SEATTLE — The Road Map Project’s latest report on the state of education in King County’s areas of highest need shows some progress, but much more work needs to be done to close race and ethnic opportunity and achievement gaps. The project focuses on students in South King County and South Seattle, where 92 percent of the county’s high-poverty schools are concentrated and where the homeless student population has more than doubled from 2,000 to 4,500 since the project began in 2010. As the...

Detectives from the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office are on-site at the Family Support Center of South Sound one day a week, offering assistance to domestic violence victims. Detectives will be at the center, located at 201 Capitol Way N in Olympia, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays. The Family Support Center can be reached at 360-754-9297. The two agencies have long been partners, working alongside the Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office in the Family Justice Center, said Trish Gregory,...

OLYMPIA, WA – The United States Children's Bureau (CB) has released Building Community, Building Hope , the inaugural film in a planned series aimed at documenting what's working across the country to help prevent child maltreatment and promote child well-being. In Washington, the Department of Corrections and the Department of Early Learning (DEL) joined together in a special partnership featured on the film, which focuses on innovative programs working to engage parents transitioning from...

People arrested in Lacey and unincorporated Thurston County could soon have access to mental health and substance abuse treatment through a pilot program. Officials hope to have the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program running by early June, Prosecutor Jon Tunheim announced Wednesday at a meeting hosted by the Black Alliance of Thurston County. The program would allow people arrested for minor offenses, such as public intoxication, urinating in public and low-level drug offenses, to...

“Let’s get out Heads Together to eliminate stigma and change the conversation on mental health.” “Heads Together is a campaign coordinated by The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.” (From website) Website includes several short videos. https://www.headstogether.org.uk/

The SAMHSA Spotlight series highlights different approaches to building trauma-informed, resilient communities. Each Spotlight explores strategies for developing trauma-informed communities and discusses the consequences of trauma and adversity for clients. A setting is trauma informed if the people in that setting realize the widespread prevalence of trauma, recognize the signs and symptoms, respond in an understanding and supportive manner, and resist doing further harm. Introduction.

Back for the second year, Beyond Paper Tigers conference will take place June 28th and 29th in Walla Walla, WA. Featuring Dr. Ken Ginsburg from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia as the keynote speaker, BPT builds on the story of one community and how they've learned that embracing trauma-informed care and implementing ACEs science truly takes a village. Operationalizing the latest in brain science, BPT will provide concrete strategies for intervention with youth, families, and communities...

A scan done in March by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) through StateNet of bills introduced in 2017 that specifically include adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the text produced a surprising volume of bills (close of 40) in a large number of states (18). A scan done a year ago produced less than a handful. NCSL is a bipartisan organization that serves both state legislators and their staffs. The shear volume of bills in so many states represents a promising...

Sound Discipline is delighted to be able to host a screening of the movie "Resilience" on May 1st. We’ve been supporting schools and families with trauma informed practices to build resilience for 10 years. This one hour film by Jamie Redford illustrates the impacts of chronic stress on children’s brains. Following the movie there will be a panel sharing the work being done by school leaders and Sound Discipline to build resilience and counteract the impact of stress. May 1, 6:00-8:30pm. $5...

Presented by Sound Discipline Do your students over react to small things? Do they struggle to regulate emotion? Do they act younger than their age? Many students have been exposed to trauma and as a result have difficulties in school. In this workshop, you will learn: What trauma and insecure attachment do to growing brains. How to lead a classroom to benefit all students - including those exposed to trauma. How to teach students why their brain sometimes "won't cooperate" and what to do...

An organization in Seattle, Washington will open up a tiny house village on Wednesday to provide 40 homes to families living on the streets. Built by the homelessness advocacy group Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI) on a piece of land that the agency owns, the 40 tiny houses will provide much-needed temporary shelter to serve about 70 people who are among the city’s swelling homeless population. The houses, which are 12-foot by eight-foot, will be staffed by two full-time workers who will...

For about 10 minutes, Aryanna Vargas sat quietly with her Curious George book. Then Dr. Saul Valencia walked in and began asking questions about the book. “Can you tell me what he’s doing in this picture?” he asked, pointing to a man making a phone call. “Who do you think he’s calling? Do you think he’s calling his mom, his dad, a friend?” Aryanna began laughing and filling in the pieces of the story. As they finished with the story, Valencia said, “That’s exactly how it works in the room.”...