December 2015

A person who once steeped herself in envy of anyone who was successful changes her approach, by understanding her longing and her fear. It's good info for us who have ACEs that trigger our fears all the time.  .....In this way, my perspective on my envy began to shift rather rapidly. Suddenly, instead of intense jealousy, I perceived intense longing. When crowds of envious inner thoughts brought on waves of envious inner feelings, I trained myself to instead tune right in to the...

You Are Invited to the ACES Coalition Inaugural Meeting, Thursday, Jan. 14, 10:30 - 1:00 p.m. Friends and Colleagues, As someone who cares about children and health outcomes for West Virginia, I am pleased to invite you to attend the first meeting of the newly formed state ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Coalition on Thursday, Jan. 14. The meeting will be held from 10:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.  at the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department, 108 Lee St. East, Charleston, WV 25301...

The rollout of  The Raising of America  by television stations across the country continues and we post air dates  online  as we learn about them. Here are the broadcasts for January: California  Rohnert Park --  KRCB 22 , North Bay Public Media Jan. 7, 8:00PM Jan. 25, 9:00PM Sacramento --  KVIE HD 6.1 Jan. 17, 7:00PM Jan. 20, 11:00PM San Francisco Bay Area --  KQED   Jan. 3, 7:00PM  (World) Jan. 18, 11:00PM (9) Jan. 23, 2:00PM (World)...

The aptly named Great Starts program at the Helen Ross McNabb Center in Knoxville, TN, provides a six-to-nine month residential treatment and two-year follow-up program for pregnant mothers and moms with newborns recovering from substance abuse. Earlier this year, curious about the early childhood history of its residents, the center started asking the women about their ACEs history. The results would not have been surprising to those familiar with ACEs: Of the 16 moms who filled out the...

Physical and behavioral health problems associated with trauma can linger long after someone experiences abuse, neglect, discrimination or violence, a growing body of evidence shows. With that knowledge in mind, a movement called “trauma-informed” care is making headway at schools, hospitals, social service organizations and health clinics across the country, including the  Stephen and Sandra Sheller 11th Street Family Health Services Center  of Drexel University.

Blame is a way we discharge pain. We blame others, hurling insults and digging our heels into the cushy comfort of self-righteous indignation. Or we blame ourselves. We beat ourselves up. We call ourselves names like “loser” and “failure.” And then we wonder why we feel small, alone and sick to our stomachs. Next time you notice you are blaming someone or blaming yourself, no matter why, try getting curious instead of launching an attack. Ask yourself: What am I...

To our collaborators, partners and cheerleaders --- It has been an incredible year! I truly believe with people like you and your teams, the future for our nation's children and families looks brighter than ever! Yes, it’s a very long road, and hard, hard work. But we cannot allow the enormity of what needs to be done to distract us from doing it. We cannot allow naysayers to discourage us. We cannot allow those people with closed minds or resistant to change to devalue our work.

One side pits winners and losers against each other in a race for the American Dream, while the other wonders what might be possible if we work together to form communities, build schools and create a culture of mutual respect. Since the beginning, two narratives have warred for the soul of America. One is the “We’re Number One” America, in which the American Dream is a competition with few winners and others who bask in their reflected glory. This is the America of land...

The Prevention Institute put together this quick review of the recently-passed and signed Federal spending plan: Last week, Congress passed and the President signed a $1.1 trillion spending plan that funds the federal government through September 2016. This follows the enactment of a two-year bipartisan budget deal , which established overall spending levels and partially lifted sequestration through fiscal year 2017. The 2000-page spending bill packs several wins for community...

WASHINGTON – Should we fight the “war on poverty” all over again? Well, yes. That’s the recommendation of a group of liberal and conservative poverty scholars, who spent months discussing and arguing to see if they could find common ground. They did. Their new report – “Opportunity, Responsibility and Security” – lays out a plausible strategy for confronting poverty. The study was co-sponsored by the left-leaning Brookings Institution and the...

Drawn in by the headline, " This superintendent has figured out how to make school work for poor kids ", I could hardly believe what I was reading. I am not entirely sure how easily replicable the funding strategy is, but it would certainly be worth the effort to bring Superintendent Anderson’s approach to national scale. I am so impressed by this model. It represents an enactment of what recent (and historical, really) research has indicated : that mental health issues, including the...

The following press release—with new links to a video and audio recording of a statement by Senator Heitkamp (D-ND)—about the need for federal support to reduce trauma in children was the subject of a post by Dan Press on the Native Americans group on ACEs Connection . Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Independent Senator Angus King of Maine joined Senator Heitkamp and nine other Democrats in sending a letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia...