August 2020

By Jill Tucker, San Francisco Chronicle, August 25, 2020 Students in the Bonny Doon school district had been back in class — virtually — for two days before the wildfires forced them to evacuate, many fleeing for their lives in the middle of the night Wednesday. Teachers and students lost homes to the powerful wildfires raging through the charming, wooded town in the Santa Cruz Mountains. School had just started, but now Superintendent Mike Heffner, who is also the principal of the...

A patient came into the Goleta location of the Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics pleading with people at the front desk to speak to Mayra Garcia, a wellness navigator at the clinic, despite not having an appointment. The clinic is part of a network of four clinics in the Santa Barbara region of California that serve mainly patients on Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, or patients who are uninsured. Mayra Garcia “She was crying. Her husband had been deported. She couldn’t pay the rent,...

"I have toured the country for the past 10 years to talk to our young people. I’ve learned that the biggest threat to our humanity is not guns, mental illness or our government. It is that everyone is talking and no one is listening. ” Erahm Christopher, The Washington Post Please join us on Thursday, August 27th as we host special guests Erahm Christopher and Graham Bodie to discuss the power of listening as part of our A Better Normal / Education Upended community conversation series.

If you're on Instagram, we would love to see you follow us at @aces.connection ! We have recently joined the platform as a way to continue to spread information about trauma-informed and resilience-building practices. We will be sharing articles, resources, and upcoming events. Check us out on all our social media platforms: ACEs Connection on LinkedIn ACEs Connection on Youtube ACEs Connection on Twitter ACEs Connection on Instagram

By BJ Walker, The Imprint, August 19, 2020 Every morning when you wake up as a child welfare director, you are scared for somebody else’s children, and not just because you worry about abuse and neglect. You worry because the government established standards and protocols for working with these kids would be unacceptable for anybody but somebody else’s children. Everyone talks about changing child welfare, but few want to do the work to change it because it means working with adults who have...

By Firstpost., August 20, 2020 The World Health Organization (WHO) defines child maltreatment as the abuse and neglect that occurs to children under 18 years of age and “includes all types of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect, negligence and commercial or other exploitation, which results in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power". The long stream of child...

By Jason DeParle, The New York Times, August 22, 2020 Three decades ago, a team of researchers at Duke University set off to follow a group of schoolchildren in a stretch of rural North Carolina that happened to include a small reservation. Soon after, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians opened a casino and began sharing the profits, about $4,000 per adult each year, with every household in the tribe — essentially creating a local version of guaranteed income. What followed should interest...

By Tatiana Sanchez, San Francisco Chronicle, August 24, 2020 Elaine Shelly has lived with multiple sclerosis for 30 years. But she said she still panics whenever she has to see a new neurologist because of racial discrimination she’s experienced in the past. Even getting a proper diagnosis for her illness was a battle. “I’d go to these neurologists who would tell me that Black people don’t get M.S. and that I must be mentally ill,” said Shelly, 63, of San Leandro. A former print journalist,...

"Dynamic Mindfulness is a powerful tool. We can use this as a solution for regulating emotions, healing trauma, and dealing with psychological issues. The DMind protocol is very simple, but can affect every level of our being. Thank you so much!" - Niroga Training Participant, April 2020 Dynamic Mindfulness is important now, more than ever. The boundaries between work and life, school and family are blurring. Whether in digital classrooms or digital meetings, spending so much time connecting...

By Katherine Harmon Courage, National Public Radio, August 21, 2020 Pre-pandemic, about half of U.S. families reported having trouble finding care for a young child. That number jumped to nearly two-thirds this spring as day cares closed and other caretakers, such as grandparents and nannies, were told to stay home. And with many schools operating remotely, in a hybrid model or abruptly changing course this fall, many more parents, including those with kids in elementary school and beyond ,...

Over the last 27 years, she has helped hundreds of students and clients overcome stress, anxiety, depression, and spiritually awaken. Rev. Connie is also committed to nurturing and heart-centered spiritual community. She leads online programs worldwide, as well as retreats, workshops, and yoga teacher trainings in the San Francisco Bay Area.

🗣 TALKING ABOUT TRAUMA-INFORMED & change we need in our communities- I HIGHLY encourage you to click below where it says “EVENTBRITE” & sign up for this Film Screening that will be held tomorrow at 6:30pm PDT. Then come to Watch Me Grow Inc. Facebook Page, Wednesday at 6:30pm PDT for the Facebook Discussion #TraumaInformed #ACEs #InvestInOurYouth #HakeemBrownforMayor #Vallejo #Solano #SolanoKidsCount ...