Rachel Grant is the owner and founder of Rachel Grant Coaching and is a Sexual Abuse Recovery Coach. She is also the author of Beyond Surviving: The Final Stage in Recovery from Sexual Abuse.
By Mary K. Cunningham, Mike Pergamit, and Sarah Gillespie, How Housing Matters, June 5, 2019. Many families who come to child welfare agencies after a report of child abuse or neglect are experiencing homelessness or severe housing instability. Nearly 11 million households (PDF) nationwide are paying too much for rent, and about 1.4 million people use homeless shelters and transitional housing over the course of a year. There is no place in the country where there is enough affordable...
By Sarah Holder, CityLab, June 7, 2019. Jon Dishotsky likes to tell the story of how he grew up in a co-housing compound, of a sort. His father, a Stanford professor, hosted dozens of students over the years, who paid low rent and cycled in and out of his suburban Palo Alto home. They’d share meals with his family and pitch in to take care of Dishotsky when his parents were busy. They helped build a zip line . It was a kind of ad-hoc community; he’s still in touch with some of these...
By Maria Bogdanos, Psych Central, June 10, 2019. We’ve come a long way since therapists prescribed to their clients to punch their pillows when angry as a cathartic way to release negative emotions. While it helped bring up the emotion, they left out a critical piece in recovery: connecting that emotion to the logical side of our brains. What the person felt was not relief but disassociation. What we know today in neuroscience and psychotherapy research is that when a traumatic event occurs,...
By Andrea L. Lowe, The Chronicle of Social Change, June 10, 2019. Several years ago , my sister and I watched my 2-year-old nephew’s behavior change dramatically. He started wetting the bed, throwing temper tantrums and getting frustrated so quickly. In any other child, it might have been normal “terrible twos,” but in him we knew something was definitely wrong. At the time, my sister and her husband were getting divorced. Ultimately, we found out that my nephew thought it was his fault,...
By Andrew Anthony, The Guardian, June 2, 2019. Stephen Porges is professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina and “Distinguished University Scientist” at Indiana University, where he has created the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium. He is best known for developing polyvagal theory, which describes how visceral experiences affect the nervous system and our resulting behaviour. On Monday 10 June, he will be giving a talk at Love vs Trauma , the Body & Soul charity’s...
Update: We posted this story on Tuesday evening and received a response from the Department of Health Care Services Wednesday that clarifies additional information. DHCS information Officer Katharine Weir said that subject to budget approval by the legislature and the governor: The reimbursement rate will be $29. Federally Qualified Health Centers will also be reimbursed for screening pediatric patients for trauma through Prop 56 funds and federal matching funds. In response to a question...
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. This series is dedicated to providing insight into creating sustainable and effective online & IRL ACEs initiatives. In this fifth session, we’ll talk about why it's so critical to tell your story far and wide. This incudes how to blog and share...
“Keeping the Peace,” a new documentary that recently premiered at the University of San Diego, brings to light the trauma often faced by first responders and encourages police officers, firefighters and others in the field to seek counseling when dealing with emotional issues. They’ve lost colleagues to suicide, had people die in their arms, seen horrifying injuries and had to tell family members about a loved one’s death. It takes a toll on law enforcement officers, firefighters and other...
Safety must be addressed first throughout trauma treatment. This is especially the case with traumatized children and their families because the child is often more vulnerable to abuse or neglect. The FST| Family Systems Trauma Model presents the use of a safety risk scale of 1 to 5 (1= no risk; 5 = high risk) to assess current safety levels within the family. The use of what is called an FST Trauma Safety Playbook is then used if needed to realign a chaotic and disorganized family with...
The ACEs research by Drs. Felitti, Anda and colleagues emphasizes only household deficits, not family and community assets. To understand fully the effects of adversity and to build resilience, we need to recognize those assets and their unequal availability to households across divides of race, class, gender and locale. Resilience is not only or mainly a quality of individuals alone; it is a quality of individuals in interaction with resources in their social environments. For more, see the...
Please join us in Northeast Tennessee on July 11th for the "Addressing ACEs - A Call To Action" event. Keynote speakers include best selling author, Liz Murray who will be sharing her "Homeless to Harvard" story, internationally recognized clinician, Dr. Stephanie Covington sharing, "Trauma and the Three “Rs”: Recognize, Respond, Recover", Dr. Andi Clements and Becky Haas presenting, "How to Create a Trauma Informed Community" based on the Johnson City model which has gained national...
It's a long life. One that has many twists and turns. I thought I had all the answers: prayer and meditation every day; and, positive thinking. Little did I know, there was much more to learn. This is my first blog post on ACEs Connection. I was asked to join in the conversation. I am happy to join in. I have written about Adverse Childhood Experiences as part of an Appendix in my book My Courage to Tell . When I learned about ACES from psychologist Dr. Liam Marshall a few years ago, a lot...
By Patti Neighmond, NPR, June 10, 2019. Jeannine, who is 37 and lives in Burbank, Calif., has endured widespread pain since she was 8. She has been examined by dozens of doctors, but none of their X-rays, MRIs or other tests have turned up any evidence of physical injury or damage. Over the years, desperate for relief, she tried changing her diet, wore belts to correct her posture and exercised to strengthen muscles. Taking lots of ibuprofen helped, she says, but doctors warned her that...
By Jaclyn Wallen and Vincent Acevez, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, June 6, 2019. A veteran police officer in Cicero, Illinois, is quick with an answer when the therapist asks him: “What’s the worst thing you’ve witnessed on the job?” Instantly, it’s 2010, an icy Valentine’s Day, and Officer Joseph Melone is staring in horror as flames engulf a three-story house. Melone is an arson specialist, and when the fire subsides, it’s his job to pick through the rubble. Seven people are missing. The...