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Recently, I was tasked with writing a strength-based personal story to use during my CRM trainings. As a trainer of trauma, depending on your content and audience, often it is beneficial when speaking to others to model transparency and even a bit of vulnerability. Therefore, as a part of my process of becoming certified as a CRM trainer, one of the activities is to write a strength-based personal story.This story can be about yourself and what you have experience personally or you can...

The growing momentum for tighter gun control after the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Fla., is highlighting the National Rifle Association's history of aggressively confronting challenges to what it regards as Second Amendment rights. Federal limits on both research into gun violence and the release of data about guns used in crimes are powerful reminders of the lobbying group's advantages over gun control activists. For decades, the NRA pushed legislation that stifled the study and...

The secret to ending solitary confinement at youth detention centers across the United States might just hide behind a nondescript door down a long hallway in a government building in Sacramento. From the outside, the room appears like any other in the Sacramento Juvenile Detention facility, but inside, gauzy filters take the edge off the fluorescent lighting, and bright murals evoke an underwater vibe. This multi-sensory de-escalation room (MSDR), dubbed "the Cove" by staff and the youth...

The Sunbelt is growing, the Rust Belt is dying, and the only thing keeping expensive coastal cities afloat is international immigration, as American-born residents flee their escalating housing prices. That pretty much sums up the conventional wisdom about the recent growth and decline of U.S. cities. And that conventional wisdom was only reinforced last month when the Census Bureau released its latest figures on population growth for America’s metropolitan areas. Nine of the top 10 counties...

School shootings and widespread community gun violence are far greater in the United States than other nations. America cannot be great and realize its promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness if our children are not safe from gun violence. Although security measures are important, a focus on simply preparing for shootings is insufficient. We need a change in mindset and policy from reaction to prevention. Prevention entails more than security measures and begins long before a...

In a recent piece on the television show 60 Minutes, Oprah Winfrey discussed childhood trauma —shining a public spotlight on the lasting effects of abuse and adversity in childhood. Oprah herself is a survivor of childhood abuse. Adverse childhood experiences , commonly called ACEs, include witnessing verbal or physical conflict between parents and having a parent with a mental illness or substance-abuse issue. They also include parent separation, divorce and incarceration and the experience...

Several times a day, Scott Colom, a 35-year-old district attorney in northeast Mississippi, walks past a Confederate monument in front of the courthouse. He rarely glances at it, but he knows that from one side it looks startlingly like a hooded Klansman (from the front, it’s a Rebel soldier carrying a flag, which is perhaps bad enough). His twin brother pointed out the resemblance several years ago. Yes, Colom says, it’s at the least irritating to be constantly confronted with a symbol of...

Your financial health may have more bearing on your physical health than you realize. American adults who experienced a sudden and substantial loss of wealth were 50% more likely to die in a 20-year period than were others in their age group whose financial picture remained relatively stable, or improved. As bad as things were for those who experienced a "negative wealth shock," they were even worse for Americans who didn't have any wealth in the first place. These folks were 67% more likely...

Excerpts from an article by Justin Murphy are shared below.

In Japan, there is a form of art called Kintsugi, the process of repairing a broken piece of ceramic with gold, filling in its cracks. Such a technique renders the piece more beautiful in the eyes of the artist; it celebrates the object’s history, its unique story, and emphasizes the beauty of damage instead of disguising it. To feel this truth about ourselves, however, requires an accepting space and practice. When upcoming Beyond Paper Tigers conference presenter, Brigette Phillips, began...

I'm feeling excited if not a little trepidatious. I'm launching a peer support group this month in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for adult identifying women who are interested in working together to recover from the lies we learned about ourselves and others as a result of childhood trauma. Talking about trauma in my community usually receives a trauma response of resistance. And yet I interpret that as validation of the need for what I want to do: to increase awareness and action towards addressing...

High blood pressure -- or hypertension -- is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke that affects as many as 100 million Americans and 1 billion people worldwide. Decades of research have demonstrated that the relaxation response -- the physiological and psychological opposite of the well-known fight-or-flight stress response that can be achieved through relaxation techniques like yoga or mediation -- can reduce blood pressure in people with hypertension. Exactly how these...