April 2019

By P. Berman , K. Hecht & A. Hosack Please, please don’t call on me. I don’t want my nightmare to come true! Claire was sitting in the back row of her morning class feeling stupid and unprepared. Just as always, she was two chapters ahead in the assigned reading and had studied hard . S omehow, that didn’t give her any confidence. She had learned everything she knew about how to organize her time and break her assignments into manageable chunks from the Carsons. At dinner time, t hey...

The hypothesis in our book Anna, Age Eight is that if communities ensure that all families have access to ten vital services, we will significantly decrease ACEs and increase health, safety and resilience. One of those sectors is youth mentors. What follows is our book’s segment of the vital role of a mentor in the life of a child. Good youth mentors take on a sort of Obi-Wan Kenobi role, minus all the violence and interstellar travel. They can throw a psychological lifeline to kids in this...

As reported earlier by ACEs Connection , the Oregon legislature is considering a bill, S. 1037, to establish a Transformational Resilience Task Force to make transformational resilience education and skills-training available to all Oregonians by 2025. Under the bill, an 18-member task force would be created to study aspects of psychological, emotional, and psychosocial resilience education and skills training. r to l Bob Doppelt, David Pollak, Mandy Davis Oregon members of the International...

Bruised Reeds and Smoldering Wicks is a study on the intersections between the science of adversity in childhood (ACEs), trauma, and ministry. Suitable for individuals exploring how their faith and the science of brain development, toxic stress, and spiritual formation are connected, this study is best explored by small groups that want to being trauma-informed ministry interventions and outreach within their faith communities. This e-book version doesn't have the videos that are part of the...

“In this life you WILL have trouble,” Jesus said, “but take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). The troubles that come our way are various and sometimes complicated. Physical, mental, emotional, and relational difficulties can intertwine themselves into a big, BIG ball of overwhelming force that threatens to shake our faith at times. So, what can we do to create a supportive community where people can authentically present their difficulties–especially around mental health and...

Is a museum visit just what the doctor ordered? In Montreal, medical professionals can prescribe you a museum visit. There’s also a full-time art therapist on staff. In Canada, an incredible new program allows doctors to prescribe museum visits to their patients. Hyperallergic’s Zachary Small visited the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts to talk with Stephen Legari, the first full-time art therapist on staff at a North American museum (he sees 1,200 patients a year), about his work in the city’s...

How many times have you done this with a client or in some other situation where someone wants something from you or just has a different opinion than you? It might be in your personal life when you and your partner decide to buy a house and they fall in a love with a property that you can’t stand and you suck it up and agree to it anyway. It might be with an adult child who has moved back home, doesn’t have a job, isn’t paying rent and watches movies all day while leaving the house a mess. W

UnitedHealthcare and the American Medical Association said Tuesday they want to e xpand the set of ICD-10 diagnostic codes to include more specific diagnoses related to a person's social determinants of health . The hope is that these codes would allow clinicians to document patients' social determinants in a standardized way, which would allow them to better tailor care plans or refer patients to community organizations that could meet those social needs..... Expanding diagnostic codes...

A new study from Berkeley Media Studies Group found that coverage of the child welfare system omits important context and connections to other issues. Here are four steps practitioners can take to improve the news.

Last month, I had the pleasure of attending the annual National Council for Behavioral Health Conference. I have been to my fair share of conferences but #NatCon19 was one of the best. First, I'm biased. It took place in my city, Nashville, TN . And the venue was the world renowned Opryland Hotel's Gaylord Convention Center . And, I love, love, love the Opryland Hotel ! As any seasoned conference goer, I had a strategy when it came to which sessions and events I wanted to attend. My game...

Please welcome these five initiatives from FL, CO, NY, and SC to our network: ACEs Connection Central Florida Denver Metro (CO) ACEs Connection Docs for Tots Long Island (NY) ACEs Connection Southeast Neighborhood San Diego ACEs Connection York County (SC) ACEs Connection You can find more details about each one of them below. Follow links, at the end of the post, to check out all of our ACEs Connection communities or to learn more about the process of starting and growing communities . ACEs...

I prepared these background notes to provide context for the "Towards an ACE-Aware, trauma-responsive Ireland" event I organised at the Firkin Crane theatre in Cork, Ireland on 08 April 2019. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332275178_Open_the_can_of_worms