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Earlier today, Congress confirmed Mick Mulvaney, President’s Donald Trump’s nominee for budget director. Mulvaney, a Republican from South Carolina, has, in the past, proposed dramatic cuts to programs like Medicare and Social Security. Judging by a new report from the the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank, those cuts would be especially detrimental to white, working-class Americans. [For more of this story, written by Dwyer Gunn, go to ...

Do you ever get the feeling that something is really wrong with your relationship — but can’t put your finger on it? Not all red flags are obvious. Of course, things like physical abuse or infidelity can be easy to recognize. But many signs of trouble are harder to spot. As a relationship therapist, I’ve seen a lot of serious problems. And they often have common underlying themes. Of course, partners can change, and therapy is a great place to start. Sometimes, though, it simply won’t get...

The Valley of the Moon Children’s Home, an emergency shelter for children removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect, is poised for a major transition that would dramatically reduce the number of days youths could be housed there. The change will limit stays to 10 days and require the shelter to respond more quickly and appropriately to a child’s trauma, with an emphasis on promoting physical, psychological and emotional safety. Each one of the shelter’s 93-member staff, from cooks...

After Donald Trump’s presidential victory, many left-leaning politicians and commentators started considering what sort of message would help them regain political power. Given the clear racial subtext to the 2016 campaign—Trump stereotyped Mexican immigrants and Muslim families , and Hillary Clinton spoke openly about systemic racism—and who ultimately won, some concluded that Democrats should stop using so-called “identity politics” to try to win elections. The argument went that this...

It began with a shocking text message that left the staff at DoSomething.org deeply shaken. The non-profit organization was originally created to promote youth volunteer and social action opportunities. It uses texting—the primary way in which teens communicate —to send thousands of daily messages alerting members to clothing drives, health fairs, park clean-ups, and more. Responses have been common. In addition to the usual sign-up requests, texters have also sought advice on how to handle...

Bryan Clement, Dovetail Learning, gave a compelling presentation to the ACEs Connection community coalition in Sonoma County, CA, in late January. He began with a video showing how kids are putting social and emotional skills into action in their school settings (English and Spanish versions embedded below): TOOLBOX clearly offers great tools for strengthening relationships between folks of all ages. It also provides the language and framework creating a strong relationship-based foundation...

The Center for Health Care Strategies put together this PDF. It's attached so that you can download and post. Thanks, Leslie Lieberman, for the link!

The Connecticut Women's Consortium and the Connecticut Dept. of Mental Health and Addiction Services posted the 2017 winter edition of Trauma Matters. Articles include: The Bond that Harms: The Impact of Trauma Bonding on Human Trafficking Victims Trauma in Women Experiencing Homelessness Ask the Experts: A Conversation with Sebern Fisher ART: An Emerging Evidence-Based Therapy for Treatment of PTSD and Related Comorbidities It's attached here for download.

WEBINAR: Using a Mindfulness-based Social Emotional Learning Program with K-2 Students, Teachers, and Parents in Chicago Public Schools Tuesday, February 28 1:30pm-2:30pm The Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative is pleased to present this exciting webinar illustrating ways to build resiliency within the educational system. Dr. Amanda Moreno and Erikson Institute doctoral student Kandace Thomas will present features of the Calm Classroom K-2 project, a large randomized controlled trial of...

This story occurred in the early part of the AIDS epidemic. In 1991, I was part of a coalition working to develop local home care options for AIDS patients. This was before the first AIDS treatment drugs became available, so the prognosis for someone with AIDS was not good. They got sick. If they recovered, they were likely to get sick again soon. Back then, HIV disease was still an unfamiliar and frightening illness, even for medical personnel. The general public was concerned about...

Wendy Ellis wanted to know what made some children thrive and others suffer, even when both had been exposed to the same cascade of adversities. She yearned to unlock that mystery on the population level. It was the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study Ellis stumbled upon while board president of Childhaven, a childhood trauma treatment program in Seattle, that began to shape her inquiry. “The science gave me a vocabulary, a way to understand certain things I had seen in childhood. I...

As recognition of the widespread impact of trauma increases, the desire to provide trauma-informed care is at the forefront of a movement to build resilience and prevent and mitigate the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Given the growing momentum for change and the need to bolster awareness of promising practices in trauma-informed care, the Illinois ACEs Response Collaborative researched over 300 programs to develop this Environmental Scan Report. The goal of the Scan was to...