October 2019

For our second community spotlight interview, I spoke with Dr. Richard Honigman, a pediatrician at Central Nassau Pediatrics in Levittown and infant mental health advocate. We discussed the importance of addressing childhood adversity and the relevant work he is doing both inside and outside his practice. Please note that responses have been adjusted for length and clarity. Dr. Honigman is also the first recipient of the 2019 Ed Tronick Award for Distinguished Contribution to Infant-Parent...

By P. Berman, A. Hosack, & K. Hecht I punished myself. I didn’t eat the cookie- it was so smelly good and right in front of me! Mr. and Mrs. Carson said they would help keep the mean daddy away. Davy was eating his vegetables first. He had told everyone at dinner that he gave up the cookie because he had lied to his mommy and was eating his vegetables first to show he was sorry for lying to Mrs. Carson. The grownups had told him he was being a very big boy to be able to figure out his...

By P. Berman, A. Hosack K. Hecht, Mr. Carson gave up her special day with h is friend s to stay with me. H e played games with me, he kept checking my forehead. I feel so terrible now! Claire was getting off the bus and walking the final blocks to home. She had been worried about Davy all day and had checked on him by calling Mr. Carson during her lunch break. When Mrs. Carson came home at 2 p.m., she checked Davy too. She and Mr. Carson thought Davy was just under the weather, maybe a...

By Joshua Bote, USA Today, October 14, 2019 A bill signed Saturday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to cut the recent trend in schools of "lunch shaming." SB 265, which was originally introduced by California state Sen. Robert Hertzberg, will require that all public school students have a "state reimbursable" meal provided by the school "even if their parent or guardian has unpaid meal fees." It amends the Child Hunger Prevention and Fair Treatment Act of 2017, which previously stated...

By Carol Roehm, Commercial-News, September 29, 2019 Vermilion County students who are truant or have issues with chronic absenteeism now will have the option of answering to their peers rather than to a courtroom judge. Maria Sermersheim became the new truancy coordinator for the Vermilion County Regional Office of Education on Aug. 13. She also will continue her work as the local Peer Court coordinator. “She brings great experience working with youth in Peer Court,” former truancy officer...

By Traci Pedersen, PsychCentral, 24 September 2019 Exercising several times a week may delay brain deterioration in people at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study from the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. Researchers found that among people with an accumulation of amyloid beta in the brain (a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease), those who had exercised regularly for one year experienced slower degeneration in a brain region crucial for...

By Ariane Marie-Mitchell, American Academy of Pediatrics, October 2019 In the August newsletter, we provided an overview of the definition and impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) (http://aapca2.org/aces). In this article, we will explore the argument in favor of screening for ACEs in pediatric practice, and describe the process and results of a California state advisory group on screening for trauma. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommended screening for toxic stress...

The collaboration between school counselors and school nurses creates safe spaces for students at school. Building a coalition between school counselors and school nurses creates a safety net for our most complex and challenging students while benefiting the whole school community. Promoting connections through intentional relationship building, and ensuring a school environment that is physically, emotionally and psychologically safe changes the culture and climate. Read about an amazing...

Perhaps this is an introduction to a new treatment modality for some. It is called Accelerated Resolution Therapy. Accelerated Resolution Therapy, often referred to as ART, is a form of psychotherapy with roots in existing evidence-based therapies but shown to achieve benefits much more rapidly (usually within 1-5 sessions). Clients suffering from trauma and other mental health problems such as Anxiety, Depression, Phobias, Panic Attacks, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post Traumatic...

By K. Hecht, P. Berman & A. Hosack The bad dream came back. I shouldn’t have drawn the bad daddy. Davy pulled the covers over his head and ignored his alarm clock. He felt scared. He had the dream again- where his mean daddy was trying to find him in the woods. He would hide all day from the mean daddy. He wouldn’t wake his mother up and then she couldn’t make him go to school. “Davy, sleepy head, turn off that alarm and wake your mommy!” Mrs. Carson said, peeking in his room. Oh know,...

By A. Hosack, K. Hecht & P. Berman, Look at them! What language are they praying in? They are so strange! Could I stand living with them? Larry was in small chapel covertly watching the monks pray for success in getting him out of Philadelphia. When they had arrived, the priest and Larry had greeted them as they came in from the back door into the kitchen. Larry hadn’t known what to say yet he knew they were coming here to help him! As the prayers proceeded, Larry tried to understand...

I am please to announce that the Trauma Informed Educators Network Podcast is live and currently has episodes featuring Jim Sporleder, Claudia Roodt, and Ingrid Cockhren. The podcast was established out of the Trauma Informed Schools Network, a Facebook group with nearly 17,000 members from 100+ different countries. The network is designed to connect educators and practitioners around the world to share ideas, gain new ideas, and share resources! Here is the podcast:...