Blog

Please welcome these two new community initiatives from Idaho and Virginia to ACEs Connection . More information about each one of them is below. Caroline Virginia Community Resilience Network: Our local community network is newly formed in the Richmond, Va region and have a ton of support from local agencies, sheriff, Superintendent of Schools, and faith leaders who are passionate about changing the culture and trajectory of our community one family at a time. You are welcome to join the...

Do you feel like the “traditional ways” of helping traumatized children just aren’t working? You’re not alone and you no longer need to be frustrated. Recent discoveries in brain science has opened doors to new understanding and therefore, new approaches to helping traumatized children. HERE this NOW is thrilled to offer a 2-day affordable training workshop to introduce Dr. Bruce Perry's approach to assessing and treating trauma. An Introduction to NMT (Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics)...

From August to December 2019 I worked as a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) at a small school district in Northern California. The location was in the Salinas Valley and the geography is agricultural. The primary language spoken in the community is Spanish. I arrived in August just after school had started. The best and most amazing memory is the welcoming I received from my colleague Luisa. She had been working in the district for 6 years. Upon meeting me for the first time she gave me the...

By Yair Oded, Fair Planet, January 13, 2020 Women are the fastest growing prison population in the United States. Other than constituting yet another indication of how deeply flawed the American criminal justice system is, this fact has brought to light the incompetence of federal and private prisons in providing female inmates (particularly pregnant ones) proper medical care and protection from the rampant physical and sexual abuse they are subject to in detention. A Change.org petition...

By Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, January 2020 Today’s health challenges are influenced by factors well beyond the clinic walls, from our access to economic opportunity to the safety of our surroundings. Through our leadership development programs, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation supports and connects change leaders nationwide who are working to build a Culture of Health. Applications open January 10, 2020 for Clinical Scholars, Culture of Health Leaders, Health Policy Research Scholars,...

By Xenia Shih Bion, California Health Care Foundation, January 13, 2020 Once a month, patients line up early at La Clínica de la Raza’s San Antonio Neighborhood Health Center in East Oakland. They arrive with grocery bags and $10 vouchers written by their physicians for the most basic — and yet surprising — type of medicine: healthful food. Since 2018, La Clínica has been running “food pharmacies” to help patients obtain fresh, locally sourced produce. The food pharmacy program is part of...

By S.I. Rosenbaum, NationSwell, January 13, 2020 There’s a story about three men hauling stones that the artist Ben Shahn famously retells in his 1957 book, “The Shape of Content.” The story goes like this: As the men are toiling, a nameless passerby asks each of the three “in what work they were engaged.” As Shahn tells it, the three men each give three very different replies: “The first said, ‘I toil from sunup to sundown and all I receive for my pains is a few francs a day.’ “The second...

By Elizabeth Miller, Kelley A. Jones, Lisa Ripper, et al., JAMA Pediatrics, January 13, 2020 Key Points Questions Does an athletic coach–delivered gender violence prevention program for middle school male athletes increase positive bystander behaviors and reduce relationship abuse and sexual violence perpetration among youth athletes? Findings In this cluster randomized clinical trial including 973 male athletes, athletes in schools with sports teams receiving the Coaching Boys Into Men...

It is 2:46 am. Yes, I’m awake. Our four-year-old grandson just called out for me. He woke up and needed to use the bathroom. A dark, quiet house in the middle of the night can feel scary to a four-year-old. He called. I came to help. Once safely tucked back into bed he looked up at me and asked, “Grandmom, will you hold my hand?” Of course I extended my open hand, he clutched it, rolled over, and fell back to sleep. Paul and I have been quiet these first weeks of 2020 on Grandfamily Today...

By Diana Coholic, The Conversation, January 12, 2020 How do girls feel before and after learning mindfulness? The six girls in our program, aged 11 and 12, drew pictures showing that learning and practising mindfulness helped them feel more in control and compassionate, less judgmental, happy, focused, calm and logical, especially when they make good choices. These girls had just completed the 12-week holistic arts-based program (HAP) that we offer at Laurentian University, which teaches...

By Joan Kaufman, The Baltimore Sun, January 10, 2020 I was driving down East Biddle Street on my way to a Kennedy Krieger Institute satellite office several months ago when I saw two young men fighting in the street. One was repeatedly slamming the other’s head into the pavement. Crowds of onlookers lined both sides of the street and a string of drivers passed by. Fearing for the young man’s safety, I called 911. Late that evening I received a phone call from the police officer who responded...

By Laurie Schlosser, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, January 10, 2020 The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh professional counseling program is boosting mental health services in the region—training professionals for the workforce and lending a hand when needed. UWO Associate Professor Charles Lindsey and four graduate-level counseling students lent their assistance at Oshkosh West High School following a shooting incident on the morning of Dec. 3. Lindsey has worked at UWO for the past 15...