Tagged With "Making Childhood Trauma Personal"
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11 New Communities Join ACEs Connection: May, 2019
Please welcome these 11 new initiatives from AZ, CA, CO, FL, KS, KY, MI, MN, NM, NY, UT, and VA to ACEs Connection . We also have a private community for ACEs Connection community champions, facilitators, and managers.* ACEs Connection Community Champions, Facilitators & Managers * Chisago County (MN) ACEs Initiative Colorado ACEs Connection Durango (Colorado) ACEs Connection Dutchess County (NY) ACEs Task Force Fairfax County (VA) Trauma Informed Community Network Fighting ACEs in Palm...
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2019 April Task Force Agenda & Meeting Minutes
April 2019 Dutchess County ACES Task Force agenda & meeting minutes
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2019 January Agenda and Meeting Minutes
Agenda, meeting minutes and attachments for the January 2019 Dutchess County ACES Task Force meeting.
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2019 June Task Force Meeting Agenda and Minutes
The agenda and minutes for the June 2019 ACEs Task Force Meeting.
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2019 May Agenda and Meeting Minutes
Agenda and meeting minutes for the May 2019 meeting of the Dutchess County ACES Task Force.
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2019 State Trends in Child Well-Being [aecf.org]
By the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The 30th edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT® Data Book begins by exploring how America’s child population — and the American childhood experience — has changed since 1990. And there’s some good news to share: Of the 16 areas of child well-being tracked across four domains — health, education, family and community and economic well-being — 11 have improved since the Foundation published its first Data Book 30 editions ago. The rest of the...
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5 Reasons Addressing ACEs is Good Corporate Social Responsibility
While Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can potentially increase a company’s profit over time, CSR is best demonstrated with dramatic improvement in the lives of employees who have suffered from Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).
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71 ACEs Initiatives Join ACEs Connection in 2019
We are proud to celebrate the 71 community initiatives that joined the ACEs Connection network in 2019. They are listed below, and can be found along with all existing ACEs Connection communities via the ACEs Connection map. Communities in the United States: Midwest ACEs Indiana Coalition Ardmore (OK) Behavioral Health Collaborative: BOUNCE - Jefferson County (KY Chisago County (MN) ACEs Initiative Franciscan Health ACEs Connection FH–Jasper & Newton Counties (IN ) FH–LaPorte County (IN)...
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A Trauma-Informed Approach to Teaching Through Coronavirus - for Students Everywhere, Online or Not [washingtonpost.com]
By Valerie Strauss, The Washington Post, March 26, 2020 “Anxiety” is one of the words you hear frequently about our individual and collective reactions to the coronavirus pandemic — which has stopped public life in its tracks in much of the world. Kids are anxious. So are their parents and teachers and principals and superintendents and friends and elected officials. For those people who were anxious before covid-19, the sense of apprehension has only deepened. Given that, this post offers...
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ACEs Connection's Inclusion Tool makes sure nobody's left out
We developed ACEs Connection's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Tool — called the Inclusion Tool, for short — to ensure that ACEs initiatives across the world focus on being inclusive when forming a steering committee, recruiting leaders, providing education about ACEs science, recruiting members, or providing resources and services within their communities. The more inclusive your ACEs initiative is, the more diverse it will be, giving your initiative a real shot at achieving equity and...
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ACEs screening in CA — a Q and A with Dr. Dayna Long
Last year, the California Department of Health Care Services rolled out its plans for universal screening for trauma among its pediatric and adult Medicaid population. Beginning January 1, 2020, California physicians were able to receive an incentive payment of $29 for each pediatric patient screened for ACEs using the PEARLs ( Pediatrics Adverse Childhood and Resilience Study) tool. Dr. Dayna Long talked with ACEs Connection staff reporter Laurie Udesky about ACEs science, what led to the...
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After El Paso And Dayton: Resilience In The Face Of Trauma [forbes.com]
By Chloe Demrovsky, Forbes, August 10, 2019 One week ago, America yet again faced tragedy as gunmen in two unrelated incidents shot into crowds at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas and an active nightlife area in Dayton, Ohio. The combined death toll stands at 31. The nation is in near perpetual mourning and grim about the prospect of facing more mass shootings. Terrorism, whether domestic or international, has a broad effect on our collective wellbeing that extends far beyond the immediate...
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Avoiding ACEs by Helping Families During COVID-19 (www.astho.org)
April 15, 2020 | 11:00 a.m. | By ASTHO (Association of State and Territorial Health Officials) Staff Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood and can have negative, lasting effects on health, wellbeing, and opportunity. These exposures can disrupt healthy brain development, affect social development, compromise immune systems, and can lead to substance misuse and other unhealthy coping behaviors. Examples of ACEs include experiencing...
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Brain Injury Common In Domestic Violence (scienceblog.com)
Domestic violence survivors commonly suffer repeated blows to the head and strangulation, trauma that has lasting effects that should be widely recognized by advocates, health care providers, law enforcement and others who are in a position to help, according to the authors of a new study. In the first community-based study of its kind, researchers from The Ohio State University and the Ohio Domestic Violence Network found that 81 percent of women who have been abused at the hands of their...
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Cabin Fever Tips for Stir Crazy Kids
Cabin fever grabbed the 3 yr. old boy relentlessly in the winter weather. Grumpiness took over until I offered him a big poster board on the floor and crayons-to-boot, suggesting he use his whole body to get all those tense feelings out. He jumped into the activity like a thirsty horse heading for water. His whole body swiveled and swerved, moving with the action of the crayons. He continued until he was out of breath, then leaned back and looked at his creative expression of tension leaving...
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California is Right to Focus on Adverse Childhood Experiences. Other States Should Follow [calmatters.org]
By Chuck Ingoglia (Guest), Cal Matters, February 2, 2020 It’s time to change the conversation in health care. Rather than asking, “What is wrong with this person?” medical professionals might ask, “What happened to this person?” California Surgeon General Nadine Burke Harris and an increasing number of practitioners are changing the conversation because they recognize that trauma early in life—child separation, racism, neglect, abuse or poverty, for instance—can manifest itself years later...
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'Children Live a Lifetime Before They Come to School' | Teachers Working to Ease Childhood Trauma [wbir.com]
By Gabrielle Hays, WBIR 10 News, February 10, 2020 Melissa Bucks spent 36 years of her life teaching kindergarteners and first graders in Knox County. She just retired in May but is still involved in the classroom and in the community. After almost four decades in education, she can recall how trauma in the classroom changed over time and how it impacts some of our youngest children who are trying to learn. “It was always different but there was always one child, two children or three...
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Coaches and Team Sports Can Help Children Heal from Trauma
Recent media attention has been given to connection between sports and its powerful effect on youth, particularly the power of sport to help youth heal from trauma. A recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics by Molly Easterline has caught national media attention including the recent article in the New York Times “ Team Sports May Help Children Deal With Trauma ” (by Perri Klass) and NPR’s “Playing Teen Sports May Protect from Some Damages of Childhood Trauma ” by Susie Neilson. These...
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Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and their associated Mental Health Disorders
This month we have been discussing complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD/ c-PTSD/ Complex PTSD) and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). So far, we have explored the definitions of both, and some of the long-term consequences to the lives of children who survive their devastating effects into adulthood. Today, we are going to examine the many mental health disorders which are directly related to both ACEs and CPTSD. Some of the research we will be discussing is cutting edge and...
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Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and their associated Mental Health Disorders
This month we have been discussing complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD/ c-PTSD/ Complex PTSD) and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). So far, we have explored the definitions of both, and some of the long-term consequences to the lives of children who survive their devastating effects into adulthood. Today, we are going to examine the many mental health disorders which are directly related to both ACEs and CPTSD. Some of the research we will be discussing is cutting edge and...
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COVID-19: The Trauma of Witnessing So Much Illness and Death Will Have Lasting Effects [medicinenet.com]
From MedicineNet, May 3, 2020 The tragic death by suicide this week of an emergency department physician who had been caring for COVID-19 patients in New York City underscores the huge psychological impact of the pandemic -- which will linger long after the virus is gone, experts say. "For frontline responders, the trauma of witnessing so much illness and death will have lasting effects for many," Bruce Schwartz, MD, president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), said during the...
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Developing compassion for our neighbors and ourselves: trauma-informed faith
Even when we feel like God doesn’t hear us, he can guide our path to people and ideas that will resonate with our spirits and bring healing... The process of becoming trauma-informed can help us to develop compassion. We can overcome personal barriers that prevent us from reaching out to others in loving ways. We will be able to feel and share more of God’s love.
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Director's Note about tonight's PBS broadcast of Broken Places (4//6)
The film trailer is available here. Learn more about Broken Places via this review written by @Laurie Udesky (ACEs Connection Staff) entitled, Documentary Broken Places uses archival footage to tell stories of ACEs and resilience over time . Tonight's Airing: Check your local listing time here. Film clips and more viewer information can be found on the PBS website .
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Fighting ACEs Amid the Pandemic
When a pandemic hits, and suddenly nothing is the same, it’s a sobering opportunity to take a deep breath and to take stock. At Center for Child Counseling, we specialize in childhood trauma and Fighting ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and we'll keep doing what we so best...
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Groundbreaking Grant Shown to Mitigate Impact of Childhood Trauma [amnews.com]
By Ben Chandler, Betty "B.J." Adkins, and David Finke, Advocate-Messenger, August 13, 2019 Semple Elementary first-grade teacher Christina Carter read a story to her class about a child who faced stressful events every day, making it hard to focus at school. After the story, she gave her students a prompt — if Ms. Carter only knew. Some of the responses were eye-opening. “If Ms. Carter only knew … I get my sister ready in the morning and that’s why we are always late.” “If Ms. Carter only...
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Groundbreaking Grant Shown to Mitigate Impact of Childhood Trauma [amnews.com]
By Ben Chandler, Betty "B.J." Adkins, and David Finke, Advocate-Messenger, August 13, 2019 Semple Elementary first-grade teacher Christina Carter read a story to her class about a child who faced stressful events every day, making it hard to focus at school. After the story, she gave her students a prompt — if Ms. Carter only knew. Some of the responses were eye-opening. “If Ms. Carter only knew … I get my sister ready in the morning and that’s why we are always late.” “If Ms. Carter only...
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Homeless Students Suffer Consequences of Housing, Food Insecurity | Homeless, Butte County [chicoer.com]
By Natalie Hanson, Chico Enterprise-Record, January 16, 2020 At least 70% of Oroville’s high school students are considered socioeconomically-disadvantaged. In Chico, Between 400 and 500 children are categorized as housing insecure at any time during the Chico Unified School district’s school year. Across the county, thousands of students often rely on each district for help just to get to school and to get a meal. In these statistics a tragic side is seen in the Butte County homelessness...
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How Childhood Trauma Can Result in Workplace Violence
Considering the role of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in a person’s life can prove useful in understanding and mitigating the risk of workplace violence.
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How Early-Life Challenges Affect how Children Focus, Face the Day [Washington.edu]
By Kim Eckart, UW News, June 4, 2019 Experiences such as poverty, residential instability, or parental divorce or substance abuse, also can lead to changes in a child’s brain chemistry, muting the effects of stress hormones. These hormones rise to help us face challenges, stress or to simply “get up and go.” Together, these impacts to executive function and stress hormones create a snowball effect, adding to social and emotional challenges that can continue through childhood. A new...
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How to Talk to Your Kids about Race & Justice (www.npr.org)
Excerpts from a recent episode of On Point on National Public Radio (NPR). Listen to the entire episode here. To listen to the entire episode of On Point radio on National Public Radio (NPR), here.
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Inside the Adverse Childhood Experience Score: Strengths, Limitations, and Misapplications [ajpmonline.org]
By Robert F. Anda, Laura E. Porter, David W. Brown, et al., American Journal of Preventive Medicine, March 25, 2020 INTRODUCTION Despite its usefulness in research and surveillance studies, the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) score is a relatively crude measure of cumulative childhood stress exposure that can vary widely from person to person. Unlike recognized public health screening measures, such as blood pressure or lipid levels that use measurement reference standards and cut points...
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Introduction to Trauma Informed Care
This YouTube video of a 2016 webinar is a great overview of trauma informed care, including an introduction to ACEs. Introduction to Trauma Informed Care for the Children, Caregivers and Ourselves Check out this book recommendation: The Cultural Nature of Human Development
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Introductory Trauma-Informed Care Videos for Medical Providers – in English and Spanish (chcs.org)
How do our experiences as children shape our health as adults? What does it mean to be trauma-informed, and what does trauma-informed care look like in a health care setting? Two videos, “What is Trauma-Informed Care?” and “Trauma-Informed Care: From Treaters to Healers,” developed by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS), seek to answer these questions and shed light on why health care providers across the nation are embracing a trauma-informed approach to care. The 3-4 minute videos...
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Join Feb. 18th webinar on addressing ACEs in public policy
Please join this ACEs Connection co-sponsored webinar "Making Meaningful Change: Addressing ACEs through Public Policy" on Feb. 18 (11:30 am-1:00 pm ET) presented by the Health Federation of Philadelphia and MARC (Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities). In this webinar, three nationally recognized experts will discuss policy and advocacy strategies on a local, state, and national level using evidence from studies they have conducted with legislators and the general public. Speakers...
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Medical students' ACE scores mirror general population, study finds
A national survey published in 2014 revealed a disturbing finding. Compared to college graduates pursuing other professions, medical students, residents and early career physicians experienced a higher degree of burnout. Citing that article, a group of researchers at University of California at Davis School of Medicine wondered whether medical students’ childhood adversity and resilience played a role in their burnout, said Dr. Andres Sciolla, an associate professor of psychiatry and...
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Michigan Lawmakers Declare Childhood Trauma a Critical Health Issue [wwmt.com]
By Rachel Glaser, WWMT West Michigan, February 13, 2020 Childhood trauma has life-long, wide reaching consequences, according to a study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on adverse childhood experiences, also known as ACEs. In early February, Michigan lawmakers passed a resolution declaring that ACEs a critical health issue. State officials estimated 70% of Michigan adults experienced one ACE before the age of 18. The CDC scores people on a scale of 0-10 for adverse...
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New Findings Reveal How Early Life Trauma May Contribute to Functional Neurological Disorder [technologynetworks.com]
By Terri Janos, Technology Networks, February 15, 2020 In individuals with functional neurological disorder (FND), the brain generally appears structurally normal on clinical MRI scans but functions incorrectly (akin to a computer software crashing), resulting in patients experiencing symptoms including limb weakness, tremor, gait abnormalities and non-epileptic seizures. In some cases, childhood maltreatment may have been a contributing factor, yet links between risk factors such as...
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Parent with ACEs: Is it Time to Change Your Parenting Playbook [sfbayview.com]
By Diana Hembree, San Francisco Bay View, February 1, 2020 If you experienced severe hardship as a child, are you more likely to have children with behavior or mental health problems? The short answer is yes. A recent UCLA study shows that the children of parents with four or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), such as abuse or neglect, are twice as likely to develop ADHD, which makes it more likely children will become hyperactive and unable to pay attention or control their...
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Parenting with ACEs Resources: Power Sharing & Sharing Powerfully
Sharing as a trauma survivor, parent (via adoption), writer, and advocate, I'm going to detail what I find crucial in any program or perspective geared towards those currently parenting with ACEs. Most important, is that any program be survivor and peer-led (or co-led). If that's the only change done, it's a good one. Who shares content, and how, is as important as the content being shared. So often, programs to parents are patronizing, punitive, and can come across as "edupuking" all over...
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Pediatric research: COVID-19 will lead to more childhood trauma. Health care must take it into account. [dispatch.com]
By Abbie Roth, The Columbus Dispatch, May 3, 2020 You might have seen the headlines warning that, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the current mental health crisis facing youth in the United States will only worsen. Like adults, children are experiencing new or intensified stressors as a result of the pandemic, including loss of routine, separation from friends and extended family, and increased anxiety and frustration. Some more extreme stressors — food insecurity, loss of a parent or...
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Permission to be actual humans during a pandemic, please
I have a single mom friend who is caring for a baby, a 16-year old, and working full-time. Her name is Heidi. This is the same friend, with an ACE score of 10, written about here a few years ago. This is what she posted on Facebook (and gave me permission to share) the day after Governor Charlie Baker announced the schools in MA will be closed, at least, until early May: The numerous and immediate comments and responses went something like this: I sighed in relief when I read Heidi's post. I...
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Pinetree Institute Podcast With Dr. Christina Bethell: Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) and ACEs.
The Pinetree Institute is a Maine non-profit located on the NH border in Eliot. They conduct research and present workshops on ACEs and resilience. A workshop with Dr. Christina Bethell was scheduled for today, but was cancelled because of COVID-19. Dr. Bethell's field of expertise is PCE (Positive Childhood Experiences) and their role in combatting ACEs and promoting resilience throughout the lifetime. Because of the circumstances, Pinetree Institute is offering a 40 minute podcast in which...
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Playing Teen Sports May Protect From Some Damages Of Childhood Trauma (npr.org)
Playing Teen Sports May Protect From Some Damages Of Childhood Trauma May 28, 2019 4:43 PM ET SUSIE NEILSON Participation in team sports as a teen may help protect against the long-term mental health effects of childhood trauma. Hero Images/Getty Images As a child, Molly Easterlin loved playing sports. She started soccer at age 4, and then in high school, she played tennis and ran track. Sports, Easterlin believes, underlie most of her greatest successes. They taught her discipline and...
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Powerful Federal Hearing on "Identifying, Preventing and Treating Childhood Trauma"
Riveting and emotional: The full, first-ever Congressional hearing on “Identifying, Preventing, and Treating Childhood Trauma” by the Oversight Committee chaired by Representative Elijah Cummings. Across the hearing, the story of developmental trauma is well-conveyed and powerful.
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Practicing Love in a Pandemic (lionsroar.com)
Practicing love requires that we stop thinking only about our own wellbeing and consider how our actions impact everyone. Paradoxically, it means the most important thing we ourselves can do is to stay well. Maintaining our own good health will put less stress on the healthcare system and free up resources to help those who are sick and need care. It will also prevent the spread of the illness to those who are at higher risk to die from complications of Covid-19. Practicing love in a...
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Real Strategies to End Bullying - what gets assessed gets addressed.
October is National Bullying Prevention Month and we'd like to shed some light on this global epidemic that is greatly affecting our youth: 1 in 3 students are targets of bullying 12,000,000 students will be bullied this year 100,000 kids skip school each day because they do not feel safe Learn how experts are tackling bullying through data tracking, relationship mapping, community organizing, and more. Educators will walk away with a real roadmap that they can use and implement right away...
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Rep. Sappey's trauma-informed education signed into law [dailylocal.com]
By Daily Local News, July 5, 2019. Legislation to implement trauma-informed education in Pennsylvania schools has been signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf, largely thanks to a bill authored by state Rep. Christina Sappey, D-158th Dist. Earlier this year H.B. 1415 and S.B. 200, which would implement approaches to student learning that recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma and integrates that knowledge into education-based policies, learning, procedures and practices, was introduced by...
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Resource List for Educators
A list of resources for educators on ACEs, trauma informed schools and learning If you find other resources, this list can be updated.
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Resource List for Health Care Providers (updated 6.20.19)
A list of resources for health care providers on trauma informed care and ACEs If you find other resources, this list can be updated.
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Resources 4 Resilience (www.r4r.support) & Commentary
We have the best community. And it feels like a community even more right now when things are scary, threatening, and uncertain. Yesterday, Jondi Whitis shared an amazing resource yesterday, by way of a comment, that's great for parents, survivors, providers, and families (all of us). I am making it a blog post in case others missed it or are overwhelmed, as I have been, by sifting through the information coming at us. The home page lets you easily find practices for calming. Here's one...