Iowa City, Iowa, in 1992 for her residency. She said her mother helped make her a resilient person. Although working full time as an economist and statistician, her mother made a...

As 2021 comes to a close, we want to take a few moments to reflect on this busy and fruitful year as we ask you to remember PACEs Connection in your year-end giving. Despite this physically and emotionally challenging time, we have so very much for which to be grateful, and we would love to share our gratitude list with you. When we practice gratitude, we’re actually practicing a very PACEs-Connection thing to do: helping our brains. Brain imaging studies, says Dr. Daniel Amen, show that “...

By Guest Author, 12/7/21, positiveexperience.org/blog The 2022 HOPE virtual summit - Building HOPE - will take place on March 8, 2022. Stay tuned for more information about speakers, sessions, and registration. Add your email to our 2022 HOPE Summit interest list for updates and be the first to know when registration opens. The Summit will start with a keynote speech from Dr. Wendy Ellis ! Dr. Ellis is the creator of the concept of Adverse Community Environments – the pair of ACEs . Her...

As we step into the holiday season, let’s commit to each other to do it wholeheartedly. What does this mean? Often our minds are off and running and it’s only when we bring ourselves back to the present moment that we experience life as it’s really happening. This is when we realize that what is important is right in front of us! This is the point when our minds and our hearts connect. When we live from a heart-centered place it fosters equanimity and peace within that extends outward,...

By Serita Cox, Illustration: Christine Ongjoco, The Imprint, December 2, 2021 O n Jan. 1, 2022, we estimate that 3,600 California youth will age out of the foster care system. On a single day. The fact that we — those of us working in the child welfare system, and the state system itself — cannot identify the exact number is itself alarming. Behind each case number is a human being, a young person who was removed from their biological home for their own safety and put under the protection of...

Please join us for December installment of Education Upended: Talking Out of Turn . This monthly series features a conversation facilitated by Lara Kain, PACEsConnection Education Consultant , with special guests on education related current events and hot topics. We will use a trauma-informed and PACEs science aware lens to examine what is going on K-12 education, what needs changing, and strategies being used in the field to disrupt harmful policies and make positive changes in the system.

By Taylor Walker, Photo: WitnessLA, Center for Health Journalism, December 2, 2021 In April 2020, I read a brief report on Los Angeles County’s efforts to reduce incarceration among vulnerable groups — including people with mental health diagnoses and unhoused individuals — through diversion programs. The report from LA’s Office of Diversion and Reentry (ODR) revealed that, as of March 2020, the Maternal Health Diversion Program had removed 137 pregnant people from the county’s main women’s...

By Bernard J. Wolfson, Photo: E+/Getty Images, California Healthline, December 2, 2021 During her three-year battle with breast cancer, my wife, Leslie, graciously endured multiple rounds of horrifically toxic treatment to eke out more time with our two young children. But after 18 cancer-free months, the disease returned with a vengeance in June 2003. It fractured her bones and invaded her spinal canal, bathing her brain in malignancy. During the final six months, as she lay on her home...

By Keri Brenner, Photo: Sherry LaVars/Marin Independent Journal, Marin Independent Journal, November 28, 2021 Marin school families, staff and students are in for a week of TLC next month to help raise their mental, physical and emotional health after almost two years of pandemic stress. The first “Wellness Week Marin” is scheduled for Dec. 6 to 10. The free online program will feature three, 15-minute video segments daily. Each segment will focus on a different aspect of health. “It’s been...

By Zaidee Stavely, Photo: Julie Leopo/EdSource, EdSource, November 30, 2021 C alifornia made history in 2001 when it became the second state in the nation to pass a law that allows undocumented students who attended and graduated from high school in the state to pay in-state college tuition. Since then, it has benefited tens of thousands of students. But advocates say many undocumented students who qualify for in-state tuition and financial aid are not receiving these benefits, 20 years...