Blog

By David Wagner, LAist, August 19, 2020 Federal unemployment benefits have ended . Nearly a million Californians have applied for unemployment benefits and are likely eligible, but haven't received them. And according to the latest numbers , L.A. County still has an unemployment rate of close to 20%. The need for unemployment benefits has never been greater in our recent history. But for millions of out-of-work Californians, navigating the state's confusing and outdated unemployment system...

By Scott Linesburgh, Stockton Record, August 17, 2020 Alayssia Townsell has heard the trauma of racial injustice in the worried voice of her younger brother. The 19-year-old Stockton native and University of California, Los Angeles sophomore became a social justice activist in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, but the issue is very personal to her. She said she thinks often about a heartbreaking conversation with her 9-year-old brother, a fourth-grader who fears the injustices facing...

By Kayla Jimenez, Voice of San Diego, August 18, 2020 Teenagers were instrumental in leading many of the racial justice protests across San Diego County over the summer. Now that school is resuming, they’re taking their grievances to their respective school boards and pushing for administrators to implement ethnic studies classes that reflect students’ diverse backgrounds as a graduation requirement. This is the first year San Diego Unified, the largest district in the county, will require...

By Karen De Sa and Nadra Nittle, The Imprint, August 18, 2020 Has your child ever lived with a parent or caregiver who went to jail or prison? Has your child’s parent or caregiver ever had depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or anxiety? Have caregivers struggled with too much alcohol, street drugs or prescription meds? Has any adult in the household ever hit your child so hard that it left marks? Has anyone had oral, anal or vaginal sex with your child? These are among 17 questions...

By Cal Matters, August 2020 How will this continued state of isolation during the pandemic affect the long-term mental health of children in California? If you’re a parent, teacher, care provider or guardian, join us as we explore this question and discuss the impact of this unprecedented time on our state’s youth. CalMatters mental health reporter Jocelyn Wiener will moderate the conversation about the potential long-term effects of COVID-19 on mental health, what behaviors to watch for in...

We're very excited to announce the launch of our next online course: Preparing Your Practice for ACEs Screening . This is the third in our series of four courses assisting clinics in starting or improving an ACEs screening program. This course will enable you to: Discuss key Electronic Health Record build components for data capture and monitoring. Apply quality/performance improvement methodologies to adversity screening. Understand how to align adversity screening with other organizational...

August 25 Webinar Will Feature a RWJF Culture of Health Prize-winning Community's Green Initiatives A green vision for economic growth can have a positive effect on health outcomes in a community, something 2019 RWJF Culture of Health Prize-winner Gonzales, California has experienced firsthand. Join us for a webinar on August 25 to learn from the City of Gonzales about the Gozales Grows Green (G3) initiative, and how a collaborative, multi-sector enterprise like G3 can foster environmental...

PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC ART INTERVENTIONS FOR NAVIGATING TRAUMA PAINT (Psychotherapeutic Art Interventions for Navigating Trauma) Are you a California school-based mental health provider working with students covered by Medi-Cal? Do you want to deepen your knowledge of evidence-based, trauma-informed and relationship-centered practices? Do you want to learn about innovative and engaging art-based interventions that have been adapted for Telehealth delivery? ‍ TRAINING SERIES START DATE: Sept. 22,...

Local Sebastopol non-profit Peacetown is spreading joy and community engagement through the Family Village's project called Peace Bags. Every week for 13 weeks a different local organization "sponsors" a week by providing printed resources and an activity that supports community connection, family engagement, and some fun. The bags are distributed for FREE in collaboration with a local toy store. I happen to come across a conversation on one of the posts I made regarding Peace Bags. The post...

Nadine Burke Harris, California’s Surgeon General, has a lot in common with the vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris—Jamaican heritage, surname, home state—and a commitment to addressing ACEs and toxic stress. As reported in the New Yorker article by Paul Tough, “The Poverty Clinic,” Dr. Harris told Kamala Harris, then San Francisco district attorney, about ACEs in 2008 and in response, she offered to help. District Attorney Harris then introduced her to professor of child and...

NOTE: This summer, the Center for Youth Wellness was extremely proud to host intern Alan Huang, a rising Senior at UC Berkeley double-majoring in Neurobiology and Music. During his internship through the Boston Consulting Group Ambassador program, Alan wrote the following post about ACEs in the Asian American community. Although the link between adverse childhood experiences and subsequent health outcomes has been well-established, there is still much that is unknown about the nuanced...

From Addressing Social Determinants of Health through Cross-Sector Collaboration, UC Berkeley, August 2020 Irán Barrera, PhD., LCSW is a professor of Social Work at the Department of Social Work Education (DSWE) at Fresno State (College of Health and Human Services). Professor Barrera is examining the impact of a six-week parent child engagement intervention using a coloring book focused on educating families about the impact of ACEs on child development. Strikeout Toxic Stress! is designed...