Tagged With "Building Resilience in Children"
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Re: Purple Hearts, Compassion, De-traumatizing
Thank you Kevin- and all who dedicate their lives to community safety through service, integrity and pride (the three values of our local Walla Walla Police Department). Kevin gives back in many ways, including being a "Friend" to a young boy in our mentoring organization, Friends of Children of Walla Walla. This exemplifies Kevin's attitude of "resilience in action."
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Looking at Children with a New Set of Eyes
Our children are giving us clear signs that we need some changes. After 300 years of industrial revolution our modern society has been shaped and molded by the industrial complex. Everything about our contemporary world is a product of the industrial age. We now live in homes, work in buildings, store our food, bake in ovens, and talk on cell-phones that are all formed out of square and rectangular shapes. One might say we have fashioned our existence around and into boxes. For many who...
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MARC Booklet 2016: Features Walla Walla and Whatcom
Please find attached the 2016 booklet for the Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) project, including Walla Walla, Whatcom 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 am looking forward to working with the WA group as we grow so we can share your story!
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Meet Allyn Griffin! One of CRI's Trainers.
Today we get to know Allyn Griffin, one of CRI's trauma-informed trainers out in the field based in Prescott, WA. What was your "aha" moment that took you into the world of ACEs and Trauma informed care? Just over five years ago, I was asked to speak at a friend’s retirement celebration. A close friend of mine and retired NASA astronaut, Leland Melvin, arranged a meeting with a group of NASA educators who were very influential at the time in creating national curriculum. That meeting and a...
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Meet CRI Founder Teri Barila
Today, we have the opportunity to get to know CRI’s founder and board president Teri Barila. Teri holds a M.S. Degree in Fisheries Science and Management, has over 20 years experience working for government agencies from the Bonneville Power Association in Portland to the Army Corp. of Engineers in Walla Walla, WA. She was a founder or major instigator for numerous community focused non- profits, most notably, Friends of Children of Walla Walla, Community Center for Youth (CCY), Commitment...
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Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) Represented at California ACEs Conference
(L to R) Teri Barila from Children's Resilience Initiative in Walla Walla, WA along with Dr. Ariane Marie-Mitchell from San Bernardino County, CA ACEs Task Force share their ACEs journey in their communities Representatives from several MARC communities were among the 450 people who attended the 2016 Adverse Childhood Experiences Conference in San Francisco, CA on October 19th and 20th. This is the third CA ACEs conference sponsored by the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW), and it was also the...
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New Study Shows Communities Can Reduce the Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences [Mathematic Policy Research]
[ Ed. note: Following is a media release published yesterday by Mathematica Policy Research. This follows on the heals of the report, "Self-Healing Communities" that Laura Porter, Dr. Robert Anda and WHO wrote for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Both reports and executive summaries are attached to this blog post. Both reports are significant, because they show that community ACEs initiatives -- with "modest investments and limited staff" -- are solving some of our most intractable...
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NJ medical school program requires all first-year students to learn about ACEs science
In 2015, Dr. Beth Pletcher, a pediatrician and associate professor specializing in genetics, was at the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Washington D.C. when she heard two speakers that forever changed her work with medical students. Dr. Beth Pletcher “I went to two talks on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that were so mind-boggling to me that I decided on my drive back to New Jersey that I had to do something about it,”says Pletcher, director of the Division...
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October is Resilience Month in our Valley
CRI supported Walla Walla Clinic, Walla Walla Parks and Recreation and Michelle Coleman, LICSW, in the community event for the screening of Screenagers , a film addressing digital screen time and health issues (obesity, social isolation, mental health) in youth. CRI's resource table distributed our Practice a Resilience Strategy Every Day calendar (see it displayed in the attachment), our new Resilience across the Life Span bookmark, and other items for education and awareness. Great fun and...
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Official Proclamation - 4th Annual Resilience Awareness Month in Walla Walla
Mayor Allen Pomraning would like residents of Walla Walla to become informed about ACEs and support the work of the Children’s Resilience Initiative (CRI). CRI works tirelessly to mobilize the community through dialogue and action to radically reduce the number of ACEs while building individual and community resilience. 7 Quick Ways to Get Involved Create a self-care action plan now ! Find ideas in Resources and the Online Resilience Store on our website, http://resiliencetrumpsaces.org/...
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Oh what a night! Expressing emotion through mindful art!
What can be better than dinner together and mindful art as a way to express our feelings! Walla Walla families left with smiles on their faces and wet canvases in hand after spending a delightful two hours with Brigette Phillips https://www.facebook.com/mindfulart2016/ and the CRI Team, creating beauty. Breathing buddies, feelings charts, and "how do I feel" were additional activities available for the children (one youngster actually drew 28 "faces" of how he feels!). Thanks to Brigette for...
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Our Collective Thoughts and Feelings on “The Heart of the Matter”
We measured the feelings of our CRI members with a thought provoking question at our monthly meeting in May. We asked “What is the heart of this work to you?” Our question provided a basis for why our efforts to raise the personal and public awareness about stress and trauma are so powerful! Twenty- three members and three guests sat around 5 tables and shared their passion about the trauma informed work we’re all doing. Poster paper was used at each table as members spelled out the key...
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Our Second Sesame Street night at Blueridge Preschool!
Last month, CRI partnered with Headstart to host our second Sesame Street workshop. Children came to Blue Ridge Preschool to have cookies with Cookie Monster! They practiced breathing exercises and did three different resilience-building activities! View some photos below. Stay tuned for similar workshops and activities!
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Posada, ponche and connecting in the neighborhood!
I was honored to be invited to a gathering of neighbors and friends in one of our neighborhoods as they came together to celebrate the holiday season. The traditional practice of the Posada opened the party, with neighbors walking door to door singing the traditional verses asking for shelter, with the neighbors responding, either denying shelter or offering their house, re-enacting Joseph and Mary seeking shelter. The last verse was sung at the location of the party, thus welcoming all in...
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PROMISING Strategies, Practices, Approaches
Beyond Paper Tigers Conference 2017 Wednesday, June 28 & Thursday, June 29, 2017 A fast-paced information and strategies conference for educators, clinicians, mental health workers & law enforcement. Learn how to effectively use cutting-edge brain science to address the overwhelming effects of chronic stress and trauma in the development of children. Beyond Paper Tigers 2017 provides a universal approach to this global concern. Follow the link below to register for the...
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Resilience tips for today's environment
I came across this graphic I had used for a Child Care Providers training. It made me think of families looking for tips while in "shelter in place". For Claim my calm , a parent's ability to remain calm is important for children to see modeled. "Serve and return" in action! Find my safe zone in my mind is having structure and routines in place. Our card speaks to this (and by the way, read books together as part of the routine!). Name my feelings helps us calm our emotions, or name it to...
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Resource List - Growing Cross-Sector, Community-Based ACEs and Resilience Initiatives
Resources for individuals, organizations, and communities moving along trauma and hope-informed pathways in order to: Prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Promote resilience and safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Promote equity and racial justice. Prevent substance abuse and promote mental health. … so that all children, youth, families and communities have equal opportunity for educational success, economic stability, health, and well-being.
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Beyond Paper Tigers Presenter Showcase! Returning to the Body: the Relaxation of Yoga Therapy with Kelly Kreutz
“With Trauma-informed yoga therapy, we can tap into how our stresses are stored in the body, and find healing and relaxation,” Kelly Kreutz asserts. Kelly, a yoga instructor and an LICSW, will be teaching morning yoga and mindfulness classes at CRI’s Beyond Paper Tigers (BPT) conference later this month. Her interest in yoga developed alongside her work as a counselor specializing in trauma, grief, and anxiety. As she witnessed the benefits of yoga in her own life, she felt inspired to blend...
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Self-Care Is One Thing ~ Community-Care Is Another
Contributing to society as a mentor is a priceless contribution to humanity. Mentoring is priceless because young minds are forming connections about the nature of existence that will determine resilience levels and decision making processes for the remainder of their lives. When we talk about resilience we’re talking about the manner in which a brain functions based on positive connections formed during early life experiences. One of the best ways to form a resilient mind is to be a person...
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Self Healing Communities
"A comprehensive model of building community capacity in Washington helped make dramatic reductions in rates of health issues and social problems ." We are on our way to creating a more resilient nation. Washington State demonstrates how influential it is to build up local community's self-sustaining resiliency programs! Read the article See the report See Executive summary
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Talking ACEs and building resilience in prison
At Washington State Penitentiary, Tony McGuire talks to the inmates in his construction trades apprenticeship preparation (CTAP) class about ACEs, trauma and resilience every single day. Not only is he teaching the guys a trade, but he also teaches them how to be a healthy, happy and well-adjusted employee. Note: Becoming a healthy, happy, well-adjusted employee is way harder than basic carpentry, plumbing, electrical and HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning).
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Beyond Paper Tigers Presenter Showcase! Teaching Employability in Prisons: Tony McGuire’s Harmony of Emotional Resilience and Building Instruction
Tony McGuire- a member of Community Resilience Initiative, and an instructor for Walla Walla Community College at the Washington State Penitentiary- had divided his Building Maintenance class into random groups where white supremacists may be working on the same team as Native Americans. This choice was intentional; “there’s no affiliation on a job site, so you don’t get that here,” Tony told his students. Yet not long after the start of such teamwork, tools began flying. One student was...
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Thank you for your participation in CRI’s October is Resilience Month!
Thank you to everyone who participated in CRI’s October is Resilience Month! From film screenings to a Dia de los Muertos celebration, from yard signs to new products, we accomplished a lot this past month! CRI kicked off the month with two proclamations - from the City of Walla Walla and the county- to declare our effort to mitigate ACEs via community resilience building. We hosted a resilience treasure hunt with our friend Tod Sullivan , themed according to his home country- England. He...
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The Peace Bus
Times in our community have been challenging and traumatic recently. Shining a light on how we can come together and support one another is vital during this time, and is just what Kwabi Amoah-Forson is doing with The Peace Bus. This is incredible work and reflects the importance of connectivity at this time. Please consider supporting the work Kwabi is doing, and share with others to spread the word! Per his recent Facebook post: "Fear, division, and safety have been the reoccuring themes...
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Upgrading the Medical Profession
Pediatrician Lisa Ponce expresses her concerns about the needs of her patients at last year’s Beyond Paper Tigers Conference. She says 5 minutes per patient simply does not give enough time to get to the heart of any matter where true healing can take place. “Seeing 30 kids a day to measure head circumferences and fix ear infections was not enough”. She asked herself important questions that began a change in her practice. She asked how can I provide optimal care and help these children...
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Virtual Screening of Broken Places on March 21st & Registration for ACEs Connection Members!
Please join us on Thursday, March 21st for a special virtual screening of Broken Places , the latest U.S. documentary on early childhood trauma and resilience. The film will be offered via a private Vimeo link with passcode to all registered members of ACEs Connection, for free, accessible in the United States and internationally. REGISTER TODAY: To register, please visit : https://goo.gl/forms/apdoINwgtQmydEXK2 The viewing portal for the film will open on Vimeo at 6am EST and close at 11pm...
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WA State Funding Opportunity: for perinatal mental health community capacity building
Strengthening Families Washington at the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), in collaboration with Perinatal Support Washington (PS-WA), is pleased to announce that funding is available for perinatal mental health community capacity building. We i nvite Requests for Application (RFAs) from Washington State organizations interested in collaborative efforts to increase community-wide awareness and develop resources to support perinatal mental health. The RFA form is available...
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Washington to combine child services programs into one department [RealChangeNews.org]
A commission released its recommendations to fix Washington state’s faulty system that delivers services to children and families by breaking up the agency out of the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and creating a new, independent department addressing the needs of children 21 years old and younger. The proposal would dramatically realign the current system, including the state’s foster care system, by taking the Children’s Administration out of DSHS and combining it with the...
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Webinar Oct. 17 — Integrating ACEs science in pediatrics: Early adopters share lessons from the field
An ACEs Connection webinar co-sponsored with 4 CA In 2017, California became the first state in the country to pass a law supporting universal screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the 5.3 million children in the state’s Medicaid program. As clinicians around California await the state’s announcement of what this new policy will entail, many are wondering what it takes to integrate ACEs science in a pediatric practice. Meet Drs. Deirdre Bernard-Pearl, R.J. Gillespie and...
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Welcome new members!
Welcome to the Children's Resilience Initiative group! Our team's goal is to share material and generate conversation as we strive to learn from each other in our collective efforts to "grow" the Resilience movement! Many of you took the time to travel to Walla Walla to participate in our June 28-29 conference, Beyond Paper Tigers Conference . We were humbled by the response to our first ever conference! We hope you left with new strategies, ideas and energy for this work; we certainly...
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Who is Responsible?
Everyone wants to flourish in their own uniqueness because the ability to express our individuality is the point of origin to live a self-sufficient and fulfilling life. Our individual ability to feel safe to unplug from cultural norms is the beginning of our ability to thrive in a healthy environment. And no environment can be healthy for everyone until everyone feels safe to express their truth. And if one person lives in an unhealthy environment, everyone lives in an unhealthy...
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Who is There for the Children?
Abused or neglected children deserve to be safe, have a permanent home and the opportunity to thrive. That’s what Kathryn Barron stands for as a volunteer of the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program where she assists the process of representing children in the courtroom over family issues. At the 2016 Beyond Paper Tigers conference in Walla Walla Kathryn represented the law and court system sector. She informed us about the diligent efforts that CASA is making to insure that...
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Who is Tod Sullivan? And why is he in Walla Walla?
Apart from being dressed in Winston Churchill attire, Tod Sullivan has another connection to the figure- he was one of 150 people prestigiously selected for a Churchill Fellowship out of 1000 applicants. A resident of Lowestoft, England, Tod applied for his fellowship out of a curiosity to learn more about systematic and holistic approaches to mental health. Thus he embarked on a six-week trip to the United States, to research first-hand how American schools are incorporating trauma-informed...
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A new response to child abuse [Union-Bulletin]
Seated on a child-sized chair, Brooke Martin looks right at home. That’s intentional, she said. Martin is a social worker with the Walla Walla office of Child Protective Services. While her office is under the umbrella of Washington state’s Division of Children and Family Services, she works in the Walla Walla Police Department’s headquarters right next to a child-friendly forensic interview room. That’s the spot where most troubled kids 13 and younger in Walla Walla County end up talking...
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A Peak at Tuesday's Inside Out Night
This past Tuesday night, CRI hosted an event, inspired by the Disney Pixar movie "Inside Out." For those unfamiliar with the movie, it brings five feelings- Joy, Sadness, Anger, Jealousy, and Envy- to life in the mind of a young girl named Riley. According to Teri Barila, one of the reasons CRI chose Inside Out is its portrayal of value of all feelings, including sadness. "Joy learned to understand that we can't be happy all of the time. We sometimes find new, true joy by embracing sadness,"...
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ACEs Connection's Inclusion Tool makes sure nobody's left out
We developed ACEs Connection's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Tool — called the Inclusion Tool, for short — to ensure that ACEs initiatives across the world focus on being inclusive when forming a steering committee, recruiting leaders, providing education about ACEs science, recruiting members, or providing resources and services within their communities. The more inclusive your ACEs initiative is, the more diverse it will be, giving your initiative a real shot at achieving equity and...
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‘Ambassadors of Hope’ Trauma-sensitive schools understand the whole child [DerbyInformer.com]
Kindergarten teacher Erica Nunemaker ripped down the clip chart she used for behavior management in her classroom. Children moved their clip up for good behavior and down for bad behavior. Nunemaker realized the same students were moving down every day. The clip was a public display of the student’s failure, and children weren’t learning how to fix their behavior. “I’ve noticed that a lot of times we discipline them and tell them that’s not right ... but then we don’t give them a solution to...
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Art Extravaganza of October 18th!
Play, especially free time for play and playing together, is an essential piece of child development. Art provides an open space for creativity, engaging the right and left hemispheres of the brain. As part of October is Resilience Month, CRI partnered with Brigette Phillips of Mindful Art and hosted a night of de-stressing with art for parents and children. About 20 people attended for pizza, painting, and family time together. Read our previous showcase of Mindful Art here. To Brigette,...
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Artists in the ACE and Resilience Movement: Creative Avenues to Change
They began with a song and ended with a poem. In-between, there were photographs and giant graphic renderings, movement exercises and a “human pulse” formed when 90 people stood in a circle and squeezed each other’s hands. At a June summit in Whatcom County, Washington, titled “Our Resilient Community: A Community Conversation on Resilience and Equity,” the arts played a starring role. Kristi Slette, executive director of the Whatcom Family and Community Network, one of two Washington sites...
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Banners of Science and Hope Fly High in Walla Walla
The child may not remember, but the body remembers. Researchers have recently discovered a dangerous biological syndrome caused by abuse and neglect during childhood. As the new documentary Resilience reveals, toxic stress can trigger hormones that wreak havoc on the brains and bodies of children, putting them at a greater risk for disease, homelessness, prison time, and early death. While the broader impacts of poverty worsen the risk, no segment of society is immune. Resilience , however,...
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Be the Spark: Igniting trauma-informed change within our communities
Authors note: This piece is co-authored by @Lara Kain and @Christine Cissy White. Though we had never worked together or met, we were asked to co-present on creating t rauma-informed changes in communities by the Attachment Trauma Network for the first national (now annual) Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools Summit in Washington, DC. This article is an expanded essay version of that presentation). Be the Spark Oprah Winfrey helped mainstream discussion about...
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Beyond Paper Tigers Presenter Showcase! Beyond Trauma Informed: A Deeper Dive into Trauma with Rick Griffin
How do we choose which strategy we are using to build resilience? As Oprah’s segment on 60 Minutes plunged much of the world into recognition of Trauma-Informed Care, practitioners have been tempted to move beyond the science of trauma and develop strategies to address it. Yet as we learn about the neuroscience behind ACEs and resilience, Rick Griffin- Executive Director of Jubilee Leadership Academy, CRI Master Trainer, and BPT Conference Facilitator- states it is crucial to stay within the...
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Beyond Paper Tigers Presenter Showcase! Increasing Access to Trauma-Informed Care: Twigy Tellez’s Spanish Language Translation
Twigy Tellez was among the crowd of the Paper Tigers Conference in 2017. She had been invited by Rick Griffin and CRI to join the community for the conference, and to explore her potential offering for the next conference. “I would love for all the Spanish speakers to get to do this, ” Twigy said about trauma-informed care training. Indeed, this year, she will be translating the Level 1 Trauma-Informed Certification of the Beyond Paper Tigers conference into Spanish. It is the same...
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Beyond Paper Tigers: The Heart of the Matter
Graphic artist Anne Nelson created this visual roadmap during the partner showcase, capturing the "heart of the matter" for each community member Teri Barila, co-founder and CEO of the Children’s Resilience Initiative and the igniting force that brought change to a quiet corner of southeast Washington, kicked off last month’s Beyond Paper Tigers Conference by sharing one of her “aha” moments. In 2007, she attended a conference in Winthrop, WA, where Dr. Robert Anda spoke about the CDC-Kaiser...
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Bringing ACEs, Resilience, and Hope to preschool families
This school year, an endeavor of the Franklin Pierce Hewins Early Learning Center (ELC) was to bring Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Resilience to the preschool families. What began as a broad idea soon turned into an exciting project: “Rise to Resilience & Hope”. Our ELC has had a Kids at Hope culture for many years – believing that all children are capable of success, with no exceptions. With Kids at Hope, the adults are Treasure Hunters, seeking out and recognizing the...
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Broken Places- A 2019 BPT Film Screening
"The world breaks and afterward many are strong in the broken places" - Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms During the BPT Pre-Conference on June 25th, CRI will be screening Broken Places - a documentary that posits why some children are severely damaged by early adversity while others are able to thrive. Filmmakers explored 40 years of film archives following children who experienced immense childhood stress, watching with curiosity as some overcame hardship and thrived in their adult...
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Building Resilience in Children - 20 Practical, Powerful Strategies (backed by science)
This is an accessible, practical article. After a brief definition and explanation of resilience, it gives 20 easy, realistic strategies for building resilience in children. Share this with everyone you know! http://www.heysigmund.com/building-resilience-children/
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By Any Name, Emotional Maltreatment Is Destructive!
Recently I conducted a Google search for synonyms of emotional maltreatment. Phrases such as mental abuse and psychological abuse were fairly common. However, I also saw phrases such as The Quiet Killer and Invisible Violence. By any name, emotional maltreatment is destructive. Unfortunately, not all agree on what constitutes emotional maltreatment. On one hand, no one would deny that a child being called worthless repeatedly would be considered emotional maltreatment. On the other hand,...
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Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP) launches new grassroots initiative to engage and educate Congress
CTIPP (Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice) today announced the launch of the National Trauma Campaign , calling for federal action to prevent and address childhood trauma and build resilience through educating and engaging Congress. Its widely circulated communication invited people from around the country to join the new grassroots initiative. The campaign provides ways for everyone to get involved by joining the effort, becoming a Local Liaison to take the lead in every state...
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Come Play and Learn with CRI at Speed Gaming! A 2019 Beyond Paper Tigers BIG IDEA Session
We know that children learn through play, but adults can as well! Thus at the Beyond Paper Tigers Conference, CRI is offering a chance to learn and have fun in an exclusive first- Speed Gaming! Remember Speed Dating? Well, neither do we, but a fun session of this year’s conference is our version called Speed Gaming, without the embarrassing questions, geeky outfits, or overblown claims that one had to sit through with Speed Dating! Instead of a row of bachelors facing you, we will have...