Blog

By Karissa Luckett, RN, BSN, MSW Common reactions to stress will fade over time for most children. Let’s be honest: Your exploring, tactile toddler won’t suddenly start keeping their hands to themselves. Your continually forgetful preschooler won’t suddenly start hand-washing properly just because you’ve told them it’s important. Depending on their ages, stages and temperaments, some children will require more reassurance or more time to shift than others. This situation is unique, and so is...

By Michelle Wiley and Shannon Lin, KQED, March 24, 2020 Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom enacted a shelter-in-place order across California. The order, which limits the kinds of businesses and activities that are allowed, is meant to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and encourages people to stay inside their homes as much as possible. But what do you do when home is a dangerous place? For many survivors of domestic violence in California, sheltering in place can feel strangely familiar. Many...

From Center for Optimal Brain Integration, March 2020 The Center for Optimal Brain Integration™ trains, coaches and consults internationally on trauma informed practices and strategies that promote healing and build resilience. "Giving Every Child and Adult a Voice" "Growing Human(E) Beings" Training and Consultation for: Educators Community Leaders Parents and Caregivers Foster Parents Administrators Clinicians Organizations and Systems of Care Communities [ Please click here to access the...

From Mindful Leader, March 22, 2020 To help keep us connected while we are isolated, help us stay calm during a time of great anxiety, to give us an opportunity to care for one another, and to be together, we are providing free live & online - daily meditation & support groups multiple times throughout the day. Every weekday, Monday - Friday, from Monday, March 23rd - Friday, May 1st at the times listed below we will offer 30 minute live & online - daily meditation & support...

Cissy's note: Excerpts from the most helpful article I have read so far about parenting during COVID-19 are below, from the Fatherhood Channel. It reminds me that my curiosity, interest, and ability to offer a safe space are most important even if my inclination is to want to know what to say and to do. It's an article that helped me exhale instead of feeling guilty - and that alone is a relief.

Wednesday, March 25, 2020 2:00pm Eastern Time 1:00pm Central Time 12:00pm Mountain Time 11:00am Pacific Time (AZ) To register, click here . Rick Miller Founder of Kids at Hope and Professor of Practice and Clinical Director at Arizona State University’s Center for the Advanced Study and Practice of HOPE will be joined by very special guests for a series of weekly Online HOPE Forums exploring the soul, science and practice of HOPE during times of uncertainty. Joining Rick for the first of...

This YouTube video of a 2016 webinar is a great overview of trauma informed care, including an introduction to ACEs. Introduction to Trauma Informed Care for the Children, Caregivers and Ourselves Check out this book recommendation: The Cultural Nature of Human Development

In our last article, we discussed the differences between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). One of these dissimilarities involves the living hell of emotional flashbacks. In this piece, we shall examine the definition of emotional flashbacks and ways to manage them. Should you become overwhelmed during this piece, please stop reading and do some grounding exercises. Afterward, put it aside and take this piece with you to your...

By Christine Carter, Greater Good Magazine, March 20, 2020 Last weekend, my kids began arriving home from their various schools. We invited our oldest daughter’s longtime best friend, Lena, over for a homecoming dinner. She’s like a member of our family, and we were excited to see her, too, despite closing schools and social-distancing recommendations. The kids are all healthy, we reasoned. We had Lena wash her hands when she came in; we resisted hugging her. On Monday we got a government...

By Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, March 23, 2020 Naomi Oreskes, a professor of the history of science at Harvard, has focussed much of her career on examining distrust of science in the United States. In 2010, she and the historian Erik M. Conway published “Merchants of Doubt,” which examined the ways in which politics and big business have helped sow doubt about the scientific consensus. Her most recent book, “Why Trust Science?,” examines how our idea of the scientific method has changed...

By Adam Cancryn, Politico, March 20, 2020 The Trump administration has held up $40 million in emergency aid Congress approved earlier this month to help American Indians combat the coronavirus — a delay that’s left tribal leaders across the nation frustrated and ill-equipped to respond to the fast-growing outbreak. The funding has languished in bureaucratic limbo for weeks, despite increasingly urgent pleas from tribal organizations desperate to stockpile essential supplies and keep health...

By Matthew Morton and Jha'asryel-Akquil Bishop, The Chronicle of Social Change, March 24, 2020 Imagine you are 20 years old . You’ve been kicked out of your home and have no other stable place to live. According to research by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, you are among the estimated 4 million young people who experience homelessness every year in America. You face extraordinary difficulties that most young people don’t and may not ever have to. Chances are, you first fell into...