March 2020

This YouTube video of a 2016 webinar is a great overview of trauma informed care, including an introduction to ACEs. Introduction to Trauma Informed Care for the Children, Caregivers and Ourselves Check out this book recommendation: The Cultural Nature of Human Development

By Ryan White, Center for Health Journalism, March 18, 2020 Think of the brain, honed by millennia of evolution, as a powerful predictive machine, constantly scanning the horizon for signs of what’s to come. Like an eager young scout, the brain relishes the state of readiness. But what happens when that future is shrouded in a thick fog of uncertainty? Or worse, when that veil conceals real threats to our safety and well-being that exceed our control? That’s essentially the situation we all...

We have the best community. And it feels like a community even more right now when things are scary, threatening, and uncertain. Yesterday, Jondi Whitis shared an amazing resource yesterday, by way of a comment, that's great for parents, survivors, providers, and families (all of us). I am making it a blog post in case others missed it or are overwhelmed, as I have been, by sifting through the information coming at us. The home page lets you easily find practices for calming. Here's one...

I have a single mom friend who is caring for a baby, a 16-year old, and working full-time. Her name is Heidi. This is the same friend, with an ACE score of 10, written about here a few years ago. This is what she posted on Facebook (and gave me permission to share) the day after Governor Charlie Baker announced the schools in MA will be closed, at least, until early May: The numerous and immediate comments and responses went something like this: I sighed in relief when I read Heidi's post. I...

By University of Buffalo School of Social Work, March 20, 2020 To develop your self-care plan, you will identify what you value and need as part of your day-to-day life (maintenance self-care) and the strategies you can employ when or if you face a crisis along the way (emergency self-care). There is no “one-size-fits-all” self-care plan, but there is a common thread to all self-care plans: making a commitment to attend to all the domains of your life, including your physical and...

By Miranda Bryant, The Guardian, March 19, 2020 In the face of indefinite isolation, contagion, financial uncertainty, and with no return to normality in sight, coronavirus is taking its toll on our collective mental health. Crisis Text Line, which operates in the US, UK and Canada, has seen a huge rise in volume since late February, and 80% of the texts it receives about coronavirus deal with anxiety. In these unprecedented times, what can people do to bring themselves a bit of mental...

By Mary Wilde, Yahoo Lifestyle, March 18, 2020 Despite four years of medical school, three years of residency and over a decade in practice, I was never taught the profound connection between high childhood stress and increased risk of chronic disease. It was at a community event sponsored by our local school district that I first learned it, as I watched the documentary entitled, “Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope.” Suddenly, the medical education I had been...