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As we consider the effects of trauma on children, major disasters, whether they are natural or manmade, can profoundly affect their development. Below are links to a research-based fact sheet (in English and Spanish) you can share with parents and other primary care givers: These are also attached to this post. English Version Spanish Version

Here in Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties, the entire community experienced prolonged and extensive hyper-arousal – days on end of watching and wondering where the fires would burn next, and far too many sleepless nights. According to the literature on disasters, what follows is a brief honeymoon period, characterized by community cohesion and gratitude. Sonoma County showed up for each other in major ways in the past couple of weeks, and the outpouring of gratitude to the first responders...

Join us in Washington DC in February. Call for proposals closes on Monday, 11/6. Early bird registration is still open. www.creatingtraumasensitiveschools.org/conference

Washington DC . The Attachment & Trauma Network, Inc. (ATN) National Conference for Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools to be held on February 18-20, 2018 at the Washington Hilton will feature these trauma-informed education experts as keynotes: Susan Craig, PhD, Robert Hull, MA, EdS, and Mona Johnson, EdD. Dr. Susan Craig, a lifelong advocate of trauma-sensitive education reform, teacher educator, and author of three books on trauma-informed education will present "Trauma-Sensitive...

If you haven't had much of a chance to review the draft, or final report now available, prepared by the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, the time is now to emphasize the need to include children's services in the response and the solution. After yesterday's meeting and final report, our organization is circulating our letter in response to the draft to help spotlight what is missing from their plan. A true solution to addiction must include support...

It is a question that plagues all who struggle with weight: Why do some of us manage to keep off lost pounds, while others regain them? Now, a study of 14 participants from the “Biggest Loser” television show provides an answer: physical activity — and much more of it than public health guidelines suggest. On average, those who managed to maintain a significant weight loss had 80 minutes a day of moderate activity, like walking, or 35 minutes a day of vigorous exercise, like running. [For...

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a less-rigid social conservative! That's a less-than-tantalizing tagline for the next Superman movie . But it does reflect the findings of a new study , which finds that conservatives are less resistant to social change if they imagine they have a superpower that makes them impervious to physical harm. "Safety and security can foster more progressive attitudes," writes a research team led by psychologist Jaime Napier of New York University–Abu Dhabi. "Just as...

AT THE OLDEST WOMEN’S PRISON IN THE U.S., on the west side of Indianapolis, Vanessa Thompson sat on a bunk in her cell, watching television. It was early 2015, the seventeenth year of her incarceration. On TV, then-mayoral candidate Joe Hogsett was talking about a stubborn Indianapolis problem: 10,000 abandoned houses and lots , a remnant of factory closures and the mortgage crisis. Suddenly, Thompson had an idea, a way to redeem all those valueless homes while opening a door for prisoners...

My wife Janet and I voluntarily evacuated our house in Santa Rosa, California, at 4 a.m. on October 10. We live just outside a mandatory evacuation zone, but we opted to retreat from the wildfires raging nearby when we saw a bright orange glow on the horizon and a billowing plume of black smoke—both apparently headed our way. That morning, we bundled our four sleepy hens into the back of our car and drove to the closest evacuation shelter. We were able to return home late that same day.

A new report from UNICEF says that violence against children knows no boundaries. Among the statistics that back up that statement: Approximately 300 million children around the world between the ages two and four are subject to physical punishment or verbal abuse from their parents or caregivers. Every seven minutes, an adolescent is murdered. By the time they reach age 19, fifteen million girls have already experienced forced sexual acts, including rape — inflicted, for the most part, by...

Maintaining positive, warm and trusting friendships might be the key to a slower decline in memory and cognitive functioning, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study. SuperAgers—who are 80 years of age and older who have cognitive ability at least as good as people in their 50s or 60s—reported having more satisfying, high-quality relationships compared to their cognitively average, same-age peers, the study reports. Previous SuperAger research at the Cognitive Neurology and...

“In order to truly reach overdose survivors, we need a much better understanding of who they are and the many challenges they face when they seek care." Childhood suffering has been linked to a higher risk for both mental and physical health problems including heart disease, stroke, and depression. An Indianapolis outreach program geared toward opioid OD survivors who end up in the emergency room studied this phenomenon, by asking patients about their childhood experiences. [For more on this...