Tagged With "EnACT! (Engagement in Action Framework)"
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Advancing a Plan for Addressing Trauma and Building Resilience within L.A. County Systems (prnewswire.com)
Center for Collective Wisdom Releases Extensive Report Outlining Research and Recommendations First 5 LA, the California Community Foundation, The California Endowment, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation along with other local, state and nationally-recognized expert organizations today released a report to advance a comprehensive trauma and resiliency-informed approach in Los Angeles County . "Trauma is a serious health concern affecting many children and...
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Apply now to Showcase your work at the San Francisco National ACEs Conference in October 2018!
Applications due June 18. Application link included in this post
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Broadening Your Network and Identifying Partners for More Resilient, Healthier Communities
Who should you partner with to create lasting change through resilience in your community? The Building Community Resilience (BCR) initiative aims to address, prevent, and reduce the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adverse community environments (ACEs) on children’s health and wellbeing ( The “Pair of ACEs” ). An essential element of the successes of BCR’s five test sites around the country has been strategic collaborations. In your work to build resilience, identifying...
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Building an ACEs, Trauma-Informed, and Resilience-Building Community: Draft MOU from Walla Walla WA
Working document, 3/20/15 Walla Walla, Washington MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING Between the Children’s Resilience Initiative and Community Partners PREAMBLE VISION: All young people thrive and parents raise their children with...
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California 2018 State Profile on ACEs Initiatives and Action
Hi, Everyone: Here’s the state profile for California. To review the entire profile, open the PDF that is attached to this post. If you have corrections or additions, please leave them in the comments section of this post. We’ll be reviewing the comments regularly and doing fact-checks. The information you give us will also help us determine how to organize and expand the information in the state profiles. We will be turning this post into a living profile that, with your help and input,...
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Closing the Empathy Gap in Education
In the Hechinger Report, Amanda Wahlstedt wrote about the empathy gap she experienced as a poor student with a disconnected privileged teacher. She wrote: As a young girl in rural southeastern Kentucky, I remember distinctly hearing my teacher talk about “first of the month-ers,” or people who were out and in the grocery stores at the first of the month, typically with shopping “buggies” overloaded with preserved food. When I looked around the classroom I noticed many of my friends either...
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Community Roundtable Launch - A rousing success!
The Los Angeles Trauma Informed Task Force launched their first Community Roundtable on Tuesday, July 14th, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. A rousing success, their location was at City Council Member Mike Bonin's Westchester Field Office located at...
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County Supes Create Financial Safety Net for Millions of Low Income and Struggling Angelenos (citywatchla.org)
GUEST WORDS-- Since joining the LA County Board of Supervisors 18 months ago, I, along with my colleagues on the Board, have taken a series of steps to build prosperity and economic security for residents by raising the minimum wage and establishing programs to promote social enterprises, help small businesses thrive and prevent people from falling into homelessness when they encounter short-term financial crises, like the loss of a job or a catastrophic medical condition. Last week, the...
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Curious about the property LA owns? Here’s how you can see it (dailynews.org)
City Controller Ron Galperin on Thursday released PropertyPanel.LA , the most sweeping map ever made of city properties. He also called upon city officials to hire an asset manager to oversee 9,000 holdings. “Now everyone can know what we all own a piece of,” said Galperin, in a statement. “The extent of the holdings revealed by this map shows that we as a City have the opportunity to engage in widespread economic and community development, as well as to generate revenue for much-needed city...
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Echo Conference Spotlight: Restorative Justice
This year’s conference has something for everyone! Opening the conference, Echo’s Co-Executive Directors will be joined by some very special guests, including Anne Hudson-Price, an attorney from Public Counsel. Anne will be speaking about the legal action taken by Public Counsel to bring trauma-informed services to Compton School District. “You have to address trauma in order to do anything about the achievement gap,” she says in this article . In addition to featuring the Public Counsel,...
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First 5 LA's Strategic Plan: Trauma-Informed Care Is 1 of 4 Target Outcomes
First 5 LA’s Strategic Plan Highlights Target Outcomes: Families: Increased family Protective Factors Communities: Increased community capacity to support and promote the safety, healthy development, and well-being of children prenatal to age...
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Free RESILIENCE Virtual Screening - register by 3/28 at 2pm PST
Join us on Tuesday, April 3rd for a VIMEO Virtual Screening of the award-winning film, RESILIENCE: The Biology of Stress & The Science of Hope - a critically acclaimed documentary chronicling a new movement among pediatricians, therapists, educators and communities, who are using cutting-edge brain science to disrupt cycles of violence, addiction and disease. RESILIENCE: The Biology of Stress & the Science of Hope is the latest film from documentary Director-Producer James Redford...
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Healing and Justice Toolkit (Dignity and Power Now)
We have learned so much from our anchor organization Dignity And Power Now , a “Los Angeles based grassroots organization founded in 2012 that fights for the dignity and power of all incarcerated people, their families, and communities” and are so thrilled to have been able to collaborate on a Healing Justice Toolkit with DPN. The guide was written by DPN, edited by Thandisizwe Chimurenga, translated into Spanish by delia ayala, and designed by Design Action Collective . Here is an excerpt...
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How One Connection at CYW’s ACEs Conference Sparked Awareness into Action
Origins offers a number of training and consulting services. We developed The Basics as a half-day session to provide the foundation to support trauma-informed and resilience practices across sectors and industries. The session includes an overview of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study, the neurobiology of toxic stress, the impact of social and historical trauma, and the science of resilience. We have tested The Basics with two cross-sector audiences, in Los Angeles and Phoenix.
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How Social Workers Improve Relationships Between Police and Communities
by MSW@USC Staff In 1955 , the Los Angeles Police Department adopted the motto “To Protect and Serve,” and over the last seven decades, many other American law enforcement departments followed suit. But in the Black Lives Matter era, those words may not resonate with some members of the communities police are tasked with protecting and serving. Community members may feel law enforcement officials exercise more authority than necessary. How can both sides work to create a more positive...
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Interested in becoming a Nonviolent Parent Educator?
Echo Parenting & Education is now accepting applications for the 2015-2016 Trauma-Informed Nonviolent Child Raising Training & Certification Course(TCC) Application Deadline: July 31, 2015 This courseis designed to provide in-depth training in the nonviolent approach to child raising as well as an introduction to the emerging and rapidly evolving field of developmental trauma. The two-part course comprises a 100-hour theoretical overview, followed...
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ITRC 2018 California Conference: Preparing People for Climate Change in California
To See the Conference Agenda, List of All-Star Speakers, and To Register Click Here Why Should Californians Attend This Unique Conference ? From high levels of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), to job and financial struggles, racism and other forms of inequity and injustice, traumatic stress is epidemic today. Climate change will aggravate all of these existing adversities, and add many new ones as well. Yet, California is leading the U.S. in finding innovative new ways to address...
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L.A. Bets That Equity Is the Path to Resilience [citylab.com]
Wildfires, floods, mudslides, earthquakes, tsunamis—the list of natural disasters that haunt Los Angeles reads like the 10 Plagues of Egypt. What’s more, the city’s size and diversity mean that different neighborhoods are vulnerable to different events, and because of the city’s level of inequality, some residents are much better equipped to handle disaster than others. In response to these challenges, last week the City of Los Angeles, in coordination with the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100...
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L.A. County Plans Juvenile Diversion Push (chronicalofsocialchange.org)
On Tuesday, the supervisors will vote on a proposal that would launch an action plan for creating a comprehensive plan for youth diversion across the county. “Keeping young people out of the traditional justice system whenever possible through diversion programs is a promising strategy for improving the social, academic, economic and health outcomes of young people and ultimately reducing recidivism and improving public safety,” according to a motion from Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and...
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LA County adopts Age-Friendly Action Plan to help seniors keep homes, deal with health issues and more (dailynews.com)
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a set of recommendations aimed at helping older adults keep their homes, deal with health problems and find ways to engage with other community members, as part of a broad initiative to improve their lives. The county’s Age-Friendly Action Plan offers ideas ranging from assistance with rent and repairs to mobile technology labs to train seniors. It suggests turning parks and libraries into age-and dementia-friendly centers where...
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Working at the intersection of violence and land use (preventioninstitute.org)
This past September, the Healthy, Equitable, Active Land Use (HEALU) Network convened a summit in Los Angeles to explore the nexus of land use and community safety, drawing nearly 100 community members, policymakers, and representatives of community-based organizations. Our new report shares key learnings from this summit and invites people working in land use, transportation, food policy, education, housing, and other areas to consider the ways their own work can support safe communities.
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2nd Community Roundtable on November 10th @ 6:00 pm
Please join us! Attached, please find our Community Trauma / Community Healing Roundtable flyer. Hosted by Hillsides located at 149 Pasadena Avenue, South Pasadena 91030 on Tuesday, November 10th from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm, we look forward to...
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San Francisco Trauma Informed Systems Initiative 2014 Year In Review
The Department made the commitment to train all of its 9,000 staff to become trauma-informed. From the report: The Trauma Informed Systems Initiative Workgroup is led by Dr. Ken Epstein and currently staffed by a full time Coordinator, a team of 4...
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School meals: a reflection of growing poverty in LA (calmatters.org)
The numbers of Los Angeles children who need the meals have been rising sharply in recent years. In 2015-2016, 72.4% or 405,338 LAUSD students qualified for the free or reduced price meals, according to a 2017 Food Research Action Center report. “We have the highest participation of students who are served breakfast in the classroom,” said Monica Garcia, a member of the LAUSD School Board. “Also, most of our schools (75%) are in the Community Eligibility Program, where all students get all...
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So you know about ACEs...Turn your AHA! into Action!
Spring is the time for rebirth and new beginnings! As we look around, we can observe nature around us awakening after a long winter sleep. A true sign of resilience. At Origins , we have been lucky enough to create a space for growth and learning for both groups and individuals who work towards creating environments of healing and resilience over the winter months. After completing the first round of The Resilience Champion Certificate of 2018, we have 23 graduates putting their action plans...
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SPOTLIGHT ON: 2020MOM
Based on what we know about ACEs science, healthy mothers others are our future! I had the pleasure of chatting with Joy Burkhard from 2020Mom this week to learn about the work that she and the amazing team-members are doing all throughout our beautiful state to improve maternal mental health. Founded in 2011 as the California Maternal Mental Health Collaborative, 2020Mom has evolved as a national organization with a mission: closing gaps in maternal mental care through education, advocacy...
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Study: Community Trauma from Gun Violence Results in Negative Health and Behavioral Outcomes (Violence Policy Center)
Research on trauma is frequently featured in mainstream news outlets, pointing to its connection to a range of behavioral and health outcomes. While trauma can have multiple interpretations, for the purposes of this report, it is the result of experiencing or witnessing chronic and sustained violence, or specific events that can have lasting effects on individuals. Researchers have identified 13 distinct types of trauma, including community violence. Community violence is an umbrella term...
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Supervisor Janice Hahn calls for communities to do more to solve homeless crisis (dailybreeze.com)
In her first State of the County speech since winning election 11 months ago, Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn called on cities to reject "NIMBYism" when it comes to one of the region's biggest problems, rising homelessness. The speech was delivered before a packed crowd of about 600 people at the World Cruise Center in San Pedro, Hahn's hometown. She also addressed the county budget and announced that a $1.5 million mobile stroke unit would begin a pilot program next week. She also...
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Tell Us a Story: The Power of Narrative to Build a Social Movement
Rosa Ana Lozada grew up on a two-block-long street in a San Francisco neighborhood pocked with trauma: domestic violence, child abuse, the frequent wail of police sirens. “It was unsafe to walk the two blocks to the bus stop,” she recalled. “In my community, we learned that police officers were not our friends because they were only seen when bad things happened.” For Lozada, now CEO of Harmonium, Inc., and a member of the San Diego Trauma Informed Guide Team, home and family were the...
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The Promise of Post-Traumatic Growth
“Things get broken, and sometimes they get repaired, and in most cases, you realize no matter what gets damaged, life rearranges itself to compensate for your loss, sometimes wonderfully.” – Hanya Yanagihar Post-traumatic growth is the recognition that however horrific our experiences, we as human beings have incredible ability to adapt, survive and integrate, to grow stronger… and then turn around and use that experience to help others. This has caused Echo to change the way we teach about...
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Trauma and Resiliency Informed Systems Change in Los Angeles County
First 5 LA and its partners are calling for a commitment within organizations and systems to help individuals, families and communities heal from trauma, strengthen their resiliency, and become trauma and resiliency informed. This work began in 2016 with a kick-off event to hear about promising practices underway in other counties and progressed to a workgroup of foundations, community-based organizations and Los Angeles County Departments that convened for nearly a year to provide...
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Trauma-Informed Awareness Day in California (ACR 235) May 22nd, 2018
California is one step closer to becoming a trauma-informed state. ACR 235 authored by Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula of Fresno designates May 22nd, 2018 as Trauma-Informed Awareness Day to highlight the impact of trauma and the importance of prevention and community resilience through trauma-informed care. Please find attached ACR 235. Congratulations to the County of Los Angeles Trauma and Resiliency-Informed Systems Change Initiative! (context below) WHEREAS, Trauma-informed care has...
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Trauma Informed Care Training - Young & Healthy
Trauma Informed Care is an organizational structure and treatment framework that involves understanding, recognizing, and responding to the effects of all types of trauma. Trauma Informed Care also emphasizes physical, psychological and emotional safety for both consumers and providers, and helps survivors rebuild a sense of control and empowerment. Join us for part one of a three part training series on Trauma Informed Care. At this first training "Creating a Trauma Informed Workplace" we...
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Trauma Informed Schools: Part 2, Creating Trauma Informed Classrooms
In October a video showing a senior deputy yank a student from her seat and flip her desk at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina went viral on the Internet. This incident gained wide national attention and demonstrates the need for...
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Trauma Screenings Advisory Group (AB 340) Hosts First Meeting
On Friday, April 20, 2018, the AB 340 Workgroup, otherwise known as the Trauma Screenings Advisory Group, met for the first time to discuss the legislative charge to update, amend, or develop, if appropriate, tools and protocols for screening children for trauma as defined, within the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit in Medi-Cal. Both Children Now and Center for Youth Wellness were appointed members of the Trauma Screenings Advisory Workgroup, and we...
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Two Years After End Of Indefinite Solitary In CA, CDCR Violating Terms Of Settlement, And Inmates Experiencing Lasting Psychological Effects, Says Center For Constitutional Rights (witnessla.com)
In 2015, California settled Ashker v. Governor , a historic class-action lawsuit brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of a group of Pelican Bay State prison inmates who had each spent at least a decade in isolation. The settlement resulted in an end to the use of indefinite solitary confinement in CA prisons. On Monday, CCR filed a motion accusing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of violating the rights of inmates freed from indefinite...
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Welcome to the TIC Education Workgroup
Welcome to the TIC Education Workgroup! For those that were unable to attend our recent community round table, the Greater LA Task Force is mobilizing through the formation of specific workgroups. These groups will inform the Task...
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Landmark lawsuit filed in California to make trauma-informed practices mandatory for all public schools
A landmark first step was taken today to insure that all public schools in the United States be legally required to address the unique learning needs of children affected by adverse childhood experiences. A class action suit on behalf of...
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Los Angeles County Data Dashboard: Child Adversity and Well-Being
A product of the Essentials for Childhood Initiative (EfC), the Child Adversity and Well-Being Dashboards contain indicators of child adversity, health and well-being utilizing data available on kidsdata.org . For more information about the dashboards, please refer to the California Data Dashboards page. The Los Angeles County Data Dashboard contains select indicators of child adversity and well-being. The dashboard is a product of the Shared Data and Outcomes Workgroup of the California...
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Mental Health of America of Los Angeles Selected to Strengthen Cancer Control through Community of Practice (National Council of Behavioral Health)
Individuals with a mental illness are at greater risk of receiving a late-stage cancer diagnosis due to the lack of screening options. By adopting cancer prevention and control practices, we can better support efforts to improve the overall health of people with mental illnesses and substance use disorders, said Linda Rosenberg, president and CEO of the National Council for Behavioral Health. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and operated through the National...
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Microsoft Wants to Pit AI Against Climate Change (insurancejournal.com)
Microsoft announced earlier this month that the tech giant is broadening its AI for Earth program and committing $50 million over the next five years “to put artificial intelligence technology in the hands of individuals and organizations around the world who are working to protect our planet.” “At Microsoft, we believe artificial intelligence is a game changer,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president and chief legal officer wrote in a recent blog announcing the funding . “Our approach as a...
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Movement-Making in Buncombe County (NC): Opportunity-Based Narrative and Creation Spaces
Mobilizing action can be intimidating. Creating a movement even more so. John Hagel provides the following definition of a movement: “an organized effort mobilizing a large number of independent participants in a grassroots effort to pursue a broad agenda for change.” He indicates that there are two key ingredients in movement making: 1) compelling narratives and 2) fostering creation spaces. In Buncombe County, we are experimenting with both of these notions. Opportunity-based Narrative A...
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New California Laws May Prevent the Overmedication of Foster Kids (elevaterehab.org)
In the past, lawmakers didn’t think twice about how doctors treated foster children suffering from emotional traumas such as abandonment and abuse. Nobody controlled how often practitioners prescribed psychiatric drugs that had serious potential for doing more harm than good. Today, investigations into California’s foster care system shed light on the doctors who fuel medication problems by inappropriately prescribing narcotics to the state’s most vulnerable children – ultimately leading to...
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New Prevention Institute Report Offers Framework for Preventing Community Trauma, Building Resilience
A new Prevention Institute report, featured Wednesday in USA Today , offers a groundbreaking framework for understanding the relationship between community trauma and violence. In doing so, the report provides insight into how we can overcome the inequities that contribute to a cycle of inner-city gun violence, poverty, unemployment, and poor health in communities of color. As additional treatment models are developed for individual trauma, there is a growing need for addressing trauma as a...
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New Program Enlists Cities in Homelessness Fight (smmirror.com)
A new front in Los Angeles County's battle against homelessness was launched today with an innovative program aimed at encouraging cities across the region to join forces more strongly in confronting this escalating humanitarian crisis. The county and the Home for Good Funders Collaborative - a joint initiative of United Way of Greater Los Angeles are calling on cities to submit plans that would serve as a blueprint to combat homelessness both locally and regionally. If approved by the...
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Nine in 10 Homeless Skid Row Women Have Experienced Physical or Sexual Violence, According to New Report (ladowntownnews.com)
A report being released this morning paints a staggering picture of a quickly growing Skid Row population. Women living on the streets are increasing in number and are older compared to past years, according to the study. More than 90% of surveyed Skid Row women also have experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. “The report has a range of findings, but it is clear that targeting services and dollars to specific groups of homeless people is what gets to the root of the...
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Now Hiring: ACEs Connection Network Southern California Regional Community Manager
OVERVIEW The ACEs Connection Network comprises ACEsTooHigh.com and ACEsConnection.com. The network is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the California Endowment and currently engages over 4,000 members. ACEsTooHigh.com is...
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Paper Tigers Inspires Action
Just moments into watching "Paper Tigers" last August, Angie Dillon Shore and Socorro Shiels found themselves wiping away tears. By the film's conclusion, Angie, a former youth counselor and current Upstream Investments Program Manager, and Socorro, then the Superintendent of Santa Rosa City Schools both felt compelled to take immediate action. What if together, these two women could bring the film to local educators and parents? Could the film change the conversation...
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Professional Development Offering: Creating Trauma Sensitive Schools
Creating a ‘Trauma Sensitive’ Classroom and School Site Grounded in research from the fields of education psychology, psychiatry, and neurobiology, the LAEP Creating Trauma Sensitive Schools workshop will offer a framework for...
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Report Outlines New Therapeutic Approach Coming to L.A. County Juvenile Detention Facility (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
A new report outlines a roadmap and summary of the “L.A. Model,” a collection of therapeutic-based practices aimed at improving care for youth in Los Angeles County juvenile detention facilities. Using the L.A. Model, the Kilpatrick campus offers a chance to “bring L.A.’s juvenile justice system into the 21st century.” The new approach calls for a facility based on small group arrangements in a therapeutic environment with an emphasis on creating a culture of care and respect among all staff...