Tagged With "Santa"

By John Woolfolk, The Mercury News, November 14, 2019 The sight of another school shooting like the latest mayhem Thursday at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita has become sadly familiar. Since the horror unleashed in 2012 by a deranged gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, about 16,000 California students have experienced some sort of shooting at 15 schools in the Golden State. “This is every student’s worst nightmare,” Julia Runkle, 17, a volunteer with Students Demand...

By Erica Hellerstein, The Mercury News, January 13, 2020 When Dontae Lartigue left foster care right before his 19th birthday in 2009, finding housing in Santa Clara County was one of his biggest obstacles. He struggled to find places he could afford on his $12 an hour salary at Walmart, and with a limited income and no rental history, he found landlords were often wary of returning his calls. So Lartigue, who is now 29 years old, ended up couch surfing or sleeping in his car. “Right now...

By Mountain View Voice, September 25, 2019 The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday, Sept. 24, to increase funding for services for victims of sexual assault and create a new office to address gender-based violence in the county. The board voted to create the Santa Clara County Office of Gender-Based Violence to oversee services for survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence and human trafficking. County leaders plan to fill the positions in the new office...

By Bay City News and Mountain View Voice Staff, Mountain View Voice, December 11, 2019 Santa Clara County Supervisors Tuesday allocated $200,000 to a new pilot program to help domestic violence victims whose partner tried to strangle them. The county will partner with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office and the Santa Clara Police Department to respond to victims who are 12 years old and older. Law enforcement officers will ask victims if they consent to a hospital visit, and will be...

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...

By Gina DePinto, Noozhawk, October 1, 2019 The Santa Barbara County Executive Office has announced the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Behavioral Wellness have been awarded $2,145,000 over three years ($715,000/year) to staff and support two law enforcement-mental health co-response teams for the county. One or more co-response teams will serve North County. Staffing includes two crisis intervention-trained Sheriff deputies and two clinician positions from...

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...

Taundra Pitchford, the Child Care Planning Council Coordinator at the Santa Barbara County Education Office (SBCEO), shared with me in an interview that SBCEO, not unlike other organizations within the Resilient Santa Barbara County ACEs Connection Network, remains open and operational amid the ever-evolving Coronavirus turmoil we find ourselves navigating. Pitchford commented, when asked how her work has shifted since the outbreak of the virus, "While I was busy before, I have never worked...

A patient came into the Goleta location of the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics pleading with people at the front desk to speak to Mayra Garcia, a wellness navigator at the clinic, despite not having an appointment. The clinic is part of a network of four clinics in the Santa Barbara region of California that serve mainly patients on Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, or patients who are uninsured. Mayra Garcia “She was crying. Her husband had been deported. She couldn’t pay the rent,...

Interested SF Bay Area safety net organizations can apply for funding to participate in this three-year program on resilience and trauma-informed care.

September 10, 2020 Resilient Santa Barbara County is proud to support the efforts of the statewide ACEs Aware initiative, led by the California Department of Health Care Services and the Office of the California Surgeon General. This initiative seeks to change health outcomes and save lives by helping Medi-Cal providers understand the importance of screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and responding to patients with trauma-informed care. ACEs Aware offers Medi-Cal providers...

On Monday, October 19, 2020, over 60 leaders from Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties virtually gathered to begin weaving connections at the Tri-County ACEs Aware Care Network Leadership Convening. Under the guidance of Barbara Finch (SBC Department of Social Services, KIDS Network), Terri Allison (Moonlit Consulting), and Carl Palmer (LegacyWorks Group), participants came together with the intention of learning about local implementation of the ACEs Aware initiative,...

Thanks for letting us know about this inspiring meeting, Hanna!

- by Kristin Beasley, PhD The Elf on the Shelf, Santa’s number 1 helper has joined more than 13 million homes and the popularity seems to continue to grow. Here’s how it works as written in the description on Amazon.com “The Scout Elf is placed on a shelf or somewhere in the house to watch your children throughout the day, then each night the elf returns to the North Pole to tell Santa Clause whether your family has been naughty or nice. With this information, Santa decides if you are...

I just wanted to let everyone know about an upcoming event which is going to be AMAZING! The Santa Clara County chapter of the California Academy of Family Physicians is hosting an ACE Healing Conference on April 20, 2024 in San Jose. We are going to be looking outside of the box for ways doctors can partner with the city government, houses of worship, recovery communities, coaches, and more to create resilient communities which both prevent and treat ACE-related trauma. We are using the PCE...