Tagged With "School District of Philadelphia"
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Teaching artists as agents for resilience building
Art can be used to heal. This was the overarching message of the event “Artists Plus Trauma-Informed Practice for Youth”. The event brought together teaching artists and professionals from the behavioral health field to discuss how trauma-informed practice can be used to build resilience and encourage healing through use of the arts. Teaching artists from all over the city – ranging from poets to photographers to painters – came to learn about the science of ACEs and trauma from founder of...
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Teens teach trauma care to Camden schools [Courier Post]
"Gemyra Wynn doesn't need to go into the details of her childhood in Camden. After sketching out how adverse childhood events can traumatize people and cause lifelong health consequences, the 17-year-old can just offer her ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) score — it's seven out of 10 — and leave it at that. The same goes for her fellow instructors, 16-year-old Aunyay Fussell and 15-year-old LeBaron Harvey. They each survived psychologically trying experiences. But these students are...
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The Camden story: A physician and a priest plant seeds of repair
Simultaneously making changes at the organizational level and building alliances across sectors for larger system change, Father Jeff Putthoff, SJ, and Dr. Jeffrey Brenner realized they had to dig deeper — beyond symptoms to root causes —...
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The City Might Not Be To Blame For High Asthma Rates [NPR.org]
Of course, since Philadelphia has done its own ACE survey, y'all know that it's not the city that's to blame for high asthma rates. A good part of it is ACEs. Does anyone in the ACEs Task Force have connections with the researchers mentioned in this...
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The City of Philadelphia wants to help its frontline workers better deal with trauma [generocity.org]
A PGW worker is killed by an explosion in 2016 and his coworkers are still dealing with the emotional toll more than two years later. A longtime school nurse calls it quits when the school police officer who broke up fights between students has a heart attack and dies. A parole officer tries to deal with the personal emotional toll when one of his parolees commits a rape and a murder. These are a few of the tales of secondary traumatic stress — the stress that results from indirect exposure...
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The connection between trauma and the dropout crisis [The Philadelphia Public School Notebook]
When reflecting on the factors that derailed them academically, Quad’ir Ford and Nalik Lark-Hightower didn’t mention living in poverty or exposure to trauma as factors. But experts have said that these two distinct yet intertwined conditions in children’s lives can go far in explaining the root cause of the dropout crisis. “Trauma is not a singular event; neither is poverty,” said Chekemma Fulmore-Townsend, executive director of the Philadelphia Youth Network and co-chair of Project U-Turn.
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The Latest from Philadelphia Region (archives)
June 2014 PHILADELPHIA ACES CONNECTION MEET-UP: TALKING ACES WITH JAMES ENCINAS Come to this informal gathering at the Friends Center on Thursday, 6/26/14 from 4 - 6pm, to meet others in the Philadelphia region who are interested in ACEs, trauma,...
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The National Crittenton Foundation Releases Adverse Childhood Experiences Survey Toolkit for Providers
Philadelphia ACE Task Force member Dr. Roy Wade was recognized as significant contributor to The Adverse Childhood Experience (ACES) Survey Toolkit For Providers . NEWS RELEASE ...
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The opioid epidemic is so bad that librarians are learning how to treat overdoses [CNN.com]
Philadelphia (CNN) A crowd hovered over the man lying on the grass as his skin turned purple. Chera Kowalski crouched next to his limp body, a small syringe in her gloved hand. Squeeze. The antidote filled the man's nostril. The purple faded. Then it came back. Kowalski's heart raced. "We only gave him one, and he needs another!" she called to a security guard in McPherson Square Park, a tranquil patch of green in one of this city's roughest neighborhoods. "He's dying," said a bystander,...
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The Philadelphia ACE Task Force Launches its New Website!
Fellow Philadelphians! Have you ever wanted to learn more about the movement in Philadelphia to become a trauma-informed city? The Philadelphia ACE Task Force (PATF) has a new web resource for you! On Monday, August 15th, the PATF launched its new website, www.philadelphiaACEs.org , to keep you informed about our current and past projects, events, and resources for families, community members, providers, and policy makers. Website Highlights Learn about the Philadelphia Expanded ACE Survey,...
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The Philadelphia Inquirer: The Game Changers, a group of young trauma survivors, heal themselves to help others
Thick-shouldered and reserved, almost guarded, but always polite, Nasir was the youngest and quietest member of the Community Health Worker Peer Project, a group of young black and Hispanic men who have suffered great trauma and who are now learning, in a course at Drexel University, to recognize and treat trauma in others.
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The Philadelphia story: Education and activism converge in "ACEs epicenter"
The women and men gathered for a training on trauma and resilience were recovery counselors and social workers, charter-school teachers and prison administrators. But to Stephen Paesani, the child and adolescent training specialist who was leading the...
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The Question I Never Want to Hear: The Story Behind Storiez
https://safekidsstories.com/the-question-i-never-want-to-hear-430577e096de#.z5sai487j The caterers bustle about in the luxurious conference room, arranging utensils and igniting food warmers. I drop my bags beside the media cart and acquaint myself with the electronic equipment, fiddling with buttons and cords. My presentation slides appear on the massive projection screen. I smile. I have never presented in a room this large. I look around at the vacant tables that will soon be filled with...
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"The Raising of America Project": New Documentary That Highlights ACEs
Born out of PBS' "Unnatural Causes" documentary , "The Raising of America Project" looks to explore health disparities that exist in a child's development and how this impacts America's future health and prosperity. Episode Four, called...
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The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline; The Girls' Story
I wanted to share this link to this powerful report. It has been posted on the main ACEs Connection page and has been circulated via email to some of Philadelphia ACE Task Force members but I believe it deserves the attention of many. This...
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The Year Philadelphia Hired Diversity Consultants [Next City]
I’m wearing an octopus-shaped hat and clutching a beer when I hear a drumbeat strike up alongside a wailing sax. Ahead of me, a troupe of musicians in bright, feathered costumes with plumage nearly as wide as the narrow street attempts to clear a space and perform a quick number. The crowd surges all around, freely drinking in the open and casually walking up and down to watch the different ensembles in this informal parade. Every house along the way has a front row seat and partiers lean...
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This former Philadelphia cop had an incredibly simple plan to keep kids out of prison. Don’t arrest them. (washingtonpost.com)
Kevin Bethel didn’t become a police officer to lock up children. But it was under his watch as deputy police commissioner that Philadelphia’s school to-prison pipeline was in full effect. Now retired, Bethel is on a mission to keep children out of prison, with a police-led school diversion program that is showing impressive results. “My issue became, what is the trauma of me taking a 10-year-old child, for example, the minimum age for us, putting him in handcuffs, and taking him out of the...
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This shamefully ignored school shooting is why kids should walk out for 18 minutes, not 17 [philly.com]
It was a moment of sheer terror that surely none of the hundreds of kids flooding the corridors for the end of the school day will ever forget. One moment, 17-year-old Courtlin Arrington — already accepted to college for the fall, with dreams of becoming a nurse — was seen with another teen student, a wide receiver on the football team. Then came a loud pop as a bullet went right through Courtlin’s heart , ending her life way too short of adulthood. “The last thing I told them was ‘I love...
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This social worker is using creative storytelling to help her young clients deal with trauma
Generosity Article Healing from trauma via personal narrative is a hot topic , but Dr. Meagan Corrado noticed a glaring disconnect in the literature. Corrado places the genesis of her own approach, now called Storiez , between finishing her master’s degree in social services at Bryn Mawr College in 2009 and launching her doctorate degree in social work degree at Penn, which she completed this year. “The literature and the training I was going to was saying, ‘The trauma narrative is so...
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Thoughts about school? Strawberry Mansion students talk [Philadelphia Tribune]
“The Philadelphia Project” is an inspirational film about hope and possibility, funded by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, focusing on 16 juniors attending Strawberry Mansion High School and presented recently at a panel discussion that featured students from the community in Philadelphia where the U.S. Attorney's office, Dr. Sandy Bloom, Michael O'Bryan and the community have been working to build a trauma informed environment. Philadelphia Tribune Staff Writer, Ryanne Persinger, shares messages...
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Tools for a Trauma Informed Philadelphia
Organization Blueprint for a Safer Philadelphia Mission : To end youth homicides in the city of Philadelphia by the year 2016 by leveraging the resources, expertise, and capacity of a wide range of community and government stakeholders. Website: ...
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Toward a trauma-informed city: Challenges and opportunities in Philadelphia
After many months of interviewing, editing, more interviewing and more editing, “Toward a Trauma Informed City: Challenges and Opportunities in Philadelphia” will be launched next week. A group of leaders who have adopted trauma-informed practices were interviewed about their experiences recognizing trauma as an issue, what they decided to do about it, and the change they have seen from the work of their organization. These 27 leaders come from public health, behavioral health medicine,...
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Trauma Awareness Tour in Philadelphia - November 14, 2017
Trauma Awareness Tour in Philadelphia - November 14, 2017: CLICK HERE for the details The purpose of this five-city tour is to raise awareness of how childhood trauma impacts the development of 1 in 4 children in the U.S. and how these often-overlooked experiences can adversely impact children’s development, physical and emotional health. November is National Adoption Month, an important time to recognize that adoptive children and those in foster care are at significant risk for...
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Trauma-Informed Social Justice: Q&A with Dr. Bukuloa Ogunkua
Cissy's Note: I work with people who challenge systems and policies, who reform or start non-profits, and who see hope and promise where others see despair or destruction. While some folks shake their heads or shrug indifferently in the face of injustice and suffering, others organize, mobilize, and channel their time and energy towards making a change. Maybe a physician hosts an annual conference bringing trauma-informed approaches to medical practice. Perhaps a woman shares ACEs 101...
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Trauma-Informed Workforce Development
The Workforce Development Work Group of the Philadelphia ACE Task Force met on Wednesday, December 16, 2015. The group discussed next steps with regard to upcoming projects for the group. The group discussed possible steps to support for the School District of Philadelphia’s Action Plan 3.0, Action 7 - Recognize, respond to, and support the social- ‐ emotional and behavioral health needs of our students. 7a. Equip staff to recognize and appropriately address students’...
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Trauma Resilience Model Training Coming to Philadelphia!
Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM) Training is a program designed to teach skills to clinicians working with children and adults with traumatic stress reactions. TRM is a mind-body approach and focuses on the biological basis of trauma and the automatic, defensive ways that the human body responds when faced with perceived threats to self and others, including the responses of “tend and befriend”, fight, flight and freeze. TRM explores the concept of resiliency and how to restore balance to the...
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Turning chores into classrooms: New grocery store experiment hopes to inspire learning (whyy.org)
If you’re grocery shopping in Philadelphia over the next year you might run into a cherubic cartoon character named A.J. Though his wide smile and trendy haircut impart a sense of whimsy, A.J. has a serious task. He wants to transform your daily supermarket trip into a learning laboratory. A.J. is the face of “Talk It Up,” a pilot project aimed at inspiring interaction among parents and kids. At strategically placed sites across 10 grocery stores in Philadelphia, A.J. appears on small,...
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One year after Parkland, Philly students, teachers say more counselors needed to deal with trauma from gun violence [whyy.org]
Thursday marks one year since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which set off a wave of activism across the country, as students and youth called for more gun control and safer schools. Young people in Philadelphia and other urban areas seized the opportunity to bring long-awaited attention to gun violence and trauma that impacts them on a regular basis. But some activists, students, and teachers say one year later, not much has changed in the way of...
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United Way to fund four-part Trauma Series: Apply Now!
United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey is funding a four-part trauma series of college courses (graduate or undergraduate) leading to a certificate in Trauma Studies in Infancy and Early Childhood from Saint...
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volunteers needed: mercy & justice day of action
This Thursday, Sept 17. in Philadelphia. In anticipation of Pope Francis' visit next week to US. http://mercyandjustice.org/blog/2015/aug/mercy-justice-day-action
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Wagner Middle School makes a difference in students’ lives [phillytrib.com]
The best leaders lead by example. At the Gen. Louis Wagner Middle School at 1701 Chelten Ave., students are able to come into their own, succeed in the classroom, and prepare for their future because of the leadership roles and innovative thinking of the administration and teachers at their school. “Some of our goals this school year was continuing to improve our attendance and providing trauma informed training for everyone,” said principal Maya Johnstone. “Last year, we improved our...
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What can Pennsylvania schools do to address the prevalence of trauma among students? [pennlive.com]
Childhood trauma is a widespread issue. According to Child Trends, nearly half of children in the United States and in Pennsylvania have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience, or ACE, which often leads to traumatic stress. Research is clear that traumatic stress in children can negatively impact cognitive, academic and behavioral outcomes. Yet schools are not equipped to address these problems. A recent ACLU report notes that 90 percent of U.S. public schools do not meet the...
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'What happened' vs. 'what's wrong': Recognizing how trauma impacts us all | Perspective [philly.com]
There is a toxin in Philadelphia that our children and families are being exposed to near constantly: trauma. Trauma lingers and isn’t just limited to a single incident, like a gunshot. Trauma manifests in hunger, housing instability, or living without utilities. It can include exposure to abuse, neglect, gun violence, police brutality, imprisonment, and domestic violence. And trauma can pass through generations as the result of historical violence, slavery, redlining, and mass...
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What If There Was a City Official Whose Only Job Was to Make Philly Better for Kids?
The case for a children’s czar in Philadelphia. This summer, the Scattergood Foundation — a behavioral health nonprofit — partnered with data analytics firm Azavea to produce a report on the well-being of children in Philadelphia. The project used a raft of public data to map risk factors that affect the city’s kids — exposure to shootings, family poverty, and educational attainment, for example — as well as the quality of local “assets” that help mitigate those risk factors, like schools,...
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What it’s Like to Teach at One of America’s Least Racially Integrated Schools [theatlantic.com]
On a late February afternoon, Angela Crawford, an English teacher, stood in front of about three dozen Philadelphia educators—mostly young, black women—as they all swapped stories of small victories and challenges in their classrooms. Dressed in a “Black Lives Matter” T-shirt and slim black slacks, Crawford, at one point, reflected on what has helped her remain resilient while working in some of the nation’s least resourced and most segregated classrooms for 23 years. “Black women are...
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What makes us safe: Facing trauma, gun violence, and hatred
An onslaught of violence begs the question: What makes us safe? Should we run and hide, should we become heavily armed, should we only speak with people who look like us? It would be easy to frame recent hate crimes in Monsey , Pittsburgh , and San Diego solely as anti-Semitic. It is that and more. Hateful attacks against Jews indicate a “rot in democracy” and call for systemic reform, according to History Professor Dr. Deborah Lipstadt. I began thinking about safety over 25 years ago when a...
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What other ACE surveys have additional questions? We know of seven.
We’ll start to populate the new Resource Center next month. One of the sections lists ACE surveys that have additional questions. The CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study revealed that ACEs contribute to most of our major chronic health, mental health, economic health and social health issues. It measured five types of abuse and neglect: physical, verbal and sexual abuse; physical and emotional neglect. And five types of family dysfunction: a family member with mental...
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What Philadelphia can learn from its history of citizen-led park projects [Spoke Magazine]
The article that follows, by Jim Saska, written for Spoke Magazine , describes what it has taken to create more green spaces in Philadelphia and how the City stacks up against other cities on this topic. Are there lessons we can learn about visioning, engaging residents, persistence and more that can be applied to our work to create a trauma-informed and resilient Philadelphia? Read the article and share your thoughts J ohn Randolph was paddling a canoe on the lower Schuylkill when...
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What's Next For 'Safe Injection' Sites In Philadelphia? [npr.org]
Philadelphia is a step closer to opening what could be the nation's first supervised site for safe drug injection. But turning the idea into reality won't be easy. City officials gave the proposition the green light Tuesday. They were armed with feasibility studies , harrowing overdose statistics and the backing of key leaders, including the mayor and a newly elected district attorney. "There are many people who are hesitant to go into treatment, despite their addiction, and we don't want...
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Why is Gun Violence in Philly 'Exploding' When Solutions Exist? [inquirer.com]
By Erin Arvedlund, The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 7, 2019 There was a shooting in Philadelphia every six hours in 2018. Jim MacMillan contends that didn’t have to be. “We know how to stop gun violence,” MacMillan, founder of IBGVR.org, the Initiative for Better Gun Violence Reporting, said Saturday at a conference designed to spread the word on what he and others contend are effective deterrents. Community activists; young people from the inner city; mothers of children killed by guns;...
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Why We Need to Root for the Philadelphia Eagles
Next week the Philadelphia Eagles are going to the Super Bowl, and while some of us already have plans to cheer them on from our living rooms, there is another opportunity for us to show them our support. Eagles players and coach Jeffrey Lurie are waging a battle to ensure criminal justice reform and bringing an end to racial inequality. These issues are at the heart of much of our community trauma, and we need to uplift the work of the Eagles to help our communities heal. The New York Times...
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With new proposal, trauma-informed care could become standard in Pa. schools [WHYY.org]
If a pair of powerful Pennsylvania state senators get their way, a burgeoning approach to managing student behavior could become a mandate. State Sens. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, and Vincent Hughes, D-Philadelphia, announced a proposal last week to create a “trauma-informed system of education.” The central plank of their proposal is a requirement that all teachers, school board members, and school employees “with direct contact with students” receive trauma-informed training. The details don’t...
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Women's March on Philadelphia this Saturday
On Saturday, January 21, 2017, Philadelphia will unite with Washington, D.C. and over 150 cities around the world for the historic Women’s March. We stand together in the birthplace of our nation, united with our partners, friends and children for the protection of our civil liberties, civil rights, and equality. Regardless of race, gender, age, ethnicity, religious affiliation, political party, immigration status, sexual identity or orientation, we come together in Philadelphia to represent...
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1 in 5 Philly High Students in Criminal Justice, DHS or both systems - PolicyLab at CHOP shares
Philadelphia Inquirer News Article quotes that one in five high school students in Philadelphia are involved either with criminal justice system or DHS or both - report from the PolicyLab at CHOP. Lori Shorr our Chief Education Officer, Dr....
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ACE Screening as Part of Routine Medical Practice?
Featured on our "Latest from Philadelphia" page is an article from Dr. Jeffrey Brenner of the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers suggesting that ACE screening should be a routine part of medical practice. Elizabeth Prewitt, a member of...
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Anything happening with Mindfulness/Yoga in Philadelphia Area Schools?
Is there anything happening now with using Yoga or other Mindfulness activities in low-income Philadelphia Area Schools like what is shown in this Mindfulness - Yoga in Schools to combat stress video? Diane Wagenhals or Monica...
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Camden Trauma Summit Help Needed
We are having a Trauma Summit on October 6th and 7th. Exciting as we will have Bob Block, MD and Sandy Bloom, MD at the summit. It should be great! As part of the 2 day affair, we wanted to showcase work that others are doing...
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Charter Schools, ACEs, and Trauma
Daun Kauffman, member of the Philadelphia ACEs Connection group, has an op-ed in the Daily News that exhorts the reader to consider the significant impact of ACEs on children in Philadelphia when thinking about the issue of education and charter...
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Children and Toxic Stress: The Discussion Continues
Thanks to everyone who came to CCTC’s panel discussion on mobilizing a public health response to toxic stress and for joining ACEs connection to continue the discussion. Now we want to hear from you: how does Philadelphia go about creating a...
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Feedback for School District of Philadelphia
At the Philadelphia ACE Task Force Community of Practice Meeting on October 18th, 2017, representatives from the School District of Philadelphia presented their plan for Trauma-Informed Schools. Please use this space to provide any feedback for the School District. Key questions include: What did you like? What would you change? What would be your recommendations for next steps? Their presentation and our full meeting minutes are attached for your reference.