ITRC PNW Transformational Resilience Network

By Thomas Fuller and Kendra Pierre-Louis, The New York Times, October 24, 2019 Facing down 600 wildfires in the past three days alone, emergency workers rushed to evacuate tens of thousands of people in Southern California on Thursday as a state utility said one of its major transmission lines broke near the source of the out-of-control Kincade blaze in Northern California. The Kincade fire, the largest this week, tore through steep canyons in the wine country of northern Sonoma County,...

By Sonali Kohli and Nina Agrawal, Los Angeles Times, October 29, 2019 During this Santa Ana wind season, 12-year-old Nicholas Ladesich tends to go to bed worrying about what might burn overnight. He often has dreams of waking up in his old house that burned down in the Woolsey fire last year. But he awakens instead in the living room of the one-bedroom guest house he shares with his brother and parents. He demands that his mom turn on the news to monitor possible fires while his 15-year-old...

The two biggest myths about ACEs science are: MYTH #1 — That it’s just about the 10 ACEs in the ACE Study — the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study . It’s about sooooo much more than that. MYTH #2 — And that it’s just about ACEs…adverse childhood experiences. These two myths are intertwined. The ACE Study issued the first of its 70+ publications in 1998, and for many people it was the lightning bolt, the grand “aha” moment, the unexpected doorway into a blazing new...

By Sonoma County Gazette, October 22, 2019 As we reach the second anniversary of the 2017 wildfires, the triggers for those impacted have become more visible: reconstruction challenges, the Camp Fires in Butte County or just a windy night are a few examples. Mental health recovery and resiliency are more important than ever. Our community is really starting to see the long-term effects of wildfire trauma and PTSD on the mental health of our employees, neighbors and customers. Prolonged...

All ACEs professionals asked to Sign the Call to Action to rapidly build psychological and psycho-social-spiritual-- or transformational--resilience to prevent widespread climate traumas! Attached is the complete Call to Action to Build Human Resilience for Climate Traumas or find it at the ITRC website: http://www.theresourceinnovationgroup.org/ Individuals wanting to sign the Call to Action to Build Human Resilience for Climate Traumas click here or paste url into browser Organizations...

By Rowan Walrath, Mother Jones, February 18, 2019 Over the last year, Rebecca, a 35-year-old woman living in Washington, DC, had been losing sleep over the seemingly endless flow of apocalyptic environmental news. She fretted about the Trump administration’s loosening of emissions regulations and the United Nations’ dire predictions about climate change. In October, she sought help from a psychiatrist who put her on an antidepressant. “It sort of saps your emotional reserves,” she says,...

To Register for Any of the Webinars Below Go to the Link on ITRC Website: http://www.theresourceinnovationgroup.org/ Introduction to Transformational Resilience for Climate Traumas Date : Thursday, October 31 from 12 noon--1 pm Pacific Time (3-4 pm Eastern Time) Although it is difficult to accept, humanity is in the midst of a civilization changing event. The more frequent and extreme disasters and toxic stresses generated by human-induced climate disruption are aggravating the existing...

To ITRC members: In addition to coordinating the ITRC, for almost a decade I have written a monthly column for my hometown newspaper, the Eugene Register Guard (my wife calls it my weekend job!). Last month I began a three part series on how climate disruption is producing numerous trauma. The column below talks about climate change, ACEs, and violence. Bob Doppelt -------------------------------- Climate Change Increased ACEs and Violence Childhood trauma, mass shootings and climate change...

Live Webinar: Building Transformational Resilience for Climate Change Traumas and Toxic Stresses Monday, October 28 th , 2019 12:00-1:30 PM PDT You will learn: how climate change creates personal, family, and community traumas and toxic stresses; how those traumatic stressors trigger feedbacks that expand and aggravate ACEs and many other person, social, community, and societal maladies; why current approaches are woefully inadequate to address what is already occurring and rapidly steaming...

Note from ITRC Coordinator Bob Doppelt: This story illustrates exactly why we organized the ITRC. Post trauma treatment is completely insufficient to address the traumas that lie ahead as temperatures rise. Prevention , by building widespread capacity for Transformational Resilience for all types of climate impacts--is the ONLY viable solution. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In 2017, thousands of homes in Santa...

By Elizabeth Lawrence and Elinor Aspegren, USA Today, August 14, 2019 Revelle Mast wanted to be an architect when she was a kid. She changed course in high school, deciding to pursue chemical engineering to address the threat of climate change. But, last year, she made another life decision: to go into politics. “I realized about a year ago that was not feasible on the time scale that climate change is happening,” Mast said. “Nine months ago, I quit my engineering job and went full time into...

By Jenn Jacome, Hello Woodlands, August 12, 2019 Nearly two years after the historic rainfall and flooding of Hurricane Harvey, Texas Children’s Harvey Resiliency and Recovery Program is assessing and treating more children than it did in the six to eight months immediately following the storm. “Currently, we’re seeing about 250 kids per month in our Trauma and Grief Center overall when you look at new assessments and those coming in for return appointments, and many of these children were...