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On Thursday, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons rolled back a policy deemed by many to be “a discriminatory and destructive attack on access to literature and other reading and educational materials for thousands of people in prison,” that effectively shuts inmates “off from works that can reduce recidivism and better connect them to the outside world,” according to Summer Lopez, Senior Director of Free Expression Programs for PEN America. The controversial policy banned federal inmates from...

BEING POOR CAN BE hazardous to your health , but a new study shows building a better neighborhood may help blunt poverty's ill effects. According to the study by researchers at the University of California — San Francisco , low-income children were found to have less stress and be in better physical health if they lived in higher-opportunity neighborhoods. Researchers examined the impact of neighborhood quality and a family's socioeconomic status on the health of a group of kindergartners in...

As a district, we are dedicated to trauma-informed practices and teaching resilience in a manner that is supported by science. At this point, we need our state and national leaders to catch up to the classroom.” says Katie Paetz, Osborn Governing Board President.

Worried about seeking mental health care? Wonder how to feel better about asking for help? Get the full article here.

Here's an excerpt from my upcoming online course (launching June 1) "Healing Childhood PTSD." As many of you know I'm all about tools you can use to re-regulate and change self-defeating patterns and behaviors. Read more and watch the video here.

Nearly half of the nation’s youth report having experienced at least one traumatic event. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day 2018 event in Washington, DC, will feature an interactive town hall on strategies to create an integrated health approach to support children, youth, and young adults who have experienced trauma. Awareness Day 2018: “Partnering for Health and Hope Following Trauma,” will take place on...

New research suggests there is a link between childhood adversity and creative experiences. According to a study published in Frontiers in Psychology ,performing artists who experienced more abuse, neglect or family dysfunction in childhood tend to have a more intense creative process. “We began this study approximately fifteen years ago. The notion that artists and performing artist suffered more pathology, including bipolar, disorder troubled us. No one seemed willing to also include the...

California is one step closer to becoming a trauma-informed state. ACR 235 authored by Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula of Fresno designates May 22nd, 2018 as Trauma-Informed Awareness Day to highlight the impact of trauma and the importance of prevention and community resilience through trauma-informed care. Additionally, May 22nd is Policymaker Education Day hosted by the California Campaign to Counter Childhood Adversity (4CA) where stakeholders from all across California come to...

Leona Godfrey was sitting down to dinner at a TGI Fridays in Orange, Connecticut, in December 2013 when she glanced at a television and saw her little brother’s name on the local news. Davon Eldemire had tried to rob a small grocery store, shooting and injuring the owner. “I was devastated,” Godfrey recalled. “What was he thinking? I couldn’t eat.” He was 20. She was 10 years older and had helped raise him, looking on in shame as he piled up an arrest record for drugs, larceny, and shooting...

In education, initiatives tend to roll down from above. A district buys a new curriculum, or gets funding for a new program, and principals receive their marching orders, which they in turn hand down to teachers below. That’s not the case at Ohio Avenue Elementary School in Columbus, Ohio. The 19th-century corniced brick building is perhaps an unlikely home for experimental methods of nurturing children’s developing brains. The surrounding streets are lined with abandoned buildings, pawn...

EUREKA, Calif. — The dirty needles can be found scattered among the pine and brush, littering the forest floor around Eureka, a town long celebrated as a gateway to the scenic Redwood Empire. They are the debris of a growing heroin scourge that is gripping the remote community in Northern California. While the state as a whole has one of the lowest overall opioid-related death rates in the country, a sharp rise in heroin use across the rural north in recent years has raised alarms. In...

Trigger warning: trauma, doctors, hospital, birth, sex It is very important to me to approach all of the work that I do from a trauma-informed perspective. Whether it is asking for consent before touching a student in yoga class, offering self-regulation skills to those I work with, or preparing clients for potential triggers*, I do my best to incorporate my on-going learning in the field of trauma into my professional practices. Recently, I began taking trauma classes for professionals...