Tagged With "Parenting to Prevent & Heal from ACE"
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Emotional Well-Being and Coping During COVID-19 [psychiatry.ucsf.edu]
From Weill Institute for Neurosciences, UCSF, May 2020 These are unprecedented times. We need to work extra hard to manage our emotions well. Expect to have a lot of mixed feelings. Naturally we feel anxiety, and maybe waves of panic, particularly when seeing new headlines. A recent article by stress scientist and Vice Chair of Adult Psychology Elissa Epel, PhD, outlines the psychology behind the COVID-19 panic response and how we can try to make the best of this situation. Our anxiety is...
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Fathers’ Day in America [Message by The Rev. Patricia Templeton]
I recently finished a haunting novel, Before We Were Yours , in which Lisa Wingate tells a fictionalized account of the true story of one of this country’s great scandals, the Tennessee Children’s Home Society and its director, Georgia Tann. From the 1920s through 1950, Tann and her organization facilitated the adoption of thousands of children across the country. Tann was a prominent member of society, held up as the “Mother of Modern Adoption,” and consulted by Eleanor Roosevelt on issues...
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Flashback Halting Guide: 10 Tips to Halt Flashbacks for Yourself or a Loved One
Flashback Halting Guide: 10 Tips to Halt Flashbacks for Yourself or a Loved One. Includes a link to a printable Flashback Halting Guide
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Focusing on "Creating Nurturing Systems"
In just six weeks, stakeholders from across North Carolina will get together to learn about system integration work with youth involved with child welfare. This is the third annual Benchmarks' Partnering for Excellence (PFE) Conference and this year, we have decided to really focus on "Creating Nurturing Systems". While the daily work of PFE can be hard and challenges us to think of new ways to meet the needs of the family, the annual conference offers us a way to celebrate our successes and...
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Former Juvenile Inmates are Earning Double Minimum Wage to Grow Crops - and Business Skills (nationswell.com)
The Atlanta based program Gangstas to Growers is breaking the cycle of youth incarceration by putting former offenders to work on farms, and paying them a living wage to do it. To many residents of the historically black neighborhoods on Atlanta’s westside, Abiodun Henderson is both local savior and master storyteller. Better known as Miss Abbey, Atlantans drizzle her original hot sauce recipe — which she developed after watching YouTube videos — on their food, and they lean in close when...
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GABOR MATÉ JOINS EP. 3 on May 21 with Darrell Hammond and Filmmaker Michelle Esrick. [crackedupmovie.com]
CRACKED UP THE EVOLVING CONVERSATION TRAUMA AS THE ROOT CAUSE OF ADDICTION With DARRELL HAMMOND DIRECTOR MICHELLE ESRICK and RENOWNED TRAUMA AND ADDICTION EXPERT GABOR MATÉ, M.D. author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction MODERATED BY JANE STEVENS, FOUNDER OF ACES CONNECTION Hosted by ACES Connection Thursday May 21st at 2pm PDT / 3p MT / 4p CT / 5pm EDT FREE FOR ALL WHO REGISTER! IF YOU REGISTER, BUT CAN NOT ATTEND, YOU WILL RECEIVE A RECORDING WITHIN ONE WEEK.
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Georgia ACEs Data Released
We have data! In 2016, the Georgia Department of Public Health, with funding provided by the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services' Prevention and Community Support Section, added the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) module to their annual Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System (BRFSS). The preliminary summary of the results of that data collection have been released in the Georgia Data Summary report. An additional full-length report is still in development, but the...
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Georgia Health Students Plan Trauma Informed Care Training Day
Home to the Center for Disease Control, Atlanta is a city full of great minds focused on all issues related to public health. Despite this, a group of students and faculty at neighboring health professional schools including Emory School of Medicine, Emory’s Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, Georgia State University, Morehouse School of Medicine, Mercer University School of Medicine, and the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, and found that education and awareness...
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Georgia's 2020 State of Hope Application Now Open (and deadline extended)!
Greetings Hope Givers, We are excited to announce that the third application round deadline for the State of Hope has been extended to May 1. The State of Hope (SoH) is a movement throughout Georgia to create communities where children are safe, thriving, and full of hope. Our mission is to cultivate family-centered support systems by connecting, equipping, and nurturing diverse community collaborators. State of Hope seeks to activate communities including nonprofits, philanthropies,...
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Got time for a little brainstorming with ACEsConnection?
On Friday, March 20, 2020, you're invited to join me to talk about how we, as a community, can continue to guide and educate ourselves about to deal with the effects of the spread of Covid-19, and how to continue those efforts with people who don't yet know about ACEs science. And, given this last week, how we can provide more support to stay in the front of our brains instead of feeding our amygdala.
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Hispanic Georgia High School Students Call HoPe Program a ‘Game Changer’ For Them (Youth Today)
By Michelle Azriel, May 6, 2020, Youth Today ATLANTA — What started out as an idea scrawled on a fast food napkin 10 years ago has evolved into an after-school program for Georgia Hispanic students boasting a 100% high school graduation rate. The Hispanic Organization Promoting Education (HoPe) is the brainchild of David Araya and Angela Hurtado. They were both Georgia undocumented high school students who fought against stereotypes and were resolved to rise above it and succeed. In 2009,...
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Housing, education leaders cut ribbon on innovative affordable housing model [Atlanta DayBook]
A diverse group of community leaders unveil another education + affordable housing 'win'. Pictured, from left, Brandon Riddick-Seals, Interim CEO, Atlanta Housing; Tammie Workman, Assistant Superintendent, Student Services, Atlanta Public Schools; Eloisa Klementich, President and CEO, Invest Atlanta; Marjy Stagmeier, Partner, TriStar Real Estate Investment; Anyeé D. Payne, Principal, Cleveland Avenue Elementary School; Audrea Rease, Executive Director, Star-C; and Duncan Gibbs, also of...
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How do these pediatricians do ACEs screening? Early adopters tell all.
Last week, three pediatricians — with a combined experience of 15 years integrating ACEs science into their practices — reflected on the urgency they felt several years ago that prompted them to begin screening patients for childhood adversity and resilience when there was practically no guidance at all. Along their journey , they accumulated a list of lessons learned for other pediatricians and family clinics to use. The three pediatricians participated in the ACEs Connection webinar,...
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How Homelessness, Mental Illness, Substance Use and the Criminal Justice System Collided in Little Five Points [jjie.org]
By Ray Glier, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, September 4, 2019 Torch has been on the street 11 years, he says. With no fixed address, he is a permanent resident of Little Five Points, a robust business district of mom and pop entrepreneurs in east Atlanta. Born Kyle Latrell, he was a homeless 17-year-old from Illinois. Now he is a homeless 28-year-old. He takes amphetamines, eight a day, he says. He has been arrested for marijuana possession and it is not certain what other drugs he...
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How The Eastern Cherokee Took Control Of Their Health Care [KHN.org]
By Katja Ridderbusch, Kaiser Health News, July 22, 2019. CHEROKEE, N.C. — Light pours through large windows and glass ceilings of the Cherokee Indian Hospital onto a fireplace, a waterfall and murals. Rattlesnake Mountain, which the Cherokee elders say holds ancient healing powers, is visible from most angles. The hospital’s motto — “Ni hi tsa tse li” or “It belongs to you” — is written in Cherokee syllabary on the wall at the main entrance. “It doesn’t look like a hospital, and it doesn’t...
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Hurricane Dorian’s on the way. Florence taught us how to be resilient!
As we prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Dorian's effects later this week, certainly there are feelings of anxiety and confusion. Already? We haven't even finished recovering from Hurricane Florence! Let's choose to remember all the things we have learned from one another about being resilient in the face of stress over the course of the past year. We have learned about the body's response to stress and trauma, and that adding "stressors" and triggers to these can cause us to feel even...
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Hurricane Florence first responders receive free trauma/resilience training
In a webinar offered this morning by Elaine Miller Karas , executive director of the Trauma Resource Institute in Claremont, CA, leaders from several North Carolina ACEs Connection communities affected by flooding and other damage by Hurricane Florence learned more about trauma response and how to better help their communities find resilience. Karas, who was delivering her Community Resiliency Model (CRM) training at Duke University in Durham, NC, offered the free training and provided...
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IN ATLANTA, AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOOSTS SCHOOL PERFORMANCE, TENANT HEALTH (From Nationswell 2.15.18) by Josh Green
REAL ESTATE ENTREPRENEUR MARJY STAGMEIER IS THE ANTI-SLUMLORD, A CONSCIENTIOUS CAPITALIST, AN INVESTOR WHO GENUINELY CARES. Among the rolling hills and dense pine canopies east of Atlanta’s I-285 bypass, down the street from a halal meat market, two Buddhist temples and Good Times Country Cookin’, sits the Willow Branch Apartment Homes. The complex is tucked behind a flapping “Welcome” flag, which is emblematic of Clarkston, a small but famously global suburb that has been coined “Ellis...
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In Rural Tennessee, a Big ICE Raid Makes Some Conservative Voters Rethink Trump’s Immigration Agenda [newyorker.com]
April 5th began in the usual way at the Southeastern Provision meat-processing plant, in Bean Station, Tennessee—some workers were breaking down carcasses on the production line, while others cleaned the floors—until, around 9 a.m., a helicopter began circling above the plant. Moments later, a fleet of cars pulled up outside. Agents from the I.R.S., Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ice), and the Tennessee Highway Patrol emerged, and proceeded to arrest ninety-seven people, most of them...
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In the Arena with NOW Podcast Episode, "Letting Communities Lead" (30 min)
The Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) is excited to share the second episode of In the Arena with NOW , a podcast series that lifts up the voices of community leaders who are “in the arena” -- in classrooms, playgrounds, Congressional halls, hospitals, and neighborhood streets -- working to make sure that all children and families can live healthy, thriving lives. In our second episode, we speak with members of the Young Child Wellness Council (YCWC) in Tuscaloosa, Alabama ,...
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It took 3 years, 6 versions to develop ACEs screener that works for parents & providers
It’s irrefutable: Widespread research shows that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are common. That’s why researchers in a recent study insist: “It behooves pediatric providers to take an active role in preventing and identifying childhood adversity in order to reduce the health consequences of toxic stress.” In other words, if you want your kids to have a good shot at a healthy life, make sure they — and you — are educated about and screened for ACEs and resilience. In a recent study —...
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Job Opportunity! Social Emotional Health Content Managers to support the national Resilience in School Environments (RISE) Initiative in partnership with Kaiser Permanente
Location: National (with preferences in Mid-Atlantic, Georgia, CA, WA, CO) We will be hiring up to 5 content managers from this position. All application questions are required and any application without adequate responses will not be considered. JOB SUMMARY The Content Manager is responsible for designing and delivering technical assistance and professional development and developing and sharing resources to schools that participate in the national Resilience in School Environments (RISE)...
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KPJR Films Virtual Showcase Registration Including Live Twitter Townhall [kpjrfilms.co]
TRAUMA-INFORMED IN THE AGE OF CORONAVIRUS A virtual discussion featuring Alice Forrester, PhD, CEO of Clifford Beers from RESILIENCE, Jim Sporleder, Trauma Informed Consultant and former Principal of Lincoln High School shown in PAPER TIGERS, and James Redford, Director of both RESILIENCE & PAPER TIGERS. During this time of social isolation, KPJR Films is reaching out to share our documentary films and trauma-informed tools with communities nationwide. KPJR Films will launch KPJR...
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LETTER: Dealing with Adverse Childhood Experiences [mainstreetnews.com]
By Chuck Taylor, April 23,2020 Dear Editor: In the late nineties, the Kaiser institute completed a study called the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) study. The findings of the study demonstrated an association between physical, mental, and emotional health problems over a lifespan with childhood trauma such as abuse, witnessing domestic violence and neglect. The study showed that the more ACEs a person endured, the higher their probability of heart disease, cancer, lung disease and...
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Many Guns, Few Mental Health Services Drive High Rural Death Rate, Experts Say [youthtoday.org]
Paul Reviere is sheriff of Lincoln County, a rural area with just under 8,000 people two hours east of Atlanta. In addition to maintaining safety, he gives what he calls “50-cent tours” to out-of-towners, showing off downtown Lincolnton. And there are lots of out-of-towners — people come to enjoy the nearby state park, the Savannah River and the 160 historic buildings. But Lincoln County is distinctive for something beyond these charms. It has the highest rate of firearm fatalities in...
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ACEs Science Champions Series: Meet Florida's Johnny Appleseed. She plants seeds of ACEs science!
Dr. Mimi Graham is Florida’s Johnny Appleseed, but instead of planting apple trees, she’s been seeding hundreds of ACEs-science-informed schools, courts, juvenile detention centers, hospitals, childcare centers, home visiting programs, mental health agencies, law enforcement agencies, and drug treatment centers. Graham, who has served as director of the Florida State University Center for Prevention and Early Intervention Policy in Tallahassee since 1993, focuses on early childhood,...
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"Moving From Trauma Understanding to Trauma Responsive" - SAMHSA Forum
Johnson City to co-host forum on community-wide systems of care On Sept. 5, the City of Johnson City will co-host a forum entitled Moving from Understanding to Implementing Trauma-Responsive Services in conjunction with the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA). The forum will address SAMHSA recommendations for communities to treat trauma as a component of effective behavioral health service delivery. Statistics recently released from the Tennessee Department of...
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National Trauma campaign webinar 3/10
Join on March 10, 2020 at 10am EST to learn more about the New National Grassroots Campaign which calls for federal action to prevent and address childhood trauma and build resilience through educating and engaging Congress. Join Zoom Meeting. https://zoom.us/j/293206175 Meeting ID: 293 206 175 One tap mobile +19292056099,,293206175# US (New York) +16699006833,,293206175# US (San Jose) Dial by your location +1 929 205 6099 US (New York) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) Meeting ID: 293 206 175...
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New CDC Resource: Preventing ACEs
CDC Toolkit: Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs): Leveraging the Best Available Evidence Access other technical packages for violence prevention at: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/communicationresources/pub/technical-packages.html?deliveryName=USCDC_2023-DM9684
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Can After-school Program at Apartment Complex Turn Around a Failing School? [YouthToday]
PHOTOS BY ALI SARDAR EDITOR’S NOTE: This week we will be publishing a series of articles about after-school programs in the Atlanta area set up in apartment complexes — not by educators — but by real estate entrepreneur Marjy Stagmeier. Read on for how well it has worked and programs in other parts of the U.S. Back in 2006, the bus carrying children home from Brumby Elementary School in Marietta, Ga., near Atlanta, refused to stop at Madison Hills apartments. The rundown complex, a site of...
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Next "A Better Normal" community discussion series: April 14, 2020, trauma-informed housing
Andy Marlette This week, we're hosting 'A Better Normal' discussions: on Tuesday, April 14; and Thursday, April 16, 2020....12 pm PT/ 1 pm MT/ 2 pm CT/ 3 pm ET. Tuesday, April 14, 2020 Margaret Stagmeier, Atlanta real estate developer and social entrepreneur, has developed an affordable housing model that decreases income inequality and improves failing schools. Her nonprofits — EduHousing and Star-C — purchase blighted apartment complexes located next to failing elementary schools, a nd...
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Nine Simple Trauma-Informed Gestures for Educators
The promotion of trauma-sensitive and trauma-informed schools has grown tremendously in education. Broadly speaking, trauma-informed schools maintain a framework whereby the entire school staff maintains awareness of the impacts of toxic stress and trauma, and strive to ensure that all students feel safe, supported, and connected. Such awareness and motivation among educators and caregivers to promote such a framework presents multiple opportunities to change the lives of students and help...
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Nurturing Communities Civic Dinners in Georgia Need You!
You’re invited to join communities across Georgia in a conversation exploring how safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments are essential to the healthy development of all children. April through June of 2018, over one hundred Civic Dinners will take place across Georgia with the aim of building a stronger social infrastructure among parents, families, and communities. The stories, ideas and feedback collected from these dinners will inform a statewide campaign led by the...
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Nurturing relationships in childhood boost adult mental health, relationships
We're proud to announce major research that suggests that positive childhood experiences — such as supportive family interactions, caring relationships with friends, and connections in the community — are associated with reductions in chances of adult depression and poor mental health, and increases in the chances of having healthy relationships in adulthood. This association was true even among those with a history of adverse childhood experiences.
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One state. One year. (Partial) Cost of ACEs = $5.2 billion.
In looking at the impact of childhood trauma, you can’t get much clearer than this: In 2017, ACEs among Tennessee adults led to an estimated $5.2 billion in direct medical costs and lost productivity from employees missing work. That’s just one year, according to the new report, “ The Economic Cost of ACEs in Tennessee ," released on Feb. 1, 2019 by The Sycamore Institute in Nashville, Tenn. And to provide some perspective, $5.2 billion is one-seventh of the state’s annual budget . This $5.2...
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Opinion: Assessing trauma’s role in chronic stress, suicide [The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
Suicide Graphic: National Council for Behavioral Health The alarming increase in suicide rates in the United States over the past two decades is unprecedented and beyond disturbing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just released research reporting “suicide increased by 25 percent across the United States from 1999 to 2016 and a shocking 45,000 Americans age 10 or older died by suicide in 2016.” The American Psychological Association calls suicide prevention a public health...
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Overview of the Community Resiliency Model, used worldwide to help trauma survivors re-regulate their central nervous system, offered in two, free 90-minute webinars.
Elaine Miller Karas , key creator of the Community Resiliency Model (CRM), will be joined by CRM trainers from Wilmington, NC, Allison Wine , behavioral specialist, and Kelly Purcell , instructional coach and multi-tiered support specialist for this free, two-part training. Register now for two, FREE 90-minute sessions May 7 from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. EST and May 14 from 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. EST (The complete overview requires attendance at both sessions. Registration link below registers you...
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Parenting During Coronavirus
The Prevention and Community Support Section of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, in partnership with Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, has added a webpage to our website with resources and links for families navigating these stressful times as parents. With the use of the Strengthening Families Protective Factors as a framework, we have made recommendations of things parents and caregivers can do to help reduce anxiety or stress. Read more here: ...
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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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Personal stories the set tone of hearing in U.S. Senate HELP Committee on Opioid Crisis Response Act
Jennifer Donahue, Delaware Office of the Child Advocate, testifies before the HELP Committee (Jennifer Perry to her right) ____________________________________________________________ Some seasoned advocates say legislators are influenced by stories while their staffs are swayed by data. There was some of both at the April 11 hearing on the draft Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 of the U.S. Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor & Pensions) Committee but it was the personal stories that...
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Prevent Child Abuse Georgia Resource for Families
New Tool to Support Families Children need stable and nurturing relationships and environments for healthy development. It takes parents, caregivers and RESOURCES to make that happen. Prevent Child Abuse Georgia has launched of the 1-800-CHILDREN Helpline companion tool. Find supportive programs near you on the interactive map! This tool contains over 3,000 organizations and programs around the state that support families. Use the Resource Map The Map Includes Resources For: Courts/ Criminal...
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Promoting a Community Approach for Mental Well-Being in Our Littlest Citizens [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
By Andrea L. Lowe, The Chronicle of Social Change, June 10, 2019. Several years ago , my sister and I watched my 2-year-old nephew’s behavior change dramatically. He started wetting the bed, throwing temper tantrums and getting frustrated so quickly. In any other child, it might have been normal “terrible twos,” but in him we knew something was definitely wrong. At the time, my sister and her husband were getting divorced. Ultimately, we found out that my nephew thought it was his fault,...
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Race/Related: A Death in Suburban Georgia [nytimes.com]
A cross placed by the mother of Ahmaud Arbery at the site where he was killed in Glynn County, Ga., in February. Credit... Richard Fausset/The New York Times [Photo is from earlier story about Mr. Arbery; see link below for original story.] By Jamie Stockwell, The New York Times, May 2, 2020 - With much of the nation on lockdown because of the coronavirus, the friends and family of Ahmaud Arbery worried that his death would go unnoticed. Mr. Arbery, 25, was running in a suburban neighborhood...
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Sheltering in Place: ACEs-Informed Tips for Self-Care During a Pandemic
Millions of lives have been affected in unprecedented ways by the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We are all grappling with uncertainty—our daily routines interrupted, not knowing what is to come. For those of us who have Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), these times can be particularly distressing. At the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW), we know that childhood trauma can have a significant impact on an individual’s health and well-being – both physiologically and psychologically. Since the...
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Some 350 Florida Leaders Expected to Attend Think Tank with Dr. Vincent Felitti, Co-Principal Investigator of the ACE Study; Expert on ACEs Science
Leaders from across the Sunshine State will take part in a “Think Tank” in Naples, FL, on Monday, August 6, to help create a more trauma-informed Florida. The estimated 350 attendees will include policy makers and community teams made up of school superintendents, law enforcement officers, judges, hospital administrators, mayors, PTA presidents, child welfare experts, mental health and substance abuse treatment providers, philanthropists, university researchers, state agency heads, and...
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Systems Are Not People-Shaped
A few weeks ago I was at a big kickoff event for a new county-wide project to address what our communities feel are the biggest concerns we face. It definitely had its moments and I was all eyes and ears ready to absorb new info and be inspired by the power of coming together for a purpose. One of the last things that I heard that morning was to show the promise of next steps – the speaker said that basically in order to do anything meaningful – you, of course, need a building which – good...
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Tennessee report chronicles progress in addressing health and success of children from infancy to college and beyond
Tennessee First Lady Crissy Haslam this week released a report highlighting eight years of progress by the state to improve the lives of children and families. Prioritizing Tennessee’s Children: Our Promise to Future Generations reflects an early commitment by Governor Bill Haslam’s administration to make the health and success of all Tennessee children a state priority. In conjunction with Governor Haslam’s Children’s Cabinet and Deputy Governor Jim Henry, First Lady Haslam set out to...
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THE BUILD HEALTH CHALLENGE 2019 CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
To read the announcement and all details, click HERE and see below key dates. BUILD is looking to support dynamic collaboratives driving sustainable improvements in community health. Are you ready to BUILD with us? For this new third cohort, BUILD is looking to support up to 17 innovative collaboratives across the US t hat include a community-based organization, hospital or health system, and public health department working together in dynamic ways to address upstream challenges and drive...
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The Coronavirus’s Unique Threat to the South [theatlantic.com]
More young people in the South seem to be dying from COVID-19. Why? By Vann R. Newkirk II The Atlantic, April 2, 2020 In a matter of weeks, the coronavirus has gone from a novel, distant threat to an enemy besieging cities and towns across the world. The burden of COVID-19 and the economic upheaval wrought by the measures to contain it feel epochal. Humanity now has a common foe, and we will grow increasingly familiar with its face. Yet plenty of this virus’s aspects remain unknown. The...