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Genentech is excited to launch a new philanthropic initiative, The Resilience Effect , to address childhood adversity and its long-term effects on health. For more than 40 years, our company has pursued groundbreaking science to improve the lives of people facing serious and life-threatening diseases. That’s why, when we learned about the emerging science behind the effects of toxic stress and the connection between early adverse childhood experiences and diseases later in life, we knew we...

On the night of April 29, 2005, Akron, Ohio, police officers found 35-year-old William Hale lying in the doorway of his neighbor’s home, not breathing, unresponsive, and bleeding from several gunshot wounds to the torso. An ambulance rushed Hale to Akron General Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead at 10:12 pm. The accused shooter, a man I’ll call Buddy, claimed he shot Hale in self-defense. But the Summit County Criminal Court found Buddy guilty of manslaughter and sentenced him to...

As the #MeToo movement has gathered steam, women have gone public with accusations of sexual misconduct by professors at dozens of colleges. But one institution in particular has faced reproach as a hotbed of abusive behavior. The Berklee College of Music was described in a recent Boston Globe article as having a "a culture of blatant sexual harassment." The Globe’s characterization did not surprise students or faculty members at the college, many of whom said they knew or had heard about...

The wartime evacuation of Finnish children more than 70 years ago might have been an historical footnote, its cost to human health and happiness lost in the passage of time. More than 70,000 Finnish children were separated from their parents in a frantic rout and whisked away to institutions and foster families in Sweden and Denmark. The aim of this mass migration of unaccompanied children was to shield them from harm, as Finland had become a battleground for clashing Soviet and German...

Who doesn’t want to be thriving in life?! The real question is: how do you get to there? In a recent study, researchers reviewed what was known about how human beings thrive. They examined personal factors and environmental factors and found that there are certain qualities that contribute to a thriving life. Here I’ll discuss 7 pathways to thriving and the character strengths that support them. [For more on this story by Ryan M. Niemiec, go to...

By next fall, millions of K-8 students in California schools may be learning from history textbooks that astronaut Sally Ride was a lesbian, Walt Whitman was gay, and a Gold Rush era stagecoach driver named Charley Parkhurst was born a woman, but lived as a man. California earlier this month became the first state in the country to adopt textbooks that highlight the contributions of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender to the development of the state and country. As...

Editor’s note: This story was produced in conjunction with On Campus , a Civil Beat podcast series that tracks the first year of a new school in Hawaii and examines big education issues in America. Thanks to ACEs Connection member, Godwin Higa, who retired this year as principal of Cherokee Point Elementary School in San Diego, CA, for being a champion in this article. Nothing about the classroom looked abnormal. Seventh-grade teacher Allison Harkey stood at the front of her Wheeler Middle...

Thank you to ACEs Connection members Bea Hollander-Goldfein and Nancy Isserman for this story. In the 1980s, most of the research Bea Hollander-Goldfein was reading about how Holocaust survivors were faring psychologically focused entirely on the damage the Nazis had done. That didn’t ring completely true to Hollander-Goldfein, a psychologist whose parents were both survivors. She saw problems, but also successes. In 1988, she gathered a team of 16 — six were children of survivors — to study...

His Holiness the Dalai Lama met with former U.S. President Barack Obama Friday in New Delhi, India. Friday’s meeting marks the sixth time His Holiness and Obama have met, though its the first since Obama left office in January. The two reportedly discussed “compassion and altruism,” Obama was visiting New Delhi amidst a five-day world tour that took him to India, China, and France. Kasur Tempa Tsering, a representative of the Dalai Lama’s office, said that the Dalai Lama told Obama, “You are...

Guided Imagery & Parenting with ACEs: Chat with Belleruth Naparstek "Trauma isn't even stored in the parts of the brain where language can access it. Instead it's been cached as frozen, primitive, pre-language experience - sensation, perception, emotion, images and motor reactivity - in the survival-based structures of the brain. What does help are tools that target the affected parts of the brain." Belleruth Naparstek Psychotherapist, author and guided imagery pioneer Belleruth...

The Neuro Trauma Healing Process (NTHP) is a new modality that has the ability to bring trauma to resolution - for good. This is the last chance to join the interactive webinar and experience the profound effects of this simple, safe and powerful way of being able to fully heal from your past. When: Wednesday December 6th from 5:30 - 7:30 (PST) Where: On-line Cost: $49.00 CAN Click Here To Join The Reclaim Your Power Interactive On-line Workshop and Experience The Effectiveness Of The Neuro...

ACEs, Adversity's Impact Spanking linked to increase in children's behavior problems Report names lasting, traumatic effects of homelessness on young children in L.A. County, first 5 LA calls for trauma-informed approach to help kids Millions of youth are homeless for more than month at a time, new study finds Trauma is an experience, not an event Environmental adversities and psychotic symptoms: The impact of timing of trauma, abuse, and neglect Brain and Biology Holding infants -- or not...