The pandemic has had a lasting effect on youth mental health. Moved by a desire to reduce youth’s toxic stress and increase their resilience, The Dibble Institute, in partnership with a team of students and alumni from ArtCenter College of Design and author Carolyn Curtis, PhD, is releasing Me & My Emotions —a new, free adaptation of our beloved Mind Matters Curriculum. The mobile-friendly Me & My Emotions website features engaging graphics and bite-sized lessons teens can access and...

By Jennie Day-Burget, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, September 30, 2021 A recent report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) finds that approximately 10.5% of families experienced food insecurity in 2020—the same percentage as 2019. That finding may not seem groundbreaking. But it is truly stunning. How is it possible that rates of food insecurity did not increase during the worst pandemic in a century? After all, the economic upheaval caused by COVID-19 was swift and severe, with...

By Scott N. Markley, Taylor J. Hafley, Coleman A. Allums, Steven R. Holloway, and Hee Cheol Chung, Housing Matters, September 29, 2021 In the decade following the 2007–08 housing crash, the Black-white wealth gap expanded, largely because Black people experienced disproportionate foreclosures spurred by predatory and subprime loans. Homeownership plays a large role in wealth building, so many researchers and policymakers have focused on increasing Black homeownership rates to narrow the...

One of the most egregious behaviors a parent or other caregiver can do to a child is to abandon them, allowing them to suffer alone. The damages done to the child when grown are significant and should not be ignored. In this article, we shall examine together what childhood abandonment is, how it affects adults, and ways to mitigate the power it has over our lives. What is Abandonment? All children are entirely dependent upon parents or caregivers for their safety in their environment. When...

By Sarah Kaplan, The Washington Post, September 26, 2021 Adriana Bottino-Poage is 6 years old, with cherub cheeks and curls that bounce when she laughs. She likes soccer, art and visiting the library. She dreams of being a scientist and inventing a robot that can pull pollution out of the air. She wants to become the kind of grown-up who can help the world. Yet human actions have made the world a far more dangerous place for Adriana to grow up, according to a first-of-its-kind study of the...

Transforming Trauma Episode 052: Healing Racial Trauma through Embodiment with Becky Carter In this episode of Transforming Trauma, we hear from trauma therapist, somatic practitioner, and speaker, Becky Carter. Becky specializes in complex trauma (C-PTSD), and has a special focus on supporting transracial adoptees and their families. Throughout the episode, Becky shares about her work with somatic healing of racial trauma, her own connection to her ancestral trauma, and how embodiment can...

Acompañanos para este tiempo de aprendizaje. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/heridas-del-trauma-racial-la-esperanza-y-sanando-en-conexion-relacional-registration-172513822487

By Paul Krugman, The New York Times, September 21, 2021 Americans love rags-to-riches stories, tales of people who transcended childhood poverty to achieve adult success. Unless you’re totally oblivious to reality, however, you surely realize that such stories are the exceptions, not the rule. The disadvantages of growing up in poverty — poor nutrition, poor health care, an impoverished environment, the cognitive burden that goes along with never having enough money — can and often do hobble...

By Rahil D. Briggs, Psychology Today, September 21, 2021 There are many ways to think about baby, toddler, and child well-being. Perhaps you relate to the phrase “early relational health” or maybe you read the recent journal article in Pediatrics that called out the importance of ensuring that young children have safe, stable, and nurturing relationships (SSNRs). There are conversations happening about buffering toxic stress , increasing resilience , and promoting infant and early childhood...

A webinar offered by the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) Thursday, September 30, 1:30 - 3:00 pm EDT Register today . Addressing the mental health needs of child care providers and children in care is vital in the face of the pandemic, a population-level traumatic event. CTIPP is offering a "plug and play" framework to ease the process of developing a continuum of training, reflective coaching, and consultation to build the capacity for supporting relational health...

Child psychiatrist Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey have known each other for more than 30 years. Both are deeply interested in childhood trauma and healing. But it was following a 60 Minutes segment Winfrey did in 2018 on childhood trauma, for which she interviewed Perry, that the two decided to take their work together to the next level. They tapped Oprah’s star power and worldwide reach and Perry’s deep expertise in brain science to collaborate on a book project, the recently released,...

In a recent nightmare, 8-year-old Jovina dreamt that her father got COVID-19. He was getting sicker, but she and her mother weren’t able to get there in time. “There,” in her father’s case, is a cell at the California Correctional Center (CCC) in Susanville, California, nearly 300 miles from where she lives in San Jose. In Jovina’s mind are a swarm of worries about her father’s welfare, her mother Benee Vejar reports. If an earthquake shakes the Bay Area, Jovina says, “What if the building...