Andrea C Hummel is trained in multicultural diversity, mediation and trauma recovery. She holds a Masters in applied anthropology from American University, with post-graduate studies in intercultural conflict mediation. She's trained in ShadowWork and Multi-Track Diplomacy, and holds a theory certification in TSM psychodrama for post-traumatic growth.
Love Yourself!
The journey toward mental wellness and self-care can be especially challenging for trauma survivors. According to the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) Trauma is literally translated to “wound, injury, or shock,” and Esther Giller of the Sidran Institute says “[trauma] refers to extreme stress that overwhelms a person’s ability to cope.” With these statements in mind, we can begin to understand the challenges trauma survivors face when working toward...
Social work has never been the focus of my professional life. I was born and raised in the IT world, so it was a surprise when someone suggested that childhood trauma was something that I could help solve. When I first heard the term adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), I was asked to take a ten question survey about experiences that may have impacted my life. No problem, I thought, my childhood wasn’t perfect but “trauma?” Nah! It’s amazing how triggering ten questions can be. As I...
By Lucia Graves, The Guardian, February 13, 2020 Louise Godbold had recently come from a press conference at Harvey Weinstein’s criminal trial in New York and within 24 hours she’d be on a plane again going back there. But today Godbold, one of more than 90 women to come forward with claims against the disgraced movie mogul, is doing what she’s trained to: helping trauma survivors overcome the injuries that powerful abusive men like Weinstein so often leave in their wake. On a cloudy Tuesday...
By April Dembosky, KQED, February 6, 2020 Years later, Rudy Coronado still refers to what happened as "that day." He thinks about what he said, what he didn't say and what he wishes he could take back. The signs he missed – and the signs he saw, but ignored. "That day, Carol was acting kind of weird," he stammered. "She was just different." Not different the way his wife was usually different, the traits that charmed Rudy when they first met at a doughnut shop in Carson: her simple, no...
By Amanda Merck, Salud America!, February 12, 2020 Early childhood adversity like abuse and divorce is a root cause of many of the greatest public health challenges we face today. But doctors don’t even screen children for exposure to adversity. That’s changing in California, thanks to Dr. Nadine Burke Harris and other child advocates. As of Jan. 1, 2020, almost 100,000 physicians in 8,800 clinics will be reimbursed for routinely screening Medi-Cal patients for adverse childhood experiences...
By TCR Staff, The Crime Report, February 7, 2020 Thousands of Texas schoolchildren—many of them African Americans— are victimized by “zero tolerance” school discipline policies that land them in the criminal justice system, says the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC). In a new report, the TCJC found that the over-reliance on police to impose discipline inside classrooms resulted in 144, 432 students from Pre-Kindergarden to 5th grade receiving in-school suspensions between 2015 and...
Your ACEs prevention project, including innovations and projects focused on ensuring that all children, students and families have access to behavioral health care, medical care, stable housing, secure food sources and fully-resourced community schools, will depend on support from local and state leadership. We must start building those relationships thoughtfully, strategically and respectfully. To succeed with your mission to ensure trauma-free and thriving childhoods, consider a very long...
Excessive or prolonged activation of stress response systems in early childhood can have damaging effects on learning, behavior, and health across the lifespan. Such toxic stress can occur when a child experiences strong, frequent, and/or prolonged adversity without adequate adult support. But that's not the whole story. With the right supports, toxic stress doesn't have to lead to bad outcomes. The second episode of the Center's new podcast, The Brain Architects, explores what toxic stress...
In response to an overwhelming demand for information about ACEs science, screening tools, and guidance on how to implement ACEs screening, CYW has developed a suite of online courses in order to make our training more accessible to a broader audience. Developed by a team of pediatricians, research scientists, public health experts, and clinical quality improvement experts, these courses are the first of four online courses that will aid medical providers/practitioners in understanding and...
By Peter Nickeas and Elyssa Cherney, Chicago Tribune, February 12, 2020 Since last year, every school in Illinois has been required by law to conduct active shooter drills to prepare students for potential violence. But two national teacher unions are calling for an end to the practice of simulating violence during such drills because of the potentially harmful effects they can have on the mental health of students and teachers. The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education...
From the Urban Institute, February 2020 40 million Americans, including 12.5 million children, face food insecureity, meaning they don’t have adequate access to healthy food. The Urban Institute recently released an interactive map that allows users to explore county-level food insecurity throughout the country and identify relevant risk factors. We sat down with Urban Institute fellow Elaine Waxman to learn more about the tool, the implications of food insecurity, and how the tool helps...
By Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic, February 7, 2020 In the 2010s, the national unemployment rate dropped from a high of 9.9 percent to its current rate of just 3.5 percent. The economy expanded each and every year. Wages picked up for high-income workers as soon as the Great Recession ended, and picked up for lower-income workers in the second half of the decade. Americans’ confidence in the economy hit its highest point since 2000, right before the dot-com bubble burst. The headline economic...
By Karen de Sa and John Kelly, The Chronicle for Social Change, February 5, 2020 A California senator introduced groundbreaking legislation this week to extend the state’s foster care system through age 25 – a bill that acknowledges the continued failure to prepare young people severed from families for life on their own. The early-stage Senate Bill 912 has few details yet available, and no price tag. But its lofty aim would make California the first state to expand such support and services...