December 2018

I was honored to have my review article, “Childhood Adversity and Lifelong Health: from research to action”, chosen as the November 2018 cover story of the Journal of Family Practice . Here is a link to the article. Access is free after registration with the journal and retrievable directly by anyone who has Medline PubMed access. https://www.mdedge.com/jfponline/article/178388/pediatrics/childhood-adversity-lifelong-health-research-action Highlights from the article include: - recognition...

Over the last few years, the Laconia School District has been actively working to understand what childhood trauma is, how it impacts our students, and what we, as an educational institution can do to mitigate the effects of this. We have also learned about secondary, or vicarious, trauma. This type of trauma is experienced by our staff as a result of supporting our students who are living with ongoing and pervasive trauma. Our teachers and support staff are serving in pseudo social worker...

One of the most useful bits of life advice is given out almost every minute of every day on airplanes, as pilots prepare to take off: in the unlikely event of an emergency, always remember to put on your oxygen mask first before trying to help someone else with theirs. Of course, I never pay much attention to the safety announcements when I am strapped into a metal tube waiting to be launched into the sky, being of the opinion that, in the likely event of an emergency at 35,000ft, there is...

Wyomingites working to reduce violence gathered this week for the 3rd Annual Conference for Violence Prevention and Response . A major portion of the conference was devoted to spreading awareness about the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, or ACES for short. Wyoming Public Radio's Tennessee Watson sat down with Jennifer Davis from the Wyoming Children's Trust Fund and Todd Garrison from the Montana-based not-for-profit ChildWise to understand why ACES could make a difference in Wyoming.

At least three days a week, Tryvon Johnson’s school routine begins only a few hours after his night shift ends. At 7 a.m., the 18-year-old Southeast Iowa teen arrives on the Southeastern Community College campus in Burlington for his automotive class. At the end of class, he dashes home to drive his mom to her physical therapy appointment, then after taking her home, he turns around and heads back to the college to start his day as a second-year senior in high school. At the Corners Academy,...

The National Climate Assessment , a stunning report released by 13 federal agencies and the White House this month, showed that climate change has already had devastating impacts on our health and economy, and that costs could mount to hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century. The report maps out what we can expect if we aggressively cut greenhouse gas emissions now, and what would happen if we do nothing. As part of our Weather 2050 project, we used the latter scenario to...

The connection between voting and political change is straightforward: If you don't like President Donald Trump 's policies, you vote against him and his party. If enough people join you, better people will get into office and institute better policies. The theory of change behind direct action, though, is less clear. How does marching, or blocking a highway, or punching a Nazi, lead to change? To many critics, direct action seems like an outlet for expressing anger and frustration, rather...

On this West Virginia Morning, current best practices for harm reduction programs include a couple provisions: no retractable needles should be distributed, patients should get as many needles as possible regardless of how many they bring back, and barriers to accessing needles should be as low as possible. But what happens when those recommendations are at odds with community acceptance for the practices? Kara Lofton reports. [For more on this story by WEST VIRGINIA PUBLIC BROADCASTING, go...

Trauma Sensitive Approaches for Home and School is a series of three brief (under 10 minutes each) training videos for use by school personnel, families, child welfare and other professionals. Developed by Formed Families Forward, a parent resource center, as part of the Virginia Tiered Systems of Supports project, the videos cover: - Understanding Trauma Awareness; - Responding to Trauma; and - Building Trauma Sensitive Schools One page fact sheets are available to accompany each video.

With all the health care changes and challenges in today’s society, going to the doctor or dentist is difficult enough for the average person. With a history of childhood or adolescent sexual trauma, a medical appointment can become re-traumatizing if not handled with care by the survivor and provider. Think about it, some other adult is making decisions on the survivor’s behalf, touching their body, has their hands in the survivor’s mouth rendering them unable to make their needs known or...

Becoming a trauma-informed organization requires clear communication about the transformation process, and support from staff at all levels of an organization. Often these efforts are spearheaded by “trauma-informed care champions”— individuals committed to raising awareness regarding the health effects of trauma and toxic stress and improving care for people who have experienced trauma. This week, the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) invites you to recognize people around you who...

Limbic revision is simply another name for revising and rewiring the faulty development of our brain, namely our limbic system. In simple terms in order to truly heal we need to experience deep and attuned loving care.