May 2019

There's a fantastic five-part series, Whole People , done by PBS, " spotlighting the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) through personal and community stories. It explores the long-term costs to personal well-being and our society. While much work needs to be done, there are many innovative developments to prevent and treat ACES. We all play a role in becoming a whole people." It's amazing. The five topics covered are as follows: Childhood Trauma Healing Communities A New...

Julia Haskins, AAMC News , May 24, 2019. The man in the clinic exam room looked crestfallen: he had experienced homelessness and struggled with schizophrenia and other chronic health issues throughout his life, recalls Sadie Elisseou, MD. Elisseou could have completed the man’s exam without taking his sensitive history into account. Instead, she used a trauma-informed approach, explaining every step of the exam process and moving slowly throughout. In response, her patient felt comfortable...

Robert E. Rubin and Kenneth L. Davis, The New York Times , May 27, 2019. Health care is at the center of the national policy conversation, and with the 2020 presidential election now in full swing, that is where it will probably remain. But for all the talk about how to increase access and reduce costs, we’re missing a critical piece of the puzzle: the inverse relationship between health care costs and spending on social programs. One reason the United States spends more on health care than...

Freedom Institute of New York City honored Emmy and Oscar wining actress Allison Janney, in recognition of her contributions in raising awareness about the issues surrounding addiction and recovery. In her very moving acceptance speech, Ms. Janney opened up about the experience with addiction from her own life, that made her want to be part of CBS’s Mom. “Addiction rips through so many families and mine is no exception. In 2011, I lost my brother Hal to this disease. He was an addict and an...

Excerpt from a recent Boston Globe editorial : To read full Boston Globe editorial, go here.

Yuki Noguchi, NPR , May 30, 2019. Two years ago, Derek Rotondo told his employer that he wanted to take 16 weeks of paid leave granted to primary caregivers for his newborn son. He says he was told: "Men, as biological fathers, were presumptively not the primary caregiver." He was only eligible for two weeks' leave. Rotondo, who had been investigating financial crimes for JPMorgan Chase for seven years, filed a complaint at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging gender...

NICHQ . “Maternal and child health programs and professionals have become increasingly more cognizant of how fathers, specifically, affect their children’s health and development,” says NICHQ President and CEO Scott D. Berns, MD, MPH, FAAP. “Moving this conversation forward, and highlighting strategies that support father engagement and involvement, is a critical opportunity to improve children’s health outcomes in the decades to come. This is not because fathers matter more than any other...

Anne Mosle and Jessica Seinfeld, Ascend - The Aspen Institute , May 30, 2019. In fall 2018, Ascend at the Aspen Institute and the GOOD+ Foundation convened fathers, researchers, thought leaders, policymakers, and practitioners to explore “The Father Factor: A Critical Link in Building Family Prosperity.” The convening was born of the recognition that while the important role of fathers in society has been increasingly documented in recent research and by experts working with families, it has...

ArtForce Iowa is a 501c3 non-profit that was founded in 2012 by a group of concerned citizens, with a mission to transform youth in need through art. Working primarily with youth who have had involvement in the juvenile or family court system, or immigrant, refugee and first-generation American youth who have experienced violence and trauma, the ArtForce Iowa staff team recognized in 2017 that they were not doing everything they could for themselves or their students. That is when Executive...

David VanNuys of Shrinkrap Radio interviewed Mark Constantian MD. Doctor Constantian is a plastic surgeon who noticed a subset of his patients who were trying to remove shame caused by Adverse Childhood Experiences by having plastic surgery. Those patients were often dissatisfied when they woke up and their sense of shame was still there and projected blame for that onto the surgeon. This led Doctor Constantian to study ACEs and write a book about how it affects the profession of plastic...

For people with Childhood PTSD and CPTSD, there are a lot of treatments out there. Yet sometimes no matter what we do or how hard we try, we can hit wall. If you've been working hard at your recovery but you're not making progress, it may be time to up-level your healing with a pinch of TOUGH LOVE. In this video I explain three powerful principles that can help you move forward when you're stuck -- if you dare! You can dive in to my full online course, “Healing Childhood PTSD,” here. If your...

By Jennifer Molina for EdSource Take a journey into rural Butte County, California where districts are confronting high rates of students missing school. [Read the accompanying article by David Washburn here. ]