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Dear friends at ACEsConnection, I thought it might be of interest to you to see an example of how I am integrating the themes of resilience building, and in particular the measures from the Children and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-12+4), into our chapel times on campus at Intermountain Residential Services in Helena, Montana. What appears below is part of the lesson built around the tried and true measure of resilience: can the child identify skills and abilities that are making them more...

COA Awareness Week is a national – and international – awareness campaign to break the painful silence and offer hope to vulnerable children impacted by parental addiction. We collectively provide tools to help communities educate professionals and parents to the issues at hand, and how to help these kids and teens who live in homes that are stressful, and sometimes frightening. With addiction now a national health epidemic, and communities across the country struggling with ever-increasing...

TRENTON >> There is an alarming trend that has grabbed the attention of legislators and doctors. Black babies in New Jersey are dying at a rate of three times greater than their white counterparts. On Monday afternoon, U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12) called an emergency roundtable meeting in Trenton to address the issue. [For more on this story by David Foster, go to...

ASHLAND -- Ashland High School principal Mike Riley updated Ashland City Schools board of education members Monday on his efforts to identify students who have experienced trauma. The goal is to help them develop resilience and discover a sense of hope for the future. Riley has started this effort with at-risk students at the high school, and the district's administrative team is discussing how to expand the effort to reach more students at a younger age. Citing the Adverse Childhood...

In Sonoma County, invitations to speak about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and resilience kept pouring in. There simply weren’t enough qualified trainers to go around. When Sonoma County ACEs Connection leaders applied for the MARC grant, they proposed using some of the money to develop a speakers’ bureau. Then they decided to expand that vision: Why not a nine-month fellowship for a cohort of 25 “master trainers”—two days of intensive education with Robert Anda and Laura Porter,...

According to the report: "States provide the data for this report through the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). NCANDS was established in 1988 as a voluntary national data collection and analysis program to make available state child abuse and neglect information. Data have been collected every year since 1991, and NCANDS now annually collects maltreatment data from child protective services agencies in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of...

Science is consistently proving how important mindset is in achieving overall well-being. Our thoughts and words subconsciously influence our behaviors, they often become a self-fulfilling prophecy. We receive verbal and non-verbal feedback from the outside world on a daily basis. Our own “inner critic” also provides continual feedback to us. This feedback, whether it be verbal or non-verbal, in itself means nothing. Where we get into trouble is when we perceive it to mean something about...

The opioid epidemic has cost the U.S. more than a trillion dollars since 2001, according to a new study, and may exceed another $500 billion over the next three years. The report by Altarum, a nonprofit group that studies the health economy, examined CDC mortality data through June of last year. The greatest financial cost of the opioid epidemic, according to the report, is in lost earnings and productivity losses to employers. Early deaths and substance abuse disorders also take a toll on...

Indianapolis — In Indiana, a 17-year-old can deliver a baby and then give a doctor permission to circumcise him. But during her delivery, she can’t give the doctors permission to give her an epidural. She needs her parents to consent to that, and they can refuse. The 17-year-old can consent to her infant’s hearing testing, vaccines and anything else the baby might need. But she cannot consent to a long-acting, reversible contraceptive — such as an IUD or an arm implant — to prevent her from...

In Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood, as NPR recently reported, a group of older people gathers weekly for political discussions over breakfast . The get-together, along with regular outings to museums, plays, and even to other cities, is offered through the neighborhood’s “village”—a nonprofit membership organization formed in 2002 designed to assist residents who wish to remain in their homes as they age. Members pay several hundred dollars a year in dues, which cover an office and small...

Editor's Note: The photography credits have been corrected to Calvin Megginson. WILMINGTON, N.C. — Until the opioid epidemic began seeping into nearly every city and town in the country, the idea of a Main Street storefront offering free needles, alcohol wipes and small metal cookers for heroin users was unthinkable in a conservative Southern city like this one. But these days, most of the roughly 100,000 residents of this historic port on the Cape Fear River are painfully aware that their...

In the year since President Donald Trump vowed to put a stop to an epidemic of "American carnage," his administration has made sweeping changes to the Department of Justice's policies. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has chipped away at President Barack Obama's justice reform efforts, cutting back on federal oversight of police departments and reversing course on mandatory minimums , marijuana policy , and private prisons . The changes could send federal prison populations climbing again. And...