Tagged With "body workers"
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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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BCSD wellness centers provide free services for students as they head back to school [Bakersfield.com]
By Ema Sasic August 7, 2019 The first day of school is just a few days away and school supplies are not the only items parents need to cross off their back-to-school checklist. Bakersfield City School District's four wellness centers are encouraging parents to stop by to make sure their children have all their required immunizations before the first day of school and are ready for the upcoming school year. The district has recently opened school wellness centers to promote physical, mental...
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CA announces robust perinatal depression prevention for Medi-Cal recipients
Melinda Coates experienced a tumultuous pregnancy. “I was really mentally upset literally from day one (of the pregnancy),” she says. (Melinda Coates is a pseudonym. To protect her and her children’s privacy and safety, we are not using her real name.) Coates had hoped to get counseling last October, when she was seven months pregnant. That’s when she enrolled in the state’s Medi-Cal program, shortly after she and her abusive husband moved to California, “but nobody was able to get me in...
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CA Governor's 2020-21 Budget Proposal Summary
Governor Newsom proposed his 2020-21 budget on Friday. Here are some highlights from the perspective of support for children and families from Children Now. See attached for the full summary report that summarizes funding related to child welfare, health, K- 12 education, early childhood, emergency preparedness and response, and adverse childhood experiences. The Governor’s budget proposes a number of initiatives, investments, and restructuring to transform the health care system to better...
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ACEs Connection “Map the Movement” now includes an up-to-date section on laws and resolutions
Photo credit: Texasarchitects.org An updated map of laws and resolutions addressing ACEs science and trauma-informed policies is now available in the “Laws and Resolutions” section of Map the Movement (you can also find "Map the Movement" on the navigation bar on the ACEs Connection home page). The earliest law on the map was passed in the state of Washington in 2011, creating an ACEs science public-private partnership. The data base of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) is...
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ACEs Connection Webinar: The trauma toll on pediatric immigrants, refugees and their families
ACEs Connection Webinar: The trauma toll on pediatric immigrants, refugees and their families You’ll receive tips for health care providers in pediatric settings and beyond When: Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, 10:30-11:30 am Pacific Time/1:30-2:30 Eastern Time Please register here for this webinar. Our speakers include: Dr. Heyman Oo , MD MPH is a primary care pediatrician in Marin County and an Associate Physician/Clinical Instructor for the General Pediatrics Department at Zuckerberg San Francisco...
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Advocacy tools for influencing policy at the national, state, and local levels
The level of policy activity at all levels relating to ACEs-trauma-resilience has increased significantly over the last few years. The California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA) held its third Policymaker Education Day this year and has created a number of resources (included in this widget) designed to expand legislators’ knowledge of ACEs science and promote approaches to reduce and heal childhood adversity. In addition to California specific information on legislative and...
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Amador County builds community college pipeline for mental health workers (calmatters.org)
Amador, along with a handful of other counties, is leveraging state funding to grow the ranks of peer mental health providers. The scholarship program relies on workforce development funds from California’s Mental Health Services Act, which established a millionaire’s tax for mental health prevention and intervention in 2004. Monterey and San Bernardino counties also use the funds to train community members with real-life experience, with the goal of hiring them in county-run mental health...
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Cal WORKs Training Academy: Compassion Fatigue
Front-line and case workers for the TANF program (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) are at high risk for compassion fatigue. They hear approximately 30 stories of trauma, abuse and hardship each day. Complaints from workers vary from “How many stories of torture will have to I hear.” “It feels like I am spitting at a forest fire.” “After 12 years in the field, I am now on blood pressure medication.” This year the Cal WORKs Training Academy featured a workshop on compassion fatigue...
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CalEITC 101: Expanded State Tax Credit Puts Cash into the Pockets of California’s Transition-Age Youth
John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY) invites you to partner with us in 2020 to support youth in care with filing taxes and claiming the expanded CalEITC. This webinar will include the California Franchise Tax Board and discuss strategies to help transition-age youth access the CalEITC. Description: In the 2019-2020 budget, the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC), a cash-back tax credit that puts money back into the pockets of California’s working families and individuals, was...
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California Child Welfare Policy and Progress, Winter Issue [Insight]
The California Child Welfare Co-Investment Partnership Report This issue of in sights provides an overview of the latest legislative developments in California, including data and perspectives on the policy and practice transformation taking place with the Continuum of Care Reform (CCR). Beyond a comprehensive summary of child welfare state legislation, this issue also includes a discussion on the key provisions of the Family First Prevention Services Act. The issue concludes with...
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California Department of Public Health has MCAH program that prevents ACEs!
In Federal-State partnership HRSA Maternal & Child Health the California Department of Public Health, MCAH have a home visiting program designed for families at risk for ACEs! The California Home Visiting Program (CHVP) is designed f or families who are at risk for adverse childhood experiences , including child maltreatment, domestic violence, substance abuse and mental illness. Home visiting is a preventive intervention that aims to promote maternal health, improve child development,...
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California healthcare providers adapt ACEs screening from in-person to virtual environment
Dr. Amy Shekarchi, a pediatrician based in Los Angeles, CA, was helping to lead the rollout of ACEs screening among 50 health care providers at six clinics affiliated with the L.A. County Department of Health Services when the COVID-19 pandemic hit—days before she was set to launch the effort. “We had trained everybody in doing face-to-face [ACEs screening], and when COVID-19 happened we thought, let’s not throw the screening out. Everybody was ready,” says Shekarchi, who is the pediatric...
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We love science!
(click to download) We love science at Echo. It has been my greatest pleasure to share the science about the impact of trauma, including the changes that happen to the various systems of the body in our Trauma and Resilience trainings . The list is pretty exhaustive, and to try to make sense of it all, we’ve developed another of our popular infographics. Nervous system: This is where we focus a lot of our attention in trauma and recovery. The nervous system takes a beating when we live with...
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“Strategic Advocacy: Winning Policy Change without Crossing the Lobbying Line”: Webinar summary & links
(l to r) Kelly Hardy, Allen Mattison, Jeff Hild _____________________________________________________ The stakes in today's public policy debates are as high as they've ever been. So, how does a nonprofit organization separate legitimate and perceived barriers to find the sweet spot for maximum engagement and not cross the lobbying line? The three panelists on the “Strategic Advocacy: Winning Policy Change without Crossing the Lobbying Line ” webinar held March 14, 2019, covered the fine...
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What We Can Learn About Resilience from Indigenous Leaders (calhealthreport.org)
Germaine Omish-Lucero’s ancestors were taken from their homes and forced to build California’s Mission San Luis Rey de Francia—a mission in what is now Oceanside—about 200 years ago. There, they were exposed to diseases such as measles, to which they had no immunity. Thousands died—and there is no escaping this tragic piece of California history. Yet Omish-Lucero, her children, and the children in her tribe stand. Despite inequities that continue to this day, the Rincon Band of Luiseno...
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Why Yolo County is signing hundreds of college students up for food stamps [ABC 10]
DAVIS, Calif. — More than 1,000 college students have applied for food stamps in the past year and a half at UC Davis, courtesy of focused outreach efforts from both the university and Yolo County. As applications for food stamps grew by hundreds, the number of students actively seeking help grew by thousands. “The amount of students that they [UC Davis] are seeing that are homeless, that are sleeping in their cars, that are using the showers in the locker room, that are food insecure, and...
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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 HEALTH CARE STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS CHILDREN’S TRAUMA, EXPOSURE TO VIOLENCE AND ACEs
I found this document by Futures Without Violence to be a useful resource. From the forward: The health care system plays an important role both in identifying children who may be exposed to extreme adversity and violence, currently and in the past, and in providing the evidence-based interventions that can help children heal from trauma and prevent health conditions and other poor outcomes associated with trauma and ACEs. The health care system is also central in supporting the greatest...
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State Officials Announce Latest COVID-19 Facts (CDPH Office of Public Affairs)
Date: May 19, 2020 Number: NR20-093 Contact: CDPHpress@cdph.ca.gov Please click here to read the full press release. SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Public Health today announced the most recent statistics on COVID-19. California now has 81,795 confirmed cases and 3,334 deaths. Testing in California As testing capacity continues to increase across the state, the California Department of Public Health is working to expand access to COVID-19 testing . Testing should be used for...
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Senate HELP Committee approves opioid bill with major trauma-related provisions
The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee unanimously approved The Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 Act on April 24. Significant provisions were included from the Heitkamp-Durbin Trauma-Informed Care for Children and Families Act (S. 774), including creation of a task force on trauma, and grants for trauma-informed schools.
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Senate HELP Committee schedules hearing on April 11 on draft opioid bill with key provisions addressing trauma and seeks stakeholder comments
Key provisions that are closely aligned with sections the Heitkamp-Durbin “Trauma-Informed Care for Children and Families Act (S. 774)” are included in opioid legislation that is advancing in the U.S. Senate. A draft bill, “The Opioid Crisis Response Act,” is the subject of a hearing on Wednesday, April 11 in the Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions) Committee and a mark-up of the legislation is expected over the next several weeks. Senator Heitkamp’s office highlighted three...
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Tackling Patients’ Social Problems Can Cut Health Costs [CA Healthline]
HOUSTON — Donning a protective gown, rubber gloves and a face mask, Dayna Gurley looks like she’s heading into surgery. But Gurley is a medical social worker charged with figuring out why her client, a man who uses more health care services than almost anyone else in Houston, has been in three different hospitals in the last month. The patient, who asked not to be identified, has chronic massive ulcers, AIDS and auditory hallucinations. He rents a cot in another person’s home but is more...
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'Teaching Hope': How California Schools Can Improve Ways To Address Student Trauma [capradio.org]
Dealing with students’ childhood trauma may improve classroom behavior and attendance rates — at least that’s the idea at the Los Angeles Unified School District’s wellness centers. They are located in or near schools, and are designed to serve kids impacted by issues such as deportation threats, domestic abuse, housing instability and other trauma. The district is working with local nonprofits to expand the program. Suzanne Markey is a social worker with the district. She said schools often...
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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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The Parent Defender Model Heads West [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
In many ways, the challenges of the child welfare field mirror those in the criminal justice system. Both disproportionately ensnare over-policed, underserved communities, especially people of color and those living in deep poverty. The difference between those systems, explain East Bay Family Defenders co-founders Eliza Patten and Zabrina Aleguire, is one of gender. Women fill these courtrooms. In September 2018, Patten and Aleguire launched East Bay Family Defenders with a team of 10...
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Trauma Transformed launches regional effort in San Francisco Bay Area
Nearly 300 impassioned and committed people crowded into the Green Room at the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center last week to launch Trauma Transformed. Known as T2, the regional effort representing the San Francisco...
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DHCS Expands Medi-Cal Young-Adult Eligibility, Restores Benefits, Adds Childhood-Trauma Screening in 2020 (DHCS)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Norman Williams NUMBER: 19-03 (916) 440-7660 DATE: December 30, 2019 www.dhcs.ca.gov DHCS EXPANDS MEDI-CAL YOUNG-ADULT ELIGIBILITY, RESTORES BENEFITS, ADDS CHILDHOOD-TRAUMA SCREENING IN 2020 SACRAMENTO – Medi-Cal, California’s health care program for low-income individuals and families, will extend full coverage to tens of thousands of additional young adults statewide effective January 1, 2020, another step toward building a California for All. The young adult...
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Doctor-patient role-playing featured in ACEs Connection webinar
On an ACEs Connection webinar on Monday, Dr. Andrew Seaman, an assistant professor at Oregon Health & Science University, showed how he navigates his students through the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). And, in an unusual twist for a webinar, Seaman and O’Nesha Cochran, a peer mentor with the Mental Health Association of Oregon, role-played doctor-patient interactions to show how to develop the skills to communicate with patients with high ACE scores. About 90 people...
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Documentary, "Portraits of Professional CAREgivers" Airing on Public Television
CAREgivers film will be airing on most public television stations around the US beginning this month in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orlando, Cleveland, Spokane, Boise, Springfield-Holyoke, Youngstown, Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, Fairbanks, ETC. Please check your local public TV stations for future dates and times. Broadcast times will also be posted in advance whenever possible at: http://caregiversfilm.com/screenings/see-the-film/ This documentary addresses secondary trauma (aka...
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DULCE helps pediatricians in Oakland, CA, prevent toxic stress in newborns
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...
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Equity on the Mall
On behalf of the San Joaquin Valley Health Fund (SJVHF), we invite you to join state legislative and community leaders in a day of advocacy entitled Equity on the Mall, taking place on February 9 at our state capitol in Sacramento. Thursday, February 9 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. California State Capitol 1315 10th Street, Sacramento The day will include a powerful program at the West Steps of the Capitol on the movement being built in the San Joaquin Valley. Highlights will include remarks by elected...
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Fight Burnout and Compassion Fatigue With Lots of Self-care Ideas [YouthToday.org]
For years I have sought out with fierce determination conversations, books and articles such as this. Articles with titles like “5 Steps To Wellness,” “7 Must-Have self-care Tips” or “10 Ways for a Healthier You.” From peer-reviewed articles to O Magazine, I sift through pages with critical eyes looking for that aha moment where I find something new to share with teachers, administrators, students and other caring professionals. I usually ignore the introductions and skip ahead to the bullet...
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For many poor families, housing costs are ‘out of reach’ [WashingtonPost.com]
Even as the federal government provides housing assistance for 5.5 million households, 7.2 million housing units are needed for more than 10 million extremely low-income families. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro delivered this bad news in a report on housing for low-income renters that is “Out of Reach,” which is the name of the study. “Our nation can’t fulfill any of our major goals — whether it’s tackling inequality, improving health care, keeping neighborhoods...
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For the undocumented shut out of Medi-Cal, Newsom’s health insurance for all plan could be a godsend [centerforhealthjournalism.org]
Rosa Franco, a farm worker living in the rural community of Huron, suffers from many conditions, such as high blood pressure and diabetes. To Franco, one of her gloomiest moments was when her doctor told her she had cancerous cysts. Due to her immigration status and lack of health coverage, Rosa has not been able to undergo surgery. She is one of the 1.1 million undocumented immigrants who do not have Medi-Cal, not even for emergency care. According to data from UC Berkeley, there are...
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Learning Community Recording Available: Building Family, Agency, and Community Resilience: Rural Policies to Improve Housing Affordability and Accessibility
The third Sierra Learning Community for the 2019-20 fiscal year focused upon Building Family, Agency, and Community Resilience: Rural Policies to Improve Housing Affordability and Accessibility. The power point and other materials distributed to attendees are attached to this post. View the recording by clicking here: 2.13.20 Sierra Learning Community ANNOUNCEMENTS Make sure to visit the Strategies2.0 YouTube Channel to access recordings of all the Strategies2.0 sponsored webinars and...
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Looking for online training and consulting?
Looking for tools to help your organization or community integrate a trauma-informed and resilience-building approach? At Origins, we offer training courses to support you from your aha moment to your action plan. It all starts with The Basics, a 90-minute online training that will provide you with an overview of the key concepts behind a trauma-informed approach. When you’re ready to move from aha to action, sign up for The Resilience Champion Certificate, a self-paced 6-week online training...
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Harmonium CEO Rosa Ana Lozada “walks the talk” of trauma-informed, resilience-building practices
Harmonium staff pictured (left to right ) Front row: Brian Newcomer, Rosa Ana Lozada, Heidi Echeverria, and Janice Tangback Back row: Amy De Meules, Natalie Kessler, and Justin Campbell There’s almost a Zen-like feeling when you walk into the office of Rosa Ana Lozada, chief executive officer of Harmonium, Inc. The deep red accent wall, large corner windows, and small Japanese fountain send a message that a trauma-informed, resilience-building mindset starts at the top of this...
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Meet The One-Person Alternative Sentencing Program Connecting Californians To A Better Life Outside Of Jail (witnessla.com)
On most days, social service worker Lita Meza can be found in her Toyota Prius transporting her clients from Riverside County’s jails to outside rehabilitation programs all over Southern California. For 16 years, she has been the force behind the Alternative Sentencing Program run out of the Riverside County Public Defender’s Office. “Lita changes lives every day,” said Riverside County Public Defender Steve Harmon. “I would go further and say Lita saves lives every day. She takes people who...
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More than 70 4CA participants converge on Sacramento, talk ACEs to power
Mai Le, an ACEs champion and program associate with First 5 San Mateo, wasted no time getting to the point of why she was asking lawmakers to support legislation that would help prevent adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). “When I was a child, my father had a psychotic break and was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia,” she said in a conversation with Eric Dietz, a staff member for State Senator John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa). L-R: Eric Dietz, Richa Sharma, Mai Le “I’m a high achiever,...
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Nadine Burke Harris debuts "The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity" in Philadelphia
Dr. Nadine Burke Harris debuted her book, The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity , at the Philadelphia Free Library this evening in a talk and book signing. This first stop in an ambitious book tour that crisscrosses the country reflects a mission that Burke Harris has pursued for nearly a decade: to spread the knowledge about the science of adverse childhood experiences, and about how people can use this knowledge to help solve our most intractable problems.
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New! Hotels for Health Care Workers
According to Governor Newsom during his press conference today (Thursday, April 9th) the number one stressor for health care workers was having a place to sleep between shifts that do not put their families at risk. many were paying out of pocket for a hotel room or sleeping in their car between shifts. To address this, starting April 10, frontline health care workers who are exposed to or test positive for COVID-19 can find hotel rooms through the CalTravelStore . If you are a health care...
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New organization calls all pediatricians to end crisis that's "hiding in plain sight"
When the question of screening patients for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) was first raised a couple of years ago, Santa Barbara pediatrician Andria Ruth had mixed feelings about it.
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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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Newsom Announces Aid for Foster Care Youth Affected by COVID-19, New Agreement With Oregon and Washington [kqed.org]
By Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos, KQED, April 13, 2020 California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that the state plans to allocate $42 million — including $1.6 million from the federal government — to address the needs of young people in foster care and others living in low-income families. "Bottom line is we have less social worker visits, we have less child welfare referrals because kids are not at school and because people are practicing physical distancing. And that means we still...
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NPPC shares lessons learned and results from ACEs screening pilot sites
For Dr. Mercie Digangi, a pediatrician at Kaiser Southern California in Downey, CA, ACEs screening provided a crystal clear before-and-after in how she changed treatment plans for her pediatric patients, she explained to attendees of a December 2 webinar organized by the National Pediatric Practice Community on ACEs (NPPC) and cosponsored by ACEs Connection. Dr. Mercie Digangi One case that turned ACEs screening into a never-go-back moment for her was a three-year-old who was speech-delayed.
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OCAP needs you! Apply now to become a member of their 2019 Citizen Review Panels
Make a difference in the lives of vulnerable children in California. Use your voice to change the child welfare system in California! Convened by the Office of Child Abuse Prevention (OCAP), they are seeking citizen (YOUR) input at their quarterly meetings. Now is your chance to make recommendations to the State! Apply now t o become a member of the California Child-welfare Citizen Review Panels (CRPs). Meetings are held 4 times a year. Participation can be by phone, computer, or in-person.
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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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Prepped to Change: Towards Healing Organizations - Ken Epstein and Community Panel with Special Guests!
In recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month, please consider attending a presentation co-sponsored by DHCS, CDPH and DSS to learn about the Trauma-informed Systems Initiative from San Francisco’s Department of Public Health. Dr. Kenneth Epstein, lead for the Initiative, will be speaking about how the department has been educating all 9,000 staff in San Francisco’s public health, hospitals and ambulatory care services about trauma-informed practices and care. There will be a community...