February 2018

Raising a child to be loving, resilient and respectful is a tough endeavor in the best of circumstances. But what if the child is emotionally scarred from early experiences of loss, betrayal or harm? This workshop will introduce the audience to the principals of successfully connecting with and raising a child who is emotionally distressed. It provides real-life examples and exercises in the 3 principles of the handbook Be Child Wise, namely, know yourself; know your child; and always work...

By Jessica Dym Bartlett As adults struggle with their own reactions to the school shooting in Parkland, Florida—the 29th mass shooting in the United States in the first two months of 2018 alone—young eyes and ears are watching and listening. This is an important time to talk to children about what they are seeing and hearing, even when they did not directly witness the event. While it can be difficult to know what to say, evidence from research and clinical practice can help us with these...

Pause for a moment and take a breath before you read this. See if you can hold judgment, if your heart can soften and open, if you can read without needing to respond immediately. I invite you to just take this in. Hurt people hurt people. That’s a mantra in the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) awareness community, and it’s what I thought of when I heard the news that yet another teen shot up a school. It didn’t take long to start hearing the perpetrator’s childhood traumas: adopted along...

A few weeks ago, the contours of an immigration compromise looked clear: Republicans would let the “dreamers” stay. Democrats would let Trump build his wall. Both sides would swallow something their bases found distasteful in order to get the thing their bases cared about most. Since then, Trump has blown up the deal. He announced on Wednesday that he would legalize the “dreamers,” undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, only if Democrats funded his wall and ended the visa...

Requiring able-bodied adults to work for their Medicaid is just part of the Trump administration’s drive to remake the decades-old health insurance program for the poor. The administration signaled late last year that it welcomes state-based ideas to retool Medicaid and “help individuals live up to their highest potential.” At least 10 states have requested waivers that would allow them to impose work requirements and other obligations. For example: They would require more recipients to...

At the headquarters of Covenant House Washington in Southeast D.C., a nonprofit serving youth experiencing homelessness, ten twin-sized black canvas cots fill a white-tiled alcove on the main floor. The space serves as an emergency shelter for homeless young people, which Covenant House calls “The Sanctuary.” In keeping with its name, the walls are a deep, soothing blue. Five of the cots are for women and five for men, which is far short of the demand. The room is empty now, in...

NPR's Rachel Martin talks Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of Boston University School of Public Health, about how people can be affected by constant exposure to mass tragedy. DAVID GREENE, HOST: You know, we talk a lot about how communities are reshaped by tragedies, how people's lives are changed when they experience violence firsthand. But how about those who watch these tragedies and disasters unfold live through phone and television screens? How are those lives affected by a constant exposure to...

Sometimes it’s hard for me to talk to you right now. Even though I know you’re okay, I also can’t help but feel that you are intimately intertwined with my oppressors.” There was a pause over the phone line as my best friend of over 25 years digested my words. I mean, really, where does a conversation go from there? Michelle and I were college roommates at Stanford. For two years we shared a dorm room, and the late night confessions that frequently accompany that type of proximity. We shared...

My son is big for his age. At only 16, he’s already 6 feet 4 inches and 225 pounds. As he grew, I began to have a lot of anxiety because I knew he could get mistaken as an adult. And being an adult black male in St. Louis — like anywhere in America — can be uniquely dangerous, especially when the police are involved. So recently my son and I began having The Conversation: What to do if he gets stopped by a police officer. No matter what’s going on, I tell him, stay quiet. Keep your eyes...

Using the recently released opioid response plan from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources as a centerpiece, the new Office of Drug Control Policy director aims to build upon the plan with areas of his own expertise. Dr. Michael Brumage, appointed as director earlier this month, hopes to focus on the role ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) play in the opioid epidemic, as well as how providers can approach pain management with and without medication. "ACEs is a major...

As a parent, I understand the desire for practical responses to school shootings. I also absolutely believe the government should do more to prevent such incidents. But the gun control debate has proven so divisive and ineffective that I am weary of waiting for politicians to act. I study the kind of aggressive childhood behavior that often predates school shootings. That research suggests what communities and families can start doing today to better protect children. Here are 10 actions we...

She was 3 years old when her father died in a car crash and 17 when her mother committed suicide. In between those bookends of loss, she lived with the man she refers to as “my evil stepfather. ” He demeaned her, her two older sisters and her younger brother, and punished them with a belt when they didn’t meet his exacting standards. To read the full story - click the blue link at the bottom of the post - As the sun fades and her office on the fourth floor of the state Capitol darkens –...