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April 2016

Oregon Governor Kate Brown signs landmark trauma-informed education bill into law

A landmark trauma-informed education bill to address “chronic absences of students” in the state’s public schools was signed by Governor Kate Brown last week. The bill, H.B. 4002 , requires two state education agencies to develop a statewide plan to address the problem and provides funding for “trauma-informed” approaches in schools. While bill’s $500,000 in funding falls vastly short of the original $5.75 million requested for five pilot sites in an earlier version (H.B. 4031), it provides...

Healing Trauma: One Grocery Store Line at a Time

There’s a women standing in front of me at the grocery store. I can see her fidgeting, shifting her weight back and forth. She glances my way and gives me the “what is taking so long” look as she rolls her eyes. I shrug and smile. She turns back around. I notice she doesn’t have much in her cart. After the person in front of her is finished, the cashier asks, “How is everything today?” Of course the cashier had no way of knowing what was coming next. This woman begins to unleash a verbal...

Anxiety, Adversity and ACEs

Here is an interesting article on anxiety and how it impacts us. According to the article, about 40 million adults are affected in the United States. It is a significant problem, as one who has experienced anxiety over my life. Sometimes it can actually become debilitating and prevent us from making decisions. With an adult population in the U.S. of about 245 million [ LINK HERE ], we know that anxiety impacts over 16% of our population. That’s a huge number. Research in the field of anxiety...

Alaska House Health and Social Services Committee refers HCR 21 out of Committee

The Alaska State House Health and Social Services Committee, chaired by Representative Paul Seaton, took testimony on HCR 21, titled "Urging Governor Bill Walker to join with the Alaska State Legislature to respond to the public and behavioral health epidemic of adverse childhood experiences by establishing a statewide policy and providing programs to address this epidemic." [ LINK HERE ] HCR 21 now goes to the House Finance Committee but it has no fiscal note, so that shouldn't be an...

Belief in Reverse Discrimination Bolsters Whites' Self-Esteem [PSMag.com]

Whites in America are being discriminated against. To victims of actual racism, that's a laughable assertion, but it's widely accepted among sizable segments of the population. In a survey taken last year, half of white Americans—and 60 percent of white working-class Americans—expressed the belief that discrimination against whites has become as big a problem as discrimination against minorities. (One can only guess at the percentage of Donald Trump voters who hold that opinion, but it's no...

Siri Now Understands Questions About Sexual Assault After Study Critiqued Automated Responses [ABCNews.Go.com]

Siri received a much-needed update this month, just days after researchers noted that four popular smartphone digital assistants had lackluster responses to questions about sexual assault and other personal emergencies, according to Apple . As of March 17, Siri understands the phrases “I was raped” and “I am being abused.” In response, Siri puts iPhone users one click away from the National Sexual Assault Hotline . Apple worked with the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), which...

Survey can help you determine effects [ValleyMorningStar.com]

Victims of childhood trauma can take a survey to determine how much the abuse has affected their adult lives. The Adverse Childhood Experiences Survey asks such questions as “Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often … Swear at you, insult you, put you down, or humiliate you?” or “Act in a way that made you afraid that you might be physically hurt?” Yes or no? If yes, check a box at the bottom of the page. [For more of this story, written by Travis M. Whitehead, go to ...

How to Radicalize a Young American Muslim [PSMag.com]

When terrorists indiscriminately kill scores of people, as in the recent attacks in Brussels and Lahore, Pakistan, we tend to assume they are monsters. Anyone who could do this, we tell ourselves, is someone we can't possibly understand, let alone relate to. But is that really true? Haven't you ever felt that you don't fit in anywhere? That you're being victimized? That you can't find your purpose in life? Recently published research suggests those are precisely the feelings that make...

Mental illness mostly caused by life events not genetics, argue psychologists [Telegraph.co.uk]

Mental illness is largely caused by social crises such as unemployment or childhood abuse and too much money is spent researching genetic and biological factors, psychologists have warned. Over the past decade funding bodies like the Medical Research Council (MRC) have spent hundreds of millions on determining the biology of mental illness. But while there has been some success in uncovering genes which make people more susceptible to various disorders, specialists say that the true causes...

COMMENTARY: Preventing childhood trauma is key [CourierPostOnline.com]

It’s spring break time in South Jersey, and in the tonier towns such as Haddonfield and Moorestown last week, the streets were eerily quiet. Families with school-age kids left the premises for warmer climes, including Florida, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Two middle school girls were heard conversing. “We go to Disney at least once a year,” said one. “Well, we can only afford to go every other year,” said the other, with a note of shame in her voice. [For more of this story, written by Rebecca H.

Don’t Let Defensiveness Stand in the Way of Personal Growth [PsychCentral.com]

I can remember watching the popular girls in my elementary school bully another student, I’ll call her Megan, because they thought she was “weird.” They would say rude things to her all day, making fun of her hair, her drawings, the way she spoke. And Megan would just sit there silently through it all, not even looking at them. She’d keep doing her homework, drawing, playing. Sadly, the other kids and I didn’t make any effort to help her, lest the mean girls turned their sights on us. Megan...

The Upside of Academic Tracking [TheAtlantic.com]

Tracking, the practice of putting a small group of higher achieving students into separate advanced or honors classes, isn’t popular with progressive educators. Previous research has pointed out that it exacerbates inequality in our schools because higher income and white or Asian kids are more likely to get tracked into the elite classrooms. Students who aren’t chosen can become demoralized, or the curriculum in the average class can get too watered down. Great teachers and extra resources...

The Growth of Concentrated Poverty Since the Recession, in 3 Infographics [CityLab.com]

Concentrated poverty is arguably the biggest problem U.S. cities face today—and it’s only getting bigger. The number of American poor living in depressed neighborhoods—those with at least 40 percent of residents below poverty line—has been on the rise since the 1990s . And according to a new analysis of Census data by the Brookings Institution, the recession further accelerated this upward trend. [For more of this story, written by Tanvi Misra, go to ...

Colleges Need to Do More to Support Poor Students [PSMag.com]

Colleges should be doing more to recruit low-income students and to support them as they work to finish their degrees, says a new report released by the Department of Education. The report also shines a light on the successes some colleges have had in promoting greater access to low-income students and increasing graduation rates. "Many colleges and universities have taken important steps to make college a reality for low income students, but unfortunately today those success stories are the...

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