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By John Soghigian, Hometown Focus, October 4, 2019 Who would have thought that prenatal and childhood trauma could lead to teen and adult depression, obesity, smoking, heart disease, cancer and other ailments throughout life? Study after study has demonstrated just that. Such trauma can take many forms. Imagine life as a child beset by a home with a mentally ill parent, domestic violence, parental divorce or separation, substance abuse, or incarceration; physical, emotional, or sexual abuse;...

By Rebecca Bryan and Janice M. Beitz, Wound Management & Prevention, October 2019 Abstract Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) biologically embed by altering brain development and influencing epigenetic mechanisms. These experiences may generate health risk factors. Purpose: A literature review was conducted to compare ACE-generated health risk factors with risk factors for wound development and aberrant healing, as well as to identify a gap in literature regarding critical connections...

By Yesenia Amaro and Deepa Bharath, Center for Health Journalism News Collaborative, October 4, 2019 For almost two years, Sylvia Valenzuela relied on the federal Indian Health Service system to get the primary care she needed. But when she had to see an OB-GYN for her prenatal care, she was on her own. What followed, she said, was a nightmare in which she struggled to obtain and keep Medi-Cal coverage, leaving her uninsured for a critical stretch of her pregnancy. Valenzuela says she would...

I have been sober for over 4 years, by god’s grace, before that however I was a chronic relapser with severe depression. I lived the cycle between treatment, halfway and homelessness for years. I wanted so bad to get sober but that's the thing about recovery, wanting it is not enough, if it were that easy everyone would get sober. My issue was always in the action department, I would talk about what I was going to do constantly and when the time came to do it I always came up short. My...

The California Democratic Committee pass resolution to ban spanking this August, 2019! Ending Physical/Corporal Punishment of Children RESOLUTION NUMBER 19-05.112 WHEREAS there is overwhelming evidence that spanking is harmful to children and families as it increases aggression and violence long term, impacts normal brain development, and is ineffective in teaching responsibility and self-control, and the rationale for spanking is the same that was accepted for men hitting women in recent...

Beautifully written book review by Dr. Eve Rittenberg of Harvard Medical School. https://www.sgim.org/File%20Library/SGIM/Resource%20Library/Forum/2019/SGIM-Oct-7.pdf

Christina is an author, speaker, and truth seeker. She is an advocate of curiosity, courage and honesty as a path to personal transformation. She facilitates workshops as well as working privately with those who are serious about changing their life for the better

The October 3rd ACES Connection daily summary featured a recent brief about tools to measure trauma-informed care (TIC). The article highlight the Attitudes Related to Trauma-Informed Care (ARTIC) Scale as a promising tool for measuring TIC. The ARTIC Scale, previously only available in paper-and-pencil form, is now available on a fully automated online platform . As more governing bodies are mandating trauma-informed services, organizations and service systems are scrambling for tools to...

New article by Elizabeth Perry - Are You Living with an ACEs Legacy? I was and didn't know it until I heard about The ACE Study. Learning about ACEs gave me a sense of relief and freedom from shame. I encourage everyone to check their ACEs.

I am a poet, artist and child psychiatrist. So many youth have told me they have been bullied, and how alone, ashamed, and terrible this makes them feel in the present moment and for years to come. All of us read in the news, and many may even know personally, the diversity of children and teenagers who choose to kill themselves (be that impulsively or by planned action) to escape the pain of being bullied. I cannot even begin to imagine the depth of despair that parents, siblings, families,...

A new documentary film has recently been released called Conviction. It is self-described as A COLLABORATIVE DOCUMENTARY FILM THAT ENVISIONS ALTERNATIVES TO PRISON THROUGH THE EYES OF WOMEN BEHIND BARS I've recently seen the film and highly recommend it. The content is Canadian, but no doubt the issues the women deal with are universal.

By Emma Young, Big Think, October 3, 2019 Imagine seeing a photograph of a suffering child in the war-torn region of Darfur, in Sudan. Most of us would feel compassion towards that child. Now imagine seeing a photo of a group of eight children in the same terrible predicament. You'd feel correspondingly more compassion towards this larger group… right? Well, probably not. Plenty of studies have demonstrated what's known as the "numeracy bias" in compassion — that people's feelings of...