Tagged With "trauma-informed care"
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Looking at Children with a New Set of Eyes
Our children are giving us clear signs that we need some changes. After 300 years of industrial revolution our modern society has been shaped and molded by the industrial complex. Everything about our contemporary world is a product of the industrial age. We now live in homes, work in buildings, store our food, bake in ovens, and talk on cell-phones that are all formed out of square and rectangular shapes. One might say we have fashioned our existence around and into boxes. For many who...
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Many Washington foster kids become homeless. Tennessee may have found a solution.[Seattle Times]
More than a third of Washington's foster kids become homeless after leaving care. But in Tennessee, there's a possible solution, and Washington is looking at copying it. MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Terrineka Maxwell is only 19, but she’s already had a lot of people come in and out of her life: 20 foster families since she was taken from her mom at 2, and at least seven caseworkers in the past seven years. But her newest caseworker, Cindy Walker, is supposed to be different. Unlike most previous...
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MARC Booklet 2016: Features Walla Walla and Whatcom
Please find attached the 2016 booklet for the Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) project, including Walla Walla, Whatcom and the other 13 communities that have been selected to participate in this 2 year learning collaborative. This is a great summary of the work happening in all 14 communities across the country. I am looking forward to working with the WA group as we grow so we can share your story!
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Meet Allyn Griffin! One of CRI's Trainers.
Today we get to know Allyn Griffin, one of CRI's trauma-informed trainers out in the field based in Prescott, WA. What was your "aha" moment that took you into the world of ACEs and Trauma informed care? Just over five years ago, I was asked to speak at a friend’s retirement celebration. A close friend of mine and retired NASA astronaut, Leland Melvin, arranged a meeting with a group of NASA educators who were very influential at the time in creating national curriculum. That meeting and a...
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Meet CRI Founder Teri Barila
Today, we have the opportunity to get to know CRI’s founder and board president Teri Barila. Teri holds a M.S. Degree in Fisheries Science and Management, has over 20 years experience working for government agencies from the Bonneville Power Association in Portland to the Army Corp. of Engineers in Walla Walla, WA. She was a founder or major instigator for numerous community focused non- profits, most notably, Friends of Children of Walla Walla, Community Center for Youth (CCY), Commitment...
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Meet Rick Griffin! CRI's Dir. of Training + Curriculum
Today we have the chance to get to know Rick Griffin, CRI's Director of Training and Curriculum. Rick continues to speak to thousands of groups from all over the country and is widely recognized for his work with trauma-informed practices. What was your "aha" moment that took you into the world of ACEs and Trauma informed care? My "aha" moment came from two decades of working with struggling teens. I saw young men become frustrated far more easily and more often and communicate their...
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Meet the team--our new Associate Director, Rebecca Cooley
Rebecca joined the team at CRI in September, 2019 What was your "aha" moment that took you into the world of ACEs and Trauma informed care? Before I answer, I would like to say how honored and lucky I feel to have been chosen to work with Teri, Rick and others who are addressing health and wellbeing inequities. I love my job and what we do. It was a build up. Upon moving to Walla Walla, a friend encouraged me to see Paper Tigers at a public screening at Whitman College. Then within a few...
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Mobilizing ACEs, Trauma and Resilience Networks to Support and Strengthen Pandemic Response Efforts
“What are your signs of stress?” asked the leaders of a recent mindfulness webinar hosted by the Philadelphia ACE Task Force (PATF), held during the week that U.S. cases of COVID-19 neared half a million and more than sixty Philadelphians had died of the disease. Participants spilled their responses into the chat box: “headache…teeth grinding…can’t think clearly…nervous stomach…ruminating thoughts…muscle pain…itchiness…bad dreams.” [ At left: #TakeCarePHL during COVID-19 #StayHome #StaySafe.
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Mobilizing Action for Resilient Communities (MARC) Represented at California ACEs Conference
(L to R) Teri Barila from Children's Resilience Initiative in Walla Walla, WA along with Dr. Ariane Marie-Mitchell from San Bernardino County, CA ACEs Task Force share their ACEs journey in their communities Representatives from several MARC communities were among the 450 people who attended the 2016 Adverse Childhood Experiences Conference in San Francisco, CA on October 19th and 20th. This is the third CA ACEs conference sponsored by the Center for Youth Wellness (CYW), and it was also the...
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New grant-funded health care reporter [The Spokesman Review]
There are hundreds of untold stories about rural health care and precious few resources to tell those stories. Report For America, The Spokesman-Review and the Innovia Foundation have all committed to do something about that. On June 4, The Spokesman-Review will welcome Arielle Dreher as our rural health care reporter. Report for America is a national service program that places talented emerging journalists into local news organizations to report for one to two years on under-covered issues...
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New Study Shows Communities Can Reduce the Effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences [Mathematic Policy Research]
[ Ed. note: Following is a media release published yesterday by Mathematica Policy Research. This follows on the heals of the report, "Self-Healing Communities" that Laura Porter, Dr. Robert Anda and WHO wrote for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Both reports and executive summaries are attached to this blog post. Both reports are significant, because they show that community ACEs initiatives -- with "modest investments and limited staff" -- are solving some of our most intractable...
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NJ medical school program requires all first-year students to learn about ACEs science
In 2015, Dr. Beth Pletcher, a pediatrician and associate professor specializing in genetics, was at the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Washington D.C. when she heard two speakers that forever changed her work with medical students. Dr. Beth Pletcher “I went to two talks on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that were so mind-boggling to me that I decided on my drive back to New Jersey that I had to do something about it,”says Pletcher, director of the Division...
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October is Resilience Month in our Valley
CRI supported Walla Walla Clinic, Walla Walla Parks and Recreation and Michelle Coleman, LICSW, in the community event for the screening of Screenagers , a film addressing digital screen time and health issues (obesity, social isolation, mental health) in youth. CRI's resource table distributed our Practice a Resilience Strategy Every Day calendar (see it displayed in the attachment), our new Resilience across the Life Span bookmark, and other items for education and awareness. Great fun and...
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Official Proclamation - 4th Annual Resilience Awareness Month in Walla Walla
Mayor Allen Pomraning would like residents of Walla Walla to become informed about ACEs and support the work of the Children’s Resilience Initiative (CRI). CRI works tirelessly to mobilize the community through dialogue and action to radically reduce the number of ACEs while building individual and community resilience. 7 Quick Ways to Get Involved Create a self-care action plan now ! Find ideas in Resources and the Online Resilience Store on our website, http://resiliencetrumpsaces.org/...
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Our Collective Thoughts and Feelings on “The Heart of the Matter”
We measured the feelings of our CRI members with a thought provoking question at our monthly meeting in May. We asked “What is the heart of this work to you?” Our question provided a basis for why our efforts to raise the personal and public awareness about stress and trauma are so powerful! Twenty- three members and three guests sat around 5 tables and shared their passion about the trauma informed work we’re all doing. Poster paper was used at each table as members spelled out the key...
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Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion. Their Pain - FREE Screening for ACEs Connection Network!
I am excited to announce that ACEs Connection Network has partnered with the producers of the film, Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion. Their Pain . to host a FREE SCREENING of the film for our members. If you have been t hinking of hosting a screening of CAREgivers in your community or are interested in learning more about secondary traumatic stress and what to do about it, join our ACEs Connection Network for a FREE screening of this film and a virtual chat with the...
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PROMISING Strategies, Practices, Approaches
Beyond Paper Tigers Conference 2017 Wednesday, June 28 & Thursday, June 29, 2017 A fast-paced information and strategies conference for educators, clinicians, mental health workers & law enforcement. Learn how to effectively use cutting-edge brain science to address the overwhelming effects of chronic stress and trauma in the development of children. Beyond Paper Tigers 2017 provides a universal approach to this global concern. Follow the link below to register for the...
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Reaching the Tipping Point: 2019 BPT Big Idea Session by Jane Stevens
CRI is excited to welcome back Jane Stevens, Founder and Publisher of our very own ACEs Connection, to the 2019 Beyond Paper Tigers Conference in Pasco, Washington. Jane will be hosting a BIG IDEA session titled, "Reaching the Tipping Point." Reaching the national — and your local — tipping point. How can we do that in the next five years? And what happens when we do? We REALLY need to reach a tipping point —ASAP! —in educating people about ACEs science, engaging organizations in the ACEs...
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Rebuilding Lives while Building Homes: Tony McGuire's Resilience-Building Carpentry Class
Tony McGuire is a great carpenter. He ran his own construction business for years. Then he wanted to get into teaching. He became a Tenured Faculty member at a local community college, and landed in the state penitentiary as a Basic Skills Carpentry instructor. So how could that be connected to saving lives with a 20 buck investment? Tony got touched by CRI’s trauma-informed training. He saw himself past and present and knew somehow that, “with this information comes the responsibility to...
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Resilience tips
I was asked to prepare a one-pager to use following screenings of Paper Tigers , or in conjunction with using the ACE Questionnaire. While hard to capture all I wanted in one page, here is the product, in case it might be of use to others. ~~One reminder, from Dr. Rob Anda- it is very important that the ACE Questionnaire never be used as a diagnostic test. He reiterated this at the April 2016 Science of Hope Seattle WA. conference hosted by Healthy Generations. Now that you’ve watched Paper...
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Resilience tips for today's environment
I came across this graphic I had used for a Child Care Providers training. It made me think of families looking for tips while in "shelter in place". For Claim my calm , a parent's ability to remain calm is important for children to see modeled. "Serve and return" in action! Find my safe zone in my mind is having structure and routines in place. Our card speaks to this (and by the way, read books together as part of the routine!). Name my feelings helps us calm our emotions, or name it to...
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Resource List - Growing Cross-Sector, Community-Based ACEs and Resilience Initiatives
Resources for individuals, organizations, and communities moving along trauma and hope-informed pathways in order to: Prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Promote resilience and safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments. Promote equity and racial justice. Prevent substance abuse and promote mental health. … so that all children, youth, families and communities have equal opportunity for educational success, economic stability, health, and well-being.
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Self-Care Is One Thing ~ Community-Care Is Another
Contributing to society as a mentor is a priceless contribution to humanity. Mentoring is priceless because young minds are forming connections about the nature of existence that will determine resilience levels and decision making processes for the remainder of their lives. When we talk about resilience we’re talking about the manner in which a brain functions based on positive connections formed during early life experiences. One of the best ways to form a resilient mind is to be a person...
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Self-care leadership
Join the SELF-Leadership Cohort Your inner-state makes all the difference, as a care provider and/or leader. We are in a time of disruptive change that has us challenged and facing higher stress loads. We can turn to the N.E.A.R. Sciences to help us upgrade our practices for navigating change (N.E.A.R. = Neuroscience, Epigenetics, ACEs, and Resilience). Are you ready for new strategies and self-care practices? Join the six-week SELF-Leadership Cohort . The cohort launches June 9 th with...
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Self-Regulation Requires Community Care
A growing body of research shows that mental and emotional health is dependent on our ability to regulate emotions. One’s ability to regulate emotions is achieved by recognizing and transmuting the feelings, attitudes and thoughts that are naturally the unconscious drivers of behavior. Those who learn and develop their ability to self-regulate typically report improved attitudes and better relationships both at home and at work. Self-control and self-regulation are two very different...
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Stages and Ages: Make a Splash with our Fisheries-Inspired Activity! A Not-To-Be-Missed Social/Networking Event at 2019 BPT Pre-Conference
"In our community, we were first exposed to ACEs and brain architecture. We frequently talked about the impact of ACEs. Until this happened when Dr. Rob Anda came in . Because of this brave mom who shared her 10 ACE childhood Because of that vulnerability in a first exposure to ACEs Until finally… I finally knew we had to do this And now I was convinced to start CRI." - Our own Teri Barila uses the 7-Sentence Story model to tell of CRI's Incubation Stage. We are excited to bring to you a new...
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Talking ACEs and building resilience in prison
At Washington State Penitentiary, Tony McGuire talks to the inmates in his construction trades apprenticeship preparation (CTAP) class about ACEs, trauma and resilience every single day. Not only is he teaching the guys a trade, but he also teaches them how to be a healthy, happy and well-adjusted employee. Note: Becoming a healthy, happy, well-adjusted employee is way harder than basic carpentry, plumbing, electrical and HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning).
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Tapping a Troubled Neighborhood’s Inner Strength [NYTimes.com]
[First of three articles] Ten years ago, Patsy Hite, 70, rarely left her home at night. “I heard a lot of sirens so I always kept to myself,” she said. Hite lives in the Highlands, a 40-block section in Longview, a city in Cowlitz County in southwestern Washington. The Highlands is home to about 5,000 residents. The neighborhood is adjacent to an industrial district, and was hit hard by the loss of jobs in the timber and manufacturing industries. Long-term unemployment has brought blight,...
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Beyond Paper Tigers Presenter Showcase! Teaching Employability in Prisons: Tony McGuire’s Harmony of Emotional Resilience and Building Instruction
Tony McGuire- a member of Community Resilience Initiative, and an instructor for Walla Walla Community College at the Washington State Penitentiary- had divided his Building Maintenance class into random groups where white supremacists may be working on the same team as Native Americans. This choice was intentional; “there’s no affiliation on a job site, so you don’t get that here,” Tony told his students. Yet not long after the start of such teamwork, tools began flying. One student was...
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Beyond Paper Tigers Presenter Showcase! The Impact of Data on Community Growth: ACEs Connection's Framework and Tools
What can organizations do to be successful in growing their ACEs initiatives and trauma-informed communities? This is the question that Jane Stevens, founder of the social network ACEsConnection.com and news site ACEsTooHigh.com , helps to answer. For the last several years, Jane and her team at ACEs Connection have been collecting information from communities as they start and grow their ACEs initiatives. ACEs Connection staff watched and reported on communities like Walla Walla as they lay...
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The Journey From Me to We: The Walla Walla Way
“We’re all humans and we’re all going through the same things,” Kelsey Sisavath explains. “It’s important for everyone to know. It can change your perspective on how you see yourself, how you see others, and how you see the world.” The “it” Kelsey is talking about is trauma-informed and resilience-building practices based on the science of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) . She has a unique perspective on the topic given her range of experiences throughout her 19 years of life. The story...
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Trauma & Resiliency Summit in the Columbia River Gorge
Hello all! The Columbia River Gorge is hosting a Trauma & Resiliency Summit on October 20th & 21st, 2016 in The Dalles, OR. Registration is made free to attendees through MARC Grant funding. If you are in the area please join us! And please note that registration is only available prior to the event as we have a limited amount of space. Claire
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Upgrading the Medical Profession
Pediatrician Lisa Ponce expresses her concerns about the needs of her patients at last year’s Beyond Paper Tigers Conference. She says 5 minutes per patient simply does not give enough time to get to the heart of any matter where true healing can take place. “Seeing 30 kids a day to measure head circumferences and fix ear infections was not enough”. She asked herself important questions that began a change in her practice. She asked how can I provide optimal care and help these children...
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Washington State Prevention Summit - Nov 5-6
Registration is Now Open! Washington State Prevention Summit Celebrating 35 Years! Click here to register. Registration deadline: September 20, 2019 Date : November 5 - 6, 2019 Location : Yakima Convention Center 10 N. 8th St. Yakima, WA 98901 About the Summit The goal of the Prevention Summit is to provide an enriching and culturally competent training and networking opportunity for youth, volunteers and professionals working toward the prevention of substance abuse, violence and other...
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Washington to combine child services programs into one department [RealChangeNews.org]
A commission released its recommendations to fix Washington state’s faulty system that delivers services to children and families by breaking up the agency out of the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) and creating a new, independent department addressing the needs of children 21 years old and younger. The proposal would dramatically realign the current system, including the state’s foster care system, by taking the Children’s Administration out of DSHS and combining it with the...
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WEBINAR | Integrating a Trauma-Informed Approach into Substance Use Disorder Treatment
Join a webinar highlighting how two providers have incorporated trauma-informed care into their substance use disorder treatment practices, shaping the experiences of their patients and staff.
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Webinar Oct. 17 — Integrating ACEs science in pediatrics: Early adopters share lessons from the field
An ACEs Connection webinar co-sponsored with 4 CA In 2017, California became the first state in the country to pass a law supporting universal screening for adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the 5.3 million children in the state’s Medicaid program. As clinicians around California await the state’s announcement of what this new policy will entail, many are wondering what it takes to integrate ACEs science in a pediatric practice. Meet Drs. Deirdre Bernard-Pearl, R.J. Gillespie and...
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What does FUN have to do with brain function?
Now I know why Rick Griffin is so well loved by the Walla Walla community. I joined a group of 40 people last night and engaged in an entertaining evening of fun and learning. We played games and laughed while Rick directed the fun and informed us about the importance of community care. One of the games we played gave us the direct experience of caring for others. I was amazed how good I felt after an hour of learning and games. Then today as I sat in a critical thinking class at WWCC I...
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What other ACE surveys have additional questions? We know of seven.
We’ll start to populate the new Resource Center next month. One of the sections lists ACE surveys that have additional questions. The CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study revealed that ACEs contribute to most of our major chronic health, mental health, economic health and social health issues. It measured five types of abuse and neglect: physical, verbal and sexual abuse; physical and emotional neglect. And five types of family dysfunction: a family member with mental...
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What the ACEs Screening Movement Can Learn from the Healthcare Hotspotting Movement
No brief intervention or short-term infusion of services is a silver bullet that will overcome the long-term harm caused by structural racism, poverty, and multi-generational trauma.
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Who is There for the Children?
Abused or neglected children deserve to be safe, have a permanent home and the opportunity to thrive. That’s what Kathryn Barron stands for as a volunteer of the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program where she assists the process of representing children in the courtroom over family issues. At the 2016 Beyond Paper Tigers conference in Walla Walla Kathryn represented the law and court system sector. She informed us about the diligent efforts that CASA is making to insure that...
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Why Attend the 2017 Trauma-Informed Care Conference?
The documentary Paper Tigers sparked renewed interest in the effects of chronic, overwhelming stress and trauma on children’s development. Trauma-informed care is emphasized more than ever. Yet, parents, educators, clinicians, mental health workers and law enforcement alike still struggle to understand the impacts of trauma on brain development in a concrete and tangible way. This conference will provide concrete strategies that operationalize what brain science tells us will be most...
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Why Focus on Resilience? 2019 BPT Conference Big Idea Session with Teri Barila
“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in” -Desmond Tutu. This quote captures the essence of why resilience matters. To CRI, Resilience is not about “lifting yourself up by your bootstraps” or “bouncing back” from serious harm or injury. To us, Resilience is about self-discovery and self-awareness based on what the ACE Study, neurobiology, and epigenetics tell us about our development. It is...
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Beginning this Thursday- CRI Trauma-Informed Training for Trainers Course 1 Webinar - 4 part Course
CRI Trauma-Informed Training for Trainers Course 1 Webinar - 4 part Course Trauma-Informed Training for Trainers is a course that prepares individuals to conduct CRI’s Trauma-Informed Certification Program, Course 1 in his or her organization or agency. Attendee must have taken CRI’s Trauma-Informed Certification Course 1 as a prerequisite for this course. This online 4 Part [3 hours per part] Course will be held via Zoom on 4 Consecutive Thursdays. August 29th, September 5, September 12,...
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2019 BPT Early Bird Ticket Pricing ENDS April 1st!
Purchase Your Tickets NOW! Early Bird Ticket Pricing ENDS April 1, 2019! Join us for the latest information, and strategies to build RESILIENCE! CRI is honored to have expert presenters in their fields to showcase a diverse selection of sessions revolving around the BPT Conference theme, "Building Resilience Across the Life Span." Conference Session Descriptions and Presenter Biographies are now available for review! Buy Tickets Now! The 2019 Beyond Paper Tigers Trauma-Informed Care...
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A Simple Formula to Cultivate Understanding
Partner Showcase No. 6 - Sonia Cole The Heart of the Matter -- “We realized that in order to have a trauma informed practice we needed to have trauma informed self-care in order to not only sustain our careers but actually increase our compassion”. Sonia Cole Paradigm shifts were uncommon several years ago. Today, in our fast paced world of technology and change we might face new paradigm shifts every day. Sonia’s words are important because they contain a format that can help us shift from...
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A Valuable Voice in support of Collective Lenses, Dr. Shawn Ginwright
This past Thursday, the NW Children's Foundation sponsored a forum titled, "Community Trauma and Child Well-Being: Trauma-Informed Care and the Future of Healing." The forum featured Dr. Shawn Ginwright, an invaluable voice in the conversation about collective childhood trauma, one CRI is excited to support. Dr. Ginwright is Associate Professor of Education, and African American Studies at San Francisco State University and the author of Hope and Healing in Urban Education: How Activists are...
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ACEs Connection's Inclusion Tool makes sure nobody's left out
We developed ACEs Connection's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Tool — called the Inclusion Tool, for short — to ensure that ACEs initiatives across the world focus on being inclusive when forming a steering committee, recruiting leaders, providing education about ACEs science, recruiting members, or providing resources and services within their communities. The more inclusive your ACEs initiative is, the more diverse it will be, giving your initiative a real shot at achieving equity and...
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Alive and Well: Moving Missouri Toward Grass-Roots and System-Wide Change
On the eastern edge of Missouri, leaders of the Alive and Well network had generated a robust media campaign to help people understand the impact of trauma and toxic stress on health and well-being. There was a monthly column in an African-American newspaper, spots about toxic stress and resilience on urban radio stations and weekly public service features on the NBC affiliate, with physicians, clergy and teachers advocating ways to “be alive and well.” Two hundred and fifty miles to the...
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Announcing Building Resilience Across the Life Span 2'x6' Vinyl Banner & 2'x3' Poster!
Announcing Building Resilience Across the Life Span 2'x6' Vinyl Banner & 2'x3' Poster! CRI is celebrating October is Resilience Month in Walla Walla, WA! As part of the October celebration we are announcing two NEW resilience capacity building products. The prototype Building Resilience Across the Life Span banner debuted at our Beyond Paper Tigers Trauma-Informed Care Conference this past June, and since then has been a much requested product! Looking for a creative way to engage...