April 2019

In a downtown Anchorage courtroom last Tuesday afternoon, a judge declared Andrea Conter and Mitchell Hershey mother and son. It was an unusual adoption: Hershey was a week away from turning 21, and has been in Alaska’s foster care system for more than half his life. Conter is a 53-year-old bookstore manager who had barely considered motherhood until two years ago, when a Facebook post about a college-aged boy who needed a home changed both of their lives. In the fall of 2017, Conter, who is...

Part of the damage from abuse and neglect in childhood is what actually happened when we were kids. But a significant part of the problem today comes from what I call "Inside Traumas." These are self-defeating behaviors that are common to people who are frequently in a state of dysregulation. They start as an innocent attempt to feel calm and stable, but they can grow into significant traumas that cause real problems for us and others. If you'd like to learn about my online course, Healing...

Eighteen-year-old Kia Hanson has always enjoyed her time as a youth leader at the East Oakland Youth Development Center (EOYDC). She’s worked mostly with five- and six-year-olds since she began in 2016. Recently, she tapped into new skills, especially if the kids were having a meltdown. Kia Hanson “If they’re off, we ask them, ‘What’s wrong?’ ‘Do you want to talk about anything?’,” she explains. “Basically asking before assuming they’re mad at the world for no reason.” What made the...

On April 23rd, 2019 from 12:00pm-1:30pm PST the National Pediatric Practice Community on ACEs (NPPC) , an initiative of the Center for Youth Wellness, will be hosting a webinar to support efforts to screen all children for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and additional adversities. This webinar will summarize the findings of a state advisory group assigned to review tools and protocols for screening children for trauma, and provide an introduction to two tools the advisory group...

Panels from "Candorville," by Darrin Bell, from April 2012. (WPWG) There is a direct line between Trayvon Martin and Monday’s editorial cartooning Pulitzer. Darrin Bell, the California-based writer and artist, was the creator of the comic strip “Candorville” and co-creator of the strip “Rudy Park” when Martin, a Florida teenager, was shot to death in 2012. Bell’s syndicate, The Washington Post Writers Group, had urged him to try his hand at regular political cartooning — especially after he...

The third session of the Starting & Growing Resilient Communities: Online & IRL (In Real Life) was a success. Thank you to all who attended the live webinar. And, thank you to our guests, Linda Manaugh of Raising Resilient Oklahomans! and Kate Reed of Kankakee Iroquois Cares . We were also joined by ACEs Connection's Northeast Community Facilitator, Cissy White . I have embedded the video in this post. I invite every ACEs Connection member to also follow our YouTube Channel to view...

It takes a village to raise a child is an old African proverb. It means that a child needs both the immediate and extended family to overcome adverse experiences like trauma and to grow up in a safe and secure environment. Unfortunately, traditional trauma treatment often only includes the individual child. Join Dr. Scott Sells in the free webinar, "How to Engage the Village in Trauma Treatment." Date: Tuesday, May 14, 2019 Time: 1:00-2:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time Cost: Free To register,...

A Sinn Fein MP says she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder due to Troubles trauma. Fermanagh and South Tyrone representative Michelle Gildernew was speaking in Dublin during a meeting of the Oireachtas committee on the Good Friday Agreement. The political veteran grew up Co Tyrone in the 1970s and 80s where her family took part in the civil rights’ campaign. She spoke about her PTSD diagnosis on Thursday as Northern Ireland’s Victims and Survivors Commissioner Judith Thompson...

A new report has found striking differences in the rates of poorer people being admitted to hospital due to self-harm HOSPITAL admissions due to self-harm are three-and-a-half times more likely in poorer areas of the north, new research has found. Prescription rates for "mood and anxiety" medication have also increased across all parts of the north but were two-thirds more prevalent in the most deprived areas. The annual report on health inequalities in Northern Ireland was published...

ACEs Connection presents, "Starting & Growing Resilient Communities: Online & In Real Life (IRL)", an interactive webinar training series focused on developing existing and potential online community managers and IRL ACEs champions. If you are not a current online community manager, please know that ALL are welcome to engage. This series is dedicated to providing insight into creating sustainable and effective online & IRL ACEs initiatives. "Starting & Growing Resilient...

Through a grant to the Indiana Legal Services, Anthem has expanded access to free legal services to all Medicaid patients in 18 counties in Central Indiana to assist with housing, employment and child support issues. For many Medicaid members, circumstances like eviction, past criminal convictions and a suspended driver’s license can stand in the way of better health and a pathway to a better life. Social determinants like stable housing, food insecurity and transportation are often...

Smoking has been the No. 1 preventable cause of cancer for decades and still kills more than 500,000 people a year in the United States. But obesity is poised to take the top spot, as Americans’ waistlines continue to expand while tobacco use plummets. The switch could occur in five or 10 years, said Otis Brawley, a Johns Hopkins oncologist and former chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. The rise in obesity rates could threaten the steady decline in cancer death rates since...