December 2019

You probably know a few people who are stuck in bitterness. In big ways and small, you may be stuck there too. Bitterness is the seventh of the eight obstacles to healing from Childhood PTSD that I'm covering in my resilience series. I want to talk about what bitterness looks like, how to know if you’re “doing” it, and my suggestion to you if you are ready to be set free (though I think it might surprise you). The bitterness of other people is all around us (think commenters on Twitter,...

This is a selection of reports collected and shared, with edited highlights, to raise awareness of the intersection between racism, trauma, and suicidality. Young Black People Are Killing Themselves The numbers are shocking. Young black people are making suicide attempts and dying by suicide at record high rates. A November 2019 Pediatrics study found the rate of suicide attempts for black youths shot up an alarming 73 percent from 1991 to 2017, while suicide attempts decreased 7.5 percent...

A team of researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital say they plan to recruit hundreds of Boston-area women who had children around the time of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings to test the viability of large-scale screening of baby teeth. In a study published Tuesday, they argue that microscopic markings within children’s teeth could be a novel tool for detecting trauma. Early treatment, many doctors say, can head off health problems related to emotional wounds, especially mental health...

By Laurel Wamsley, National Public Radio, December 16, 2019 When LSU quarterback Joe Burrow won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday, he used his acceptance speech not only to thank his teammates, his family and his coach — but also to highlight the struggles of people in his small hometown in Ohio. "Coming from Southeast Ohio, it's a very impoverished area," Burrow said, in an emotional address during which he frequently brushed away tears. "The poverty rate is almost two times the national...

By Theresa Davis, Albuquerque Journal, December 16, 2019 The number of asylum seekers entering the United States has dropped in recent months. But hundreds of migrants are currently living in makeshift shelters or overcrowded government centers on the U.S.-Mexico border. A University of New Mexico team is working to treat the medical and mental health needs of those migrants. The UNM Health Sciences Center Border ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) team hosted a teleconference...

By Rutgers University, Science Daily, December 16, 2019 The study appears in the journal Psychology of Women Quarterly. About 15 percent of pregnancies worldwide are high-risk, making premature delivery, low infant birth weight and other poor outcomes more likely. In the United States, 10 percent of pregnant women require hospitalization because they have hyperemesis gravidarum, pre-eclampsia, kidney infections, gestational diabetes or are at risk for imminent delivery, among other...

By Associated Press, U.S. News & World Report, December 16, 2019 A bipartisan deal on a government spending bill would for the first time in two decades provide money for federal research on gun safety. A law adopted in the 1990's has effectively blocked such research and prohibits federal agencies from engaging in advocacy on gun-related issues. The spending bill, set for a House vote as soon as Tuesday, would provide $25 million for gun violence research, divided evenly between the...

By Casey Newton, The Verge, December 16, 2019 Google and YouTube approach content moderation the same way all of the other tech giants do: paying a handful of other companies to do most of the work. One of those companies, Accenture, operates Google’s largest content moderation site in the United States: an office in Austin, Texas, where content moderators work around the clock cleaning up YouTube. Peter is one of hundreds of moderators at the Austin site. YouTube sorts the work for him and...

This year's coming State of Our Health Breakfast on February 7th, 2020, will feature Dr. Nadine Burke Harris. Dr. Burke Harris is the 1st and current Surgeon General of California since 2019. She is a pioneer in linking adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress with harmful effects on health later on in life. We are excited to have her share with us! You won't want to miss it! You can listen to an interview with her here . We are currently only taking in Sponsorships and Table sales.

2019: A YEAR OF BUILDING RESILIENCE As we close on another year, KPJR FILMS would like to thank so many organizations, educators, health care and justice professionals for their ongoing support and focus on building an awareness of childhood trauma and resilience. In 2019, KPJR FILMS worked with over 250 national and international partner organizations and supported actions to build trauma-informed communities worldwide. PAPER TIGERS and RESILIENCE screenings, trainings and resources have...

PBS NEWSHOUR: Researchers are trying to better understand the biology of stress and its impact on child health. Now, data suggests those connections may form as early as the womb, with studies indicating frequent and prolonged adversity for pregnant women can affect the development of their babies. Stephanie Sy reports on a program aimed at easing the stress and struggles of mothers and their unborn children. ...

While members of the Maryland General Assembly did not dominate the Dec. 13th “MGA ACEs Roundtable” in numbers, they commanded the room and enlivened a focus on how ACEs science can inform current and future policies considered by elected officials.