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An onslaught of violence begs the question: What makes us safe? Should we run and hide, should we become heavily armed, should we only speak with people who look like us? It would be easy to frame recent hate crimes in Monsey , Pittsburgh , and San Diego solely as anti-Semitic. It is that and more. Hateful attacks against Jews indicate a “rot in democracy” and call for systemic reform, according to History Professor Dr. Deborah Lipstadt. I began thinking about safety over 25 years ago when a...

This is a good story about mental health. Let’s say a bunch of social workers, nurses, trauma specialists, philanthropists, non-profit professionals, writers, EMTs, and data crunchers walk into a bar. Knock knock, no joke, this actually happened in December 2019. Mental health professionals begin to schmooze over spinach mushroom rolls, cheese and hummus platters, and ginger brew. Sounds good right. There’s so many reasons to luv Philly. The event was sponsored by the Scattergood Foundation...

(retrieved from https://www.utsa.edu/today/2019/10/story/mind-matters.html) Before 12-year-old Rihanna Briseño started taking classes at Good Samaritan Community Services, she was quick to dislike people and get angry. The Rhodes Middle School sixth-grader didn’t know why, but sometimes her brain told her the right thing was to beat another kid up. “I would say those things that I’m not going to say now,” Rihanna told the...

I was doing some writing and research and found this study I thought should be shared here: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5949a1.htm#tab2

More press coverage on our veterans work in jail: https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2019/12/09/veterans-jail-workshop-anti-violence/

Some press coverage of our Incarcerated Veterans PTSD/ACEs work: thenewstribune.com/news/local/crime/article129943994.html#

For the last five years I have been doing trauma recovery workshops with veterans incarcerated in a county jail. We've served some 600 men. Virtually all have PTSD. Surprisingly a large portion of the source of this trauma predates their enlistment, that is they have substantial ACEs. In writing about this experience I have come across the following study to share in hopes it will be valuable to others here: Disparities in Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Individuals With a History of...

“Trauma-informed care” is a movement. Service providers are talking about it. Researchers are studying it. Theorists are writing about it. Academics are teaching it. Practitioners are implementing it. What is trauma informed care? SAMHSA (2014) seeks to answer this question by providing a list of trauma-informed principles. These include: Safety Trustworthiness and transparency Peer support Collaboration and mutuality Empowerment, voice, and choice Understanding culture, history, and gender...

Join the national – and international – awareness campaign to break the painful silence and offer hope to the vulnerable kids and teens impacted by parental addiction. While some of these children find a supportive adult who helps protect them from the worst, others may be alone and unaware that healing is possible. As rates monitoring addiction continue to rise, as well as its related overdose, we cannot afford to forget the countless children – those who are often the first hurt and last...

Please join this ACEs Connection co-sponsored webinar "Making Meaningful Change: Addressing ACEs through Public Policy" on Feb. 18 (11:30 am-1:00 pm ET) presented by the Health Federation of Philadelphia and MARC (Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities). In this webinar, three nationally recognized experts will discuss policy and advocacy strategies on a local, state, and national level using evidence from studies they have conducted with legislators and the general public. Speakers...

By Brent Sugimoto, American Academy of Family Physicians, January 29, 2020 Quick quiz: Which of the following is not associated with exposure to adverse childhood experiences, also known as ACEs? [child being threatened] A) Heart disease B) Cancer C) Chronic lung disease D) Obesity E) Parkinson's disease The answer: All of the above conditions have been closely associated with ACEs except Parkinson's disease, but a recent study suggests that even Parkinson's disease(www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) may...

By Daniel J. Levitin, Thrive Global, January 28, 2020 Stress is also an emotion, one that we share with other animals and with one another across the life span, although the causes of stress can be quite variable. Chronic stress is especially harmful. Stress is also highly variable—what would stress out one person another takes in stride, and vice versa. Stress can have a substantial impact on longevity. Consider an experiment with Pacific salmon. After swimming upstream to spawn, and...