Tagged With "trauma preventive policies"
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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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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 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 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 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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Therapist Resource Guide - Pediatric Medical Traumatic Stress
Working with children and families experiencing medical traumatic stress: A resource guide for mental health professionals What do mental health professionals need to know about pediatric medical traumatic stress? How can mental health professionals improve their collaboration with medical providers around pediatric medical traumatic stress? What resources and tools are available for professionals working with children and families who have experienced pediatric medical traumatic stress?
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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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Trauma Informed Policy Change in New Jersey [www.njtvonline.org]
New legislation in New Jersey will now require police officers to get sexual assault training every 3 years. Efforts to enact this legislation were spearheaded by the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NJCASA) and based on applying a trauma informed lens to sexual assault. In an interview about the legislation, Patricia Teffenhart, Executive Director of NJCASA explains: Sexual assault is highly traumatic thing that happens to people. It’s actually recognized as the second most...
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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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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 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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Experiences with Childhood Trauma impact everyone, regardless of fame, fortune, beauty or status
The “lifestyles of the rich and famous” are often times a discussion piece for a variety of reasons – the latest celebrity fashion; who divorced who; what photo is “breaking the internet” this week. However, how...
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Failing Schools or Failing Paradigm ?
Yes, money matters in Education. Money is absolutely necessary, but money is Not sufficient. A key variable has been missing from the discussions about a new Education Paradigm: Childhood Trauma. Childhood trauma is broad in scope and...
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“Family-Centered Health”- New Jersey Pediatrics Brings Together Child Development & Care Resources to Address Trauma
Spurred to create a response to the impact of trauma on children and families from post-Superstorm Sandy, The New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics gathered training and other resource material in order to support pediatricians and...
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FREE SCREENING: "CRACKED UP" film in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia
If you will be in Philadelphia, October 11, 2019, Don't miss it!
Tickets are going quickly. Reserve your free seat (at the EventBrite link below) now!
The film "Cracked Up" features Darrell Hammond's childhood struggles with trauma and their lifelong impacts. From IMDb, It's the "incredible story of actor, comedian, master impressionist and Saturday Night Live veteran, Darrell Hammond."
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Gov. Wolf: Office of Advocacy and Reform Announces Plan to Build a Trauma-Informed Pennsylvania [phila.gov]
The Office of Advocacy and Reform (OAR), established by Governor Tom Wolf’s 2019 executive order to protect Pennsylvania’s vulnerable populations, today announced the launch of a volunteer think tank comprised of 25 experts representing a diversity of fields and backgrounds who will develop a plan to make Pennsylvania a trauma-informed state. “The people of Pennsylvania are compassionate, thoughtful and resilient. We take care of each other, and that drive to protect our families and our...
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Healing 10: Catalyzing a Movement in Camden, NJ
James Williams, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, addresses the Take Back Our Health Conference in November 2018. Photo courtesy of Kate Daugherty. In 2017, two youth-focused Camden, NJ, organizations were angling for the same pot of grant money—funding for a youth-led initiative to learn about community health concerns and develop projects to address them. But instead of scrabbling for the grant as rivals, Hopeworks and UrbanPromise became one another’s cheerleaders. In phone...
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Hiring Trauma-Competent Asst. Prof
I'm excited to report that we are hiring an Assistant Professor (to begin July 1, 2015) in the Community and Trauma Counseling (CTC) Masters Program at Philadelphia University. The CTC program is a 60-credit, NBCC approved MS degree program that...
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How do we end the cycle of childhood trauma passed from parents to kids? | Brain Trust [inquirer.com]
By Abraham Gutman, The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 9, 2019 Growing up in Philadelphia can be a traumatizing experience. Poverty, hunger, gun violence, evictions, and mass incarceration are just some of the difficult experiences that bear down on children here. Over the last couple of decades, public health researchers and policymakers have increasingly recognized that the body "remembers” childhood trauma, and these experiences at a young age can predict illness, risky behavior, and...
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How Pittsburgh PA is mobilizing to create trauma informed communities [post-gazette.com]
The 2900 block of Webster Avenue in the Hill District doesn’t look like it’s suffering. Most of the properties are in decent shape, and day in and day out, it’s fairly quiet. Rhonda Lockett, a lifelong resident except for a stint in Washington, D.C., said most of her neighbors go to church and many are educated and employed. Yet 75 percent of the block — 36 households — have agreed to open their doors and their lives to community organizers, medical and behavioral health professionals and to...
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It’s As Simple As Following the Manual… Or Is It?
How implementing trauma Informed care is like building an IKEA shelf. I just moved across the country to the Philadelphia area to start working as an Americorp VISTA in Camden, New Jersey. I am working with the Healing 10 collaboration to bring a trauma informed paradigm to Camden, arguably one of the most traumatized cities in the US. At the moment, I am in the midst of both trying to understand my new job in trauma informed care and set up my apartment in a new city. Obviously, trips to...
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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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Kudos SDP for ending Kindergarten suspensions!
Last year 448 kindergartners were suspended from schools in the School District of Philadelphia (SDP). Last week, t he School Reform Commission announced... that it has approved revisions to the Student Code of Conduct that will remove suspensions as punishment for Kindergarten students. The Philadelphia ACE Task Force applauds this change which is based on a growing awareness in the SDP that many of the challenging behaviors that precipitate suspension of young children have their roots in...
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Leading Organizations Partner on a Campaign to Heal Childhood Trauma [prweb.com]
“Calo Programs partners with three non-profits, on a five-city, childhood trauma awareness bus tour, ending on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. Calo Programs , innovators in healing the effects of early life trauma in young people, is partnering with three of the nation's leading authorities on attachment, trauma and adoption: the American Adoption Congress (AAC), the Attachment & Trauma Network (ATN) and the Association for Training on Trauma and Attachment in Children (ATTACh). Together...
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Leaning into Conversations about Race and Trauma
As far back as I can remember the concept of race has played a significant role in my life. My mother has told me that one night while I was reading an American Girl Doll book about “Addy,” an African-American girl who was a slave on...
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Local Researchers' study shows: Trauma support for welfare recipients helps them earn more [medicalxpress.com]
People on welfare can earn more money in their jobs—and potentially leave the program—if the trauma they've faced since childhood is addressed, Drexel University research shows... "Financial education without the trauma-informed peer support had virtually no impact on improving income and in promoting health," said Mariana Chilton, PhD, director of the Center for Hunger-Free Communities and professor in the Dornsife School of Public Health. "Once the trauma-informed peer support was mixed...
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MARC Booklet 2016: Features Philadelphia
Please find attached the 2016 booklet for the Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) project, including Philadelphia and the other 13 communities that have been selected to participate in this 2 year learning collaborative. This is a great summary of the work happening in all 14 communities across the country. I look forward to working with you all as we share and build upon the great work happening in Philadelphia!
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Mayoral Primary One Week From Today
What do the democratic candidates for mayor in Philadelphia think about Trauma-Informed Care, Mental Health/Substance Use Reform, Transformation of the Child Welfare System? Watch the footage from the 2015 Health and Human Services...
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Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities: A Highlight of 2015
Members of the ACEs Connection online community are well aware that experiencing significant adversity during childhood can lead to a myriad of negative health, mental health, social, and behavioral outcomes throughout the life course. The growing body of research around adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can, at times, leave us feeling overwhelmed. As advocates for child health and wellbeing, we may ask ourselves, “how can we treat individuals who have multiple ACEs?”,...
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Nowhere to Hide: The Elephant in the [Class]room
We are trying to scoop water out of a boat which has gaping trauma-holes in the bottom.
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On the Path to Health Equity: When Foundations and Corporations Support Trauma-Informed, Cross-Sector Networks
Ann Marie Healy used to travel around Pennsylvania talking to community members about “smart” land use planning. Through her work with 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, a non-profit devoted to revitalizing cities and towns, “we would meet with people to share what we had learned about how to approach planning in a more strategic manner.” In one small town, residents questioned the relevance of the pitch. “Isn’t what we’ve learned locally just as important as what experts have found works...
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Organizations develop a Funders Guide to Trauma-Informed Practice
Responding to the overwhelming demand of funders in the Delaware Valley to better understand the impacts of trauma on our region and how they can apply trauma informed practices to their own work, Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia, the Thomas Scattergood Behavioral Health Foundation, and United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey partnered to produce this hands-on resource that will help funders : Understand the science behind trauma, adverse childhood experiences,...
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Peek Inside a Classroom: Jasmine
© Elliot Gilfix/Flickr . What happened to Jasmine? . Photo © Jinx!/Flickr When you look...
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Peek Inside a Classroom: Danny
When you look inside a classroom, there are some things you can not see . . .
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Peek Inside a Classroom: Jasmine
Wiry, active, savvy. Jasmine. There were not many good days. . . only random moments of calm in a violent storm, erupting on a ‘hair trigger’ When you look inside a classroom there are some things you can not see….
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Peek Inside a Classroom: Jose
Photo credit Max Klingensmith at flickr . Jose was one of the calmest, quietest, most peaceful boys in the classroom. The kind of boy everybody loves. ...
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47 Philly Gun Violence Prevention Groups Get $700K [patch.com]
PHILADELPHIA — Forty-seven community-based organizations in Philadelphia that offer violence prevention services and support were given each a cut of more than $700,000 awarded by the city. Efforts being funded include job training in areas such as culinary arts, barbershops, and entreneurship; "Peace Pop Up Shops" that offer trauma-informed care for those affected by violence; grief support programming for impacted families; and training for young adults to become "Peace Ambassadors" in...
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"A New Resource for Developing Trauma-Informed Systems"
A recent posting by Bridget Murphy at ReclaimingFutures.org links us to the National Center for Mental Health and and Juvenile Justice's new downloadable resource: " Strengthening our Future - Key Elements to Developing a Trauma-Informed Juvenile Justice Diversion Program for Youth with Behavioral Health Conditions" and also to National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) 's information on 13 types trauma defined. Bridget Murphy's post unites these two web resources through the lens of...
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ACEs Connection launches Cooperative of Communities
The ACEs Connection Cooperative of Communities launches today. We want to continue to contribute to the ACEs movement for as long as it takes to create a worldwide healing-centered culture based on ACEs science. We want that to take hold in this world in the same way electricity has — we only notice it if it isn’t there.
First, a clarification: Nothing on ACEsConnection.com changes! Membership remains free! Everything our current 300+ communities use stays free, and remains free for new ones.
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ACEs Recognized as an Important Part of the Future of Mental Health
A Prescription for Mental Health in America By: Lloyd Sederer, MD Posted on Huffington Post on 5/13/2015 The future for the next 10 years of mental health in America will not derive from sudden breakthroughs in decoding our DNA or...
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Alive and Well: Moving Missouri Toward Grass-Roots and System-Wide Change
On the eastern edge of Missouri, leaders of the Alive and Well network had generated a robust media campaign to help people understand the impact of trauma and toxic stress on health and well-being. There was a monthly column in an African-American newspaper, spots about toxic stress and resilience on urban radio stations and weekly public service features on the NBC affiliate, with physicians, clergy and teachers advocating ways to “be alive and well.” Two hundred and fifty miles to the...
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American Acad of Pediatrics Policy Statement - Immigration policies need to be trauma-informed [www.medpagetoday.com]
The American Academy of Pediatricians has made a bold statement about the proposed DHS policy to separate children from their parents and the use of detention - clearly linking these policies to their potential to traumatize children. To that end, children should never be separated from a parent unless it is for the child's safety, and the Department of Homeland Security should discontinue the use of family detention and use community-based alternatives to detention to treat immigrant...
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Academic Pediatrics publishes case study on Philadelphia ACE Task Force
On Tuesday, September 5th, 2017, Academic Pediatrics released a special issue highlighting a comprehensive research and policy agenda for addressing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and promoting well-being. The issue features an article, Developing a Community-Wide Initiative to Address Childhood Adversity and Toxic Stress: A Case Study of The Philadelphia ACE Task Force." Authored by the Task Force's three co-chairs, Lee Pachter (lead), Sandra Bloom, and Joel Fein, along with staff...
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An Evidence-Based Indictment of Inaction
If schools are to be guided by data, the data says that 2 of 3 children experience at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE): children of all incomes, all colors, all social levels, all educational levels. It is all of us. Is your school trauma-informed?
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An Important Event for Anyone in Higher Education in the Philadelphia Region
The Need for Trauma-Informed Curricula at Institutions of Higher Learning: A Call to Action On October 20th, Children's Crisis Treatment Center , The Philadelphia University Community and Trauma Counseling Program and the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey are hosting a very special and important conversation for any one who is involved in training the next generation of service professionals - nurses, doctors, social workers, teachers, lawyers, community health...
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An open letter to Governor Wolf:
Childhood Trauma: "The elephant in the [class] room".. . and it doesn't "just go away" Dear Governor Wolf and Education Secretary designee Rivera : I write regarding injured, marginalized children in our schools, to ask that you include them explicitly in a broad, “Healthy State” paradigm in your new administration. Read more at: WHYY NewsWorks http://lucidwitness.com/…/childhood-trauma-versus-public-e…/...
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Be part of a breathtaking tipping point !
. Education Equity for trauma-impacted children: from failing funding to fair funding. Be part of the solution! Background A heartfelt tip of the hat to the Basic Education Funding Commission (BEFC) of...