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Garry Powers stands on Alameda Street near the North Vignes Street overpass, across from a smoke shop and a Vietnamese restaurant. He’s on the edge of Chinatown and a couple of miles north of Boyle Heights, a neighborhood once rife with gangs. The wall behind him is a glowing yellow-gold. Painted on it are outspread blue wings that nearly match the faded tattoo on his neck. He looks swathed in wings. A halo on the wall seems to hover above his head. Powers grew up in Baldwin Park outside Los...

Ben Zimmerman lives in a suburb of Chicago. Like a lot of 9-year-olds, he's fond of YouTube, Roblox, and Minecraft. And, like a lot of parents, his mom and dad wanted to make sure Ben wasn't spending too much time on those activities. They tried to use Google's "Family Link" parental control software to limit screen time for Ben and his older sister, Claudia. Ben went on YouTube to search for a workaround. When he couldn't find one, he figured one out himself. His dad, who happens to work in...

U.S. immigration agents raided an Ohio gardening company on June 5, arresting 114 suspected undocumented workers. This followed other large workplace raids , including a raid on a rural Tennessee meat-processing plant in April. The raids suggest the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is returning to sweeping immigration enforcement tactics not seen since the George W. Bush administration. While the immediate shock and trauma of these raids is visible, there are also longer-term impacts on...

After celebrities Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain died by suicide within days of each other last week , thousands of people picked up their phones. Messages to the National Crisis Text Line more than doubled. Calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline jumped 65 percent. Social media was flooded with news reports and personal messages encouraging people to reach out for help. Mental health advocates hope this bit of viral attention can be harnessed for lasting changes. Dr. Steve...

In 2016, high school rising junior Hank Sanders had an inkling of an idea. He wanted to take his school’s popular culinary arts class and give the food to people experiencing homelessness. As it stood, students ate the food they cooked. Outside Portland, Oregon’s Lincoln High School, where Sanders attends, he saw people who were sleeping on the streets. He approached his friends with his idea and they ran with it. As with many cities across the U.S., Portland has a homelessness problem. In...

An immigration official announced this past Friday that, in the 42 days between April 19 and May 31, approximately 2,000 immigrant children were removed from the care of their parents and taken into federal custody, At the same time, 11,000 immigrant children are now in shelters, according to the Office of Refugee Resettlement. “Shelters,” however, appears to be a catch-all term for a wide variety of facilities that vary from small, generally child-friendly structures, to a converted Walmart...

“Nobody would believe what an effort it is to do what little I am able” – Charlotte Perkins Gilman, the Yellow Wallpaper, 1892 It is wonderful to see the birth of a child greeted with warm enthusiasm and support. We celebrate the joy of a growing family, and the excitement of a new life. Relatives and friends often provide gifts and extra help. But for some new moms, motherhood brings on many complex emotions besides the happy ones. While we may greet a new baby with happiness and delight –...

Too many teenage boys and their parents are trapped in an outdated model of masculinity. What we are missing is a model allowing for fear, grief, tenderness and the day-to-day sadness impacting us all. As a result, teenage boys are experiencing a profound sense of loneliness and isolation. Isolation leads to depression which, in turn, manifests itself as aggression, anxiety and anger. Using techniques from his book, Treating the Traumatized Child: A Step-by-Step Family Systems Approach...

If you haven't submitted your showcase application yet, you have a few more hours- deadline is 11:59 tonight, June 18, 2018. Your application can be completed and submitted, here: https://www.aces2018.org/guideline/ And if you need some inspiration, click the video to see highlights from the 2016 conference.

When I went to work today I found myself closely watching the mothers dropping off their children at school. One mom, in particular, caught my attention. She was holding an infant who was so small that she still wore little mittens on her hands so as to not scratch her precious face. The mom was loving and careful with her baby girl. I was witnessing a most intimate moment that on any other day, I may have missed. But not this day, not this day… Every child I saw reminded me of the children...

How do we choose which strategy we are using to build resilience? As Oprah’s segment on 60 Minutes plunged much of the world into recognition of Trauma-Informed Care, practitioners have been tempted to move beyond the science of trauma and develop strategies to address it. Yet as we learn about the neuroscience behind ACEs and resilience, Rick Griffin- Executive Director of Jubilee Leadership Academy, CRI Master Trainer, and BPT Conference Facilitator- states it is crucial to stay within the...

The Mother-Baby Program at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has received a transformational gift to create a Center for Family Healing to support the health and wellbeing of children and families, rooted in core values of equity, social justice, and the healing power of relationships. The Center for Family Healing is seeking applicants for the Director of Operations position that will provide strategic and operational oversight of the five components of the Center:...