Tagged With "toxic"

By Barbara Feder Ostrov, California Healthline, January 7, 2020 Starting this year, routine pediatric visits for millions of California children could involve questions about touchy family topics, such as divorce, unstable housing or a parent who struggles with alcoholism. California now will pay doctors to screen patients for traumatic events known as adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, if the patient is covered by Medi-Cal — the state’s version of Medicaid for low-income families. The...

By Nadine Burke Harris and Karen Mark, ACEs Aware, March 30, 2020 Our global community is facing confusing and uncertain times. As the unprecedented novel coronavirus continues to spread, the health and safety of our nearly 40 million Californians is the number-one priority for our state, the Office of the California Surgeon General, and the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). This includes the physical, mental, and psychological well-being of all individuals. As the crisis deepens,...

Excessive or prolonged activation of stress response systems in early childhood can have damaging effects on learning, behavior, and health across the lifespan. Such toxic stress can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, and/or prolonged adversity without adequate adult support. But that's not the whole story. With the right supports, toxic stress doesn't have to lead to bad outcomes. The second episode of the Center's new podcast, The Brain Architects, explores what toxic stress...

Maybe you have heard about this initiative on one of the social networks or you followed the tour last year. If not, The Campaign to Heal Childhood Trauma is a grassroots partnership between Calo Programs and three leading, national attachment, trauma and adoption nonprofits; The Attachment and Trauma Network (ATN), The American Adoption Congress (AAC) and Association for Training on Trauma and Attachment in Children (ATTACh). The purpose of this collaboration is to increase compassion and...

By Jim Hickman, STATnews.com, June 21, 2019 A t nearly 50,000 deaths each year, the opioid epidemic is shaping up to be the central public health issue of the 2020 presidential election. From President Trump on the right with a declaration of national emergency to Sen. Elizabeth Warren on the left with a 10-year, $100 billion plan to fight addiction, the candidates are racing to outdo each other on one of the few issues that transcends our polarized politics. But there’s another burgeoning...

On a recent day in early March, Laura Lopez met a former patient of hers in the waiting room of Highland Hospital’s pediatric clinic in Oakland, CA. The patient had forgotten her Medi-Cal card and called Lopez asking for help. But in the brief conversation, Lopez, a family specialist with the DULCE program, learned about some dire changes in the patient’s life. Laura Lopez “Without me even asking, she shared with me that she had separated from her partner, that she needs to apply for food...

By Cresencio Rodriguez-Delgado, The Fresno Bee, December 17, 2019 A sudden and dangerous spike in Fresno’s air quality last week has regional officials re-examining everything from burn-day approvals to public notification systems, authorities said. But officials with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District said the unexpected spike of hazardous particulate matter was the result of a perfect storm of circumstances in the Valley. “Unfortunately, mother nature took a turn. We...

By KQED, October 1, 2019 Researchers have recently discovered a dangerous biological syndrome caused by abuse and neglect during childhood. As the new documentary Resilience reveals, toxic stress can trigger hormones that wreak havoc on the brains and bodies of children, putting them at a greater risk for disease, homelessness, prison time, and early death. While the broader impacts of poverty worsen the risk, no segment of society is immune. Resilience, however, also chronicles the dawn of...

By Stacey Shepard, Bakersfield.com, January 11, 2020 Children in Kern County and throughout California may be screened for childhood trauma and toxic stress during routine pediatrician visits starting this year. The screenings are part of a new state initiative to identify adverse childhood experiences, known as ACEs, which a growing body of research shows can significantly increase the risk of poor health outcomes later in life, ranging from suicide, alcohol addiction, depression and drug...

And, after asking about these experiences, the asker (physician, screener, etc.) should be ready to refer the child to a skilled trauma therapist.

DULCE is a great program, and much because our former CA early childhood colleague Patsy Hampton is the director. Thank you Patsy for always bringing integrity and honesty to the work! We miss you here in CA.

As always, Dr. Finkelfor says things others might be too afraid to say: Here he points out that although it's a good thing to recognize the impact of adversities on child wellbeing, we are moving too fast and don't yet know what best practices are. He cautions that this could have "disastrous consequences.” It flies in the face of trauma informed care to possibly add injury to those already burdened with adversity.

I am new to this community. I completely understand the worry for this overloading the current system. We are beginning a full fledged systems change for medical care, because the research demands that we pay attention to what we now know about ACEs, serious health risks and an attack on resiliency. We need everyone to be versed in trauma and resilience language and actions. My passion is in understanding and maximizing resiliency across the lifespan. I think Dr. Finkelfor is right, there...

Diapers are a basic need, as important as food and a mother's love (I purposefully left out "a home" because I find people often say we first have to get families into a home, before we can do anything else. (please see: babies of homelessness.org) In 2019, a story by Belinda Luscombe titled Starting a Diaper Bank came out in TIME . The story is about Joanne Goldblum, a social worker in New Haven, Conn. who founded The Diaper Bank of New Haven to address the desperate need for diapers she...

By Jim Hickman, California Health Report, June 8, 2020 We need to invest in the safety-net institutions that serve and support our most vulnerable now and during times of crisis. COVID-19 is decimating our fragile, unfunded and outdated safety net, and the vital links between families and their local economic, health and social supports. The pandemic has made “underlying conditions” the new code phrase for the social and health inequities disproportionately impacting black and brown...

From Center for Youth Wellness, June 24, 2020 Great news! You can now receive CME credits and MOC points for taking Center for Youth Wellness’ online learning courses. Receive 1.5 CME credits for ACEs: The Science & Foundational Framework , which lays out evidence for how exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress impacts the brain and causes multi-systemic effects. This course will enable you to: Describe the link between ACEs, additional adversities and toxic...

Toxic stress can have lifelong impacts. Here’s what you need to know about adverse childhood experiences and how you can help to mitigate the effects.

How Much Do You Know About Toxic Stress? What Is Stress? People normally experience stress. Usually they tolerate it, have the coping skills to endure it, and adapt. Usually, no damage results from normal, short-term stress when people have support and coping skills, and some stress can be a good thing. According to researchers and the University of California, Berkeley, the body’s stress response sometimes pushes us to be more alert, perform our best physically and mentally, and adapt...

Dear Kings County, We are resilient! We have faced storm after storm, but we did not give up and we have not lost hope. In fact, we continue to confront challenges. Through it all, we stand united in building healthy futures and we plan to make this happen with your support. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress represent a public health crisis that has been, until recently, largely unrecognized by our state’s health care system and society. A consensus of scientific research...