Tagged With "Kids Died on the Psych Ward"
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2018 Policymaker Education Day on Childhood Adversity - REGISTER NOW!
The California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA) invites you to participate in our 2018 Policymaker Education Day on Childhood Adversity. Last year, we had over 100 4CA representatives who participated in the day-long event. Policymaker Education Day is an opportunity to come together as advocates to educate policymakers about childhood adversity, the long-term consequences of childhood adversity on communities, and garner support for 4CA endorsed legislation. Please register...
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37th Annual Child Abuse Prevention Symposium Recap
"Speak Out! Confronting the Culture of Child Sexual Abuse and Secrecy" was the theme of Santa Clara County's 37th Annual Child Abuse Prevention Symposium which featured a Keynote conversation with Olympic Gold Medal winning gymnast and current UCLA Assistant Gymnastics Coach Jordyn Wieber. Jordyn, and other athletes and survivors of former USA Gymnastics team doctor and serial child sex abuser Larry Nassar, earlier spoke to a U.S. Senate Subcommittee about a “culture of silence” more...
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9 Big Questions as California Starts to Screen Kids for Trauma, ACEs [salud-america.org]
By Amanda Merck, Salud America!, February 12, 2020 Early childhood adversity like abuse and divorce is a root cause of many of the greatest public health challenges we face today. But doctors don’t even screen children for exposure to adversity. That’s changing in California, thanks to Dr. Nadine Burke Harris and other child advocates. As of Jan. 1, 2020, almost 100,000 physicians in 8,800 clinics will be reimbursed for routinely screening Medi-Cal patients for adverse childhood experiences...
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A Haven From Trauma’s Cruel Grip [NYTimes.com]
San Francisco — The sun was preternaturally bright the day Clare Senchyna’s 26 year-old son Camilo, her only child, was shot and killed in a random act of violence in San Francisco. On that morning two years ago, Ms. Senchyna drew the orange curtains in her bedroom, pulled up her blankets and stayed in bed for much of the next several months. It seemed to her an appropriate response to the end of the world. Her son, an emergency medical technician, had been out celebrating the completion of...
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A New Program Helps Foster Kids in Orange County Avoid Homelessness when They Age Out of Public Care [ocregister.com]
By Theresa Walker, The Orange County Register, December 20, 2019 For three years after he aged out of foster care, at age 18, Christian was homeless. During that time, he was hit by a car and suffered a traumatic brain injury. He was in a coma for six months and his speech and memory were affected. Over most of the last year he’s lived at The Link, a homeless shelter in Santa Ana. This week, Christian, now 22, moved into his own one-bedroom apartment, in Tustin. That change is the result of...
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Avoiding The ER: Paramedics Link Patients To Local Mental Health Treatment [CA Healthline and USA Today]
For Kelly Kjelstrom, plugging the gaps in mental health care can mean something as simple as a late-night taco and a friendly chat with a patient. Kjelstrom, 45, is a community paramedic in Modesto, California. Part of his job is to help psychiatric patients avoid the emergency room, where they can get “boarded” for days, until they are released or a bed opens up at an inpatient facility. When a 911 call involves a potential mental health crisis, specially trained paramedics like Kjelstrom...
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California Allocates $1 Million to Improve Mental Health of Native American Youth (calhealthreport.org)
While mental health resources for Native American youth are sparse throughout California, the state has taken a modest step to support Albers and his peers by earmarking more than $1 million for Native American youth as part of the first-ever statewide Youth Reinvestment Fund. The fund, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed into the 2018-19 budget, aims to keep vulnerable youth populations out of the criminal justice system by instead supporting more community and health interventions. While there...
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California, Like Other States, Needs Independent Monitor to Solidify Reform, Ward Off Abuses (jjje.org)
Despite the well-publicized harms of prisonlike institutions for youth, there are few states like Illinois or New York that endow nongovernmental watchdog groups with the authority to inspect facilities. Some states have failed to establish even a credible governmental monitor of their youth system. California, with its long history of institutional abuses, is notable for its lack of dedicated independent monitoring. From 2004 to 2016, the state’s Division of Juvenile Justice was subject to...
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Updated Community Health Assessment now available [Humboldtgov.org]
The Community Health Assessment (CHA), a comprehensive overview of the health of the Humboldt County community, was presented at the Board of Supervisors meeting this afternoon. The Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) Public Health report looks at traditional public health measures of illness, mortality, nutrition and physical activity in the community. The CHA also includes data about income, housing status, community safety and access to care, as underlying...
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SIGN ON to Provide Kids in Foster Care with Access to Critical Trauma-Informed Services
The deadline to show your support for the Family Urgent Response System (FURs) is just ONE WEEK away! Please take a couple of minutes to sign on to ensure kids in foster care and their caregivers have the supports and services that are needed to strengthen their bond and create a stable, healing environment. If you're having trouble accessing the link above, copy and paste this URL into your browser:...
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Solano County launches its ACEs and resilience initiative inviting all to take action
Elizabeth Huntley recalls the day when her family’s life was turned upside down. “One day my mom woke up and she packed up all of our clothes, all five of us…and she took me and my younger sister who had the same father… down to my paternal grandmother’s house…and she left us there. She took my middle sister to a town near Birmingham, Ala., and left her there. She took my only brother and an older sister back to Huntsville and left them at a sister’s house. Then she went back to that housing...
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Solano County's (CA) ACEs initiative, a robust community effort, makes room for input from all
In a house called “Johanna’s House” on a tree-lined side street in Vallejo, Calif., four women are filling out the adverse childhood experiences (ACE) survey given to them by Maria Guevara, the founder of Vallejo Together, an organization that serves homeless residents in Vallejo. The house was named for Johanna Dilag, a homeless woman who was found dead along with her dog.
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State Coordinated Care for Young People in California Suffering from Psychosis
For Young People With Psychosis, Early Intervention Is Crucial B y Brian Rinker November 6, 2019, Kaiser Health News Andrew Echeguren, 26, had his first psychotic episode when he was 15. He was working as an assistant coach at a summer soccer camp for kids when the lyrics coming out of his iPod suddenly morphed into racist and homophobic slurs, telling him to harm others — and himself. Echeguren fled the soccer camp and ran home, terrified the police were on his heels. He tried to explain to...
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Summit Caps Five-Year Effort to Keep Kids in School and Out of Court [newsroom.courts.ca.gov]
By Blaine Corren, California Courts Newsroom, March 4, 2020 A two-day event organized by the Judicial Council recently brought together teams from 10 counties to focus awareness on student suspension rates and chronic absenteeism in rural communities. The event, held Feb. 27–28 in Sacramento, enabled rural county representatives to learn about the work of the Chief Justice's Keeping Kids in School and Out of Court initiative. "We know that since 2013 chronic truancy and absenteeism, at least...
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Tell California's Leaders to Make Critical Mental Health Services Available for Kids in Foster Care
Kids in foster care have experienced significant trauma from abuse and neglect and, as a result, often need mental health services. Yet too often, kids in foster care and their caregivers are left to navigate triggering events and conflicts on their own, even though immediate professional support is critical in times of crisis. Tell our state’s leaders to support a common sense solution – a toll-free hotline, available 24/7, so caregivers and kids in foster care, who are experiencing...
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The California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review [ CMQCC, CDPH, MCAH, PHI]
New reports, recently released: The California Pregnancy-Associated Mortality Review (CA-PAMR) is a statewide, in-depth examination of deaths while pregnant or within one year after end of pregnancy, which aims to identify the cause and timing of death, factors that contributed to the death, and improvement opportunities in maternity care and support, with the ultimate goal to reduce preventable deaths and associated health disparities. CA-PAMR is a collaborative effort between the Maternal,...
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Their Kids Died on the Psych Ward. They Were Far From Alone, a Times Investigation Found [latimes.com]
By Soumya Karlamangla, Los Angeles Times, December 1, 2019 Mia St. John’s cellphone lit up with a message from the psychiatrist treating her son. The voicemail shimmered with hope, the first she had felt in months. The doctor said Julian, admitted to a psychiatric facility with schizophrenia, seemed more cheerful, was talking more with other patients and would soon begin a new art project. “Very happy to see he’s coming around a bit,” the doctor said. It was November 2014, and Julian, 24,...
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How is California Supporting Kids?
Calendar Event
How is California Supporting Kids?
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Echo Conference Spotlight: Attachment Trauma & Network Panel
Echo’s conference this year is jam packed with exciting workshops for teachers, parents and anyone who works with children and their families. In addition featuring to the landmark work of Ron Hertel and Mona Johnson in Washington State, we are proud to present: Attachment Trauma & Network Panel Workshop Spotlight: What Parents Wish Schools Knew About Our Traumatized Kids Are you struggling with a challenging child? Hearing the parents from Attachment Trauma Network ( ATN ) gives you a...
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FOOD RESOURCE: CA Meals for Kids Mobile App [cde.ca.gov]
From California Department of Education, March 2020 California Department of Education’s (CDE) “CA Meals for Kids” mobile app has been updated to help students and families find meals during COVID-19-related emergency school closures. The CA Meals for Kids mobile application helps you find nearby California Afterschool and Summer Meal Programs Sites through your iOS, Android, or Microsoft devices. [ Please click here for more information and to download the app .]
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Keeping Kids Out of Cells [sfchronicle.com]
By Jill Tucker and Joaquin Palomino, San Francisco Chronicle, December 29, 2019 The two-story brick building on a quiet street in Queens doesn’t stand out from the million-dollar homes scattered throughout the neighborhood. There are no signs on the former Catholic convent, nothing to indicate that inside are five New York City teens who committed felony assault, grand larceny, gun possession or another serious crime. Placed here by a judge’s order, each is spending an average of seven...
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Kids Day at the Capitol Art Contest
Calling all kids! In celebration of children and families during CAP Month and in honor of Kids Day at the Capitol, we invite you to enter to win the 2nd Annual Art Contest! The theme this year is "My Hero". Show us what a hero means to you and submit your entries by March 22, 2020. Click here for contest information: http://www.thecapcenter.org/ admin/upload/kids%20art% 20contest%2005-30-2019.pdf
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Kids Day at the Capitol on 4/23
Mark your calendar for Kids Day at the Capitol occurring on the east lawn of the California State Capitol on Thursday, April 23 from 10:00 am – 1:30 pm. The Office of Child Abuse Prevention and The Child Abuse Prevention Center proudly partner to host Kids Day at the Capitol. This will be a fun-filled, educational event with a lot of free activities for kids. The event will include guest speakers, performances and various activities for youth and children. Numerous statewide public agencies...
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Kids Under 12 Can No Longer be Sent to Juvenile Hall for Most Crimes Starting in 2020 [capradio.org]
By Steve Milne, Capital Public Radio, December 20, 2019 One of the last pieces of legislation from former California Gov. Jerry Brown’s final year in office would end the prosecution of pre-teens who commit crimes, other than murder and forcible sexual assault. Right now, California has no minimum age for sending children to juvenile hall. Beginning in the new year, counties will no longer be allowed to process kids under 12 years old through the juvenile justice system. Instead, they will...
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Michael Pritchard came to visit us in Lake County
Michael Pritchard came to visit us in Lake County on December 8, 2018 for two shows about 90 minutes each. The 2 pm show was directed to children, parents and teachers. Most who showed up didn’t know what to expect, they knew he is a comedian and that he talks to kids about bullying, but they weren’t really sure what they were going to get from him. What Michael gave was his heart. While he sat and made funny noises stemming from his Star Wars character voice overs, children laughed, and...
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New Resource! Secondary Traumatic Stress in Child Welfare Practice: Trauma-Informed Guidelines for Organizations
The Chadwick Center for Children & Families at Rady Children's Hospital San Diego has just released a set of trauma-informed guidelines with concrete strategies for approaching secondary traumatic stress (STS). While these guidelines were created for intended use within child welfare systems, they may be easily adapted into other child-and family-serving organizations. These guidelines were created as part of the Chadwick Trauma-Informed Systems Dissemination and Implementation Project...
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New Study Shows Communities Can Reduce the Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences [Mathematic Policy Research]
[ Ed. note: Following is a media release published yesterday by Mathematica Policy Research. This follows on the heals of the report, "Self-Healing Communities" that Laura Porter, Dr. Robert Anda and WHO wrote for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Both reports and executive summaries are attached to this blog post. Both reports are significant, because they show that community ACEs initiatives -- with "modest investments and limited staff" -- are solving some of our most intractable...
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New Youth Council to Advise LA County Officials on Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice, and Other Matters Affecting LA's Kids [witnessla.com]
By Taylor Walker, WitnessLA, February 5,2020 On Tuesday, Feb. 4, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a plan to launch a Youth Commission to advise the board and county departments on matters of policy, budget, programs, and other issues that affect the county’s youth and their families. With this commission, the county has the opportunity to create a “trailblazing model” for jurisdictions across the nation, Supervisors Janice Hahn and Sheila Kuehl wrote in their motion. “In...
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NFL Athlete Lawrence Phillips: The Broken Kid
http://blitzweekly.com/lawrence-phillips-the-broken-kid/ http://www.thenation.com/article/who-killed-lawrence-phillips/ Today NFL athlete Lawrence Phillips' death was ruled a suicide by the coroner. His ACEs score (Adverse Childhood Experiences) was by all accounts extremely high. By all accounts, he did not receive treatment for this unrelenting childhood trauma and attachment disruption. Abandoned by his father, abused by his stepfather, removed from his mother, placed in group homes, and...
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Opioid Epidemic in Santa Barbara County Landing More Kids in Foster Care [keyt.com]
By Nathalie Vera, KEYT, December 11, 2019 In Santa Barbara County, 80 percent of children in the foster care system are there because of the drug epidemic, including opioids. “When parents become addicted, the kids are the ones that are paying the price," said Kim Colby Davis, executive director at CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of Santa Barbara County. “More and more frequently we're seeing heroine, and we're seeing the opioid addictions.” CASA volunteers help the courts decide on...
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(Orange) County to get first emergency centers for psych patients, unburdening hospitals [OCRegister.com]
Orange County is set to get its first emergency medical centers dedicated to treating people who suffer sudden psychiatric episodes, addressing a void that critics say long has burdened local hospitals and left mentally ill patients with inadequate treatment. County supervisors voted Tuesday to accept a nearly $3.1 million competitive state grant that will help pay for building renovations and program start-up costs for the expanded care at two undetermined locations. Supervisor Andrew Do...
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Overview of the 2016 Project on Behavioral Health Services For Children and Youth in California [dhcs.ca.gov]
The California Behavioral Health Planning Council (Council) is under federal and state mandate to advocate on behalf of adults with severe mental illness and children with severe emotional disturbance and their families. The Council is also statutorily required to advise the Legislature on behavioral health issues, policies and priorities in California. The Council advocates for an accountable system of seamless, responsive services that are strength-based, consumer and family member driven,...
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Personal stories from witnesses, U.S. representatives provided an emotional wallop to House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on childhood trauma
Room erupts in applause for the grandmother of witness William Kellibrew during July 11 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing. The power of personal stories from witnesses and committee members fueled the July 11 hearing on childhood trauma in the House Oversight and Reform Committee* throughout the nearly four hours of often emotional and searing testimony and member questions and statements (Click here for 3:47 hour video). The hearing was organized into a two panels—testimony from...
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Report reveals how foster care, juvenile and adult justice systems traumatize youth, calls for policy shifts
YWFC sponsored Sister Warriors meeting When she was 15 years old, Lucero Herrera was put in a rehab program by San Francisco’s Juvenile Court because she was getting drunk regularly. And in doing so, the court failed to explore the root of her drinking. Had they done so, she said, they would have found that anger and trauma were lurking underneath, driven by her ACEs: adverse childhood experiences. Lucero Herrera "Why did they put me in a drug program when I had an anger problem? I went...
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Cities Take Issue With Unsettling Smoke [thesungazette.com]
By Reggie Ellis, The Sun-Gazette, October 23, 2019 After decades of declines in underage tobacco use, flavored vape juice is fueling a resurgence in teen smoking; forces cities to consider bans as school districts struggle to deal with vaping epidemic. When Sara Morton became an educator 20 years ago, underage cigarette use was at an all-time low. Kids who had grown up watching well-funded anti-smoking commercials on television seemed to have gotten the message. During her first few years as...
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Coronavirus Prevents Kids from Going to School for Class right now, but They can go to Pick Up Food [sfchronicle.com]
By J.K. Dien, San Francisco Chronicle, March 18, 2020 Elvida Arriola showed up at Mission High School Wednesday morning with her daughter, Gloria, a junior at John O’Connell High School. At the school’s side door on Dolores Street, San Francisco Unified School District security guard Pesalili Havea was handing out grocery-sized brown paper bags full of food. A steady stream of families lined up to take them. “It’s free food,” said Havea, greeting the mother and daughter. “It takes a load off...
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California Teachers Build a 'Nest' For Migrant Kids at the Border [kqed.org]
By Sasha Khokha, KQED, October 25, 2019 Classical music plays, silk curtains blow in the wind and comfy couches offer a place to curl up with a book. There are wooden toys, colorful magnetic blocks, and crayons organized by color in glass jars. Children use light projectors to make patterns and shapes on the walls. It may sound like a high-end early childhood education center in California, but this is Tijuana. The students and their parents have fled violence in Central America, or other...
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‘Change in culture’: New California guidelines aim to help teach social, emotional skills [Press Democrat]
The nation’s schools long ago broadened their missions beyond the teaching of academic subjects and participation in extracurricular activities. Educators have for decades been entrusted to teach students a wider range of life skills, including those that touch on emotions, empathy and relationships with other people. Now, a new state guide , released Wednesday, offers a slew of resources for teachers and administrators seeking to bolster kids’ social and emotional development. “Science...
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'How Do We Recover?': Experts Weigh In on How to Talk to Your Kids About Shootings [latimes.com]
By Nina Agrawal, Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2019 The shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita on Thursday touched off intense, heart-sinking fear among many teenagers who ran for cover, barricaded classroom doors with tables and chairs, and hid in closets. Later, as they were reunited at a park, evacuated students and parents collapsed into one another’s arms in long, tearful hugs. “Fear made it feel like we were waiting in silence forever,” said Andrei Mojica, 17, who locked...
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How is California Supporting Kids
From The Children's Movement of California, February 2020 Join Children Now for a webinar about how you can use the 2020 California Children's Report Card to support kids in your community. The Report Card grades California on its ability to support better outcomes for kids, from prenatal to age 26. Each grade is based on the state’s progress (or lack thereof) on passing and implementing state-level policies and making investments in the supports and services needed for all kids to reach...
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How Parents and Teachers Can Calm Kids' Getty Fire Anxiety [latimes.com]
By Sonali Kohli and Nina Agrawal, Los Angeles Times, October 29, 2019 During this Santa Ana wind season, 12-year-old Nicholas Ladesich tends to go to bed worrying about what might burn overnight. He often has dreams of waking up in his old house that burned down in the Woolsey fire last year. But he awakens instead in the living room of the one-bedroom guest house he shares with his brother and parents. He demands that his mom turn on the news to monitor possible fires while his 15-year-old...
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How to Talk to Kids About Homelessness [nytimes.com]
By Jill Cowan, The New York Times, November 25, 2019 Homelessness is a part of everyday life for many California schoolchildren, for those who experience it and those who see it near schools and playgrounds. “I’m a working mother of two who has had to raise children to be not only aware and empathetic toward homeless people, but have also had to train my kids how to instantly spot an aggressive mentally ill person who may be a threat to them,” wrote Kristin, a reader in San Francisco.
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JOB: Director for the Center for Learning and Resilience
We are delighted to announce that the position of Director for the Center for Learning and Resilience has been released. Please click on the links below for further information or to apply. The Butte County Office of Education (BCOE) is located in Northern California and serves 14 districts and 18 charter schools in Butte County and provides services to students and educators in all 58 California Counties and employs 1500 people in Butte County and across the state. Link to job posting :...
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Re: NEW BRIEF! Screening for Trauma Birth to 5
The attached article may fit in somewhere here. Please feel free tp pass it on.
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Re: To Truly Transform Health in California, We Need to Invest in Healthy Communities [calhealthreport.org]
If the health care of our State is to be improved, one key step will be to improve the basis for understanding a person's health status. The most important component of that understanding comes from a comprehensive medical history from each patient. Obtained by conventional techniques, this is very time consuming, hence expensive, hence usually carried out superficially. Because of that, I would like to propose that there be created the California Health Index, a uniquely comprehensive...
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Re: HIGHLIGHT!! Live webinar: CA surgeon general and DHCS medical director discuss ACE screening training
The effect of the above-described approach is summarized this paragraph from the attached article. "Another example of the research potential of this approach to preventive medicine was demonstrated by an analysis of 135,000 consecutive adults going through Health Appraisal in a 2.5-year period. ACE Study questions relating to traumatic life experiences in childhood had recently been added to the comprehensive medical history questionnaire that patients filled out at home. A major data...