Blog

I witnessed, by chance, the swearing in of the first set of senior staff for the Trump administration. I sat in awe as I witnessed something I hadn’t seen in a long time, having spent the last several years working for the Obama administration: a sea of white faces being sworn in — white, male faces, to be exact. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but there I was — surprised. Surprised that America was not reflected in the first round of political appointees to assume the White House under...

As the nation’s capital continued to clean up from a historic blizzard last winter, five immigrant students—unaccompanied minors who had recently arrived from Central America—walked through almost two feet of snow to Montgomery Blair High School in Montgomery County, Maryland, a close-in Washington, D.C., suburb. Montgomery County Public Schools had canceled classes for students during the weather emergency. But the teens didn’t speak English and, coming from a tropical climate, didn’t know...

The following 11 milestones can be used by any organization, such as volunteer, advocacy, neighborhood association, parent association, small business, health clinic, faith-based, recreation, arts...any group of people that organize around a goal or mission and who want to measure their progress in integrating ACEs science into their work. ACEs science presentations to a volunteer or staff member of an organization — someone in the organization has attended a workshop or presentation about...

ACEs, Adversity's Impact This is your brain on poverty. How behavioral economics is opening a creative new front in the fight against inequality Brain and Biology Stress impacts the brain increasing risk for heart disease Harness 'plasticity' of your brain for better health: Dr. Amy Jo Marcano-Reik Bullying Bullying can also hurt Kids’ academic performance Helping young people in crisis, one text at a time Career Opportunities Wisconsin DHS: Project YES! Coordinator: Apply by March 7...

Here’s a good question. Why do we resist the things that are good for us? This happens to everyone, but it’s especially challenging for abuse and trauma survivors. For example, you know how much I love and believe in the healing benefits of TRE. Yet in the beginning, there was a part of me that resisted it. I’m always amazed when this happens. Why would I resist something so healthy, something that makes my body and heart sing? It makes no sense! Actually, resistance is just the body’s...

In 2012 I was hired by the Johnson City Police Department as director of an $800,000 grant-funded Targeted Community Crime Reduction Project to reduce drug-related and violent crime in two Johnson City, TN, neighborhoods historically known for highest rates of these crimes. This project required a collaborative problem-solving approach where I engaged community partners to assist in recognizing the causes of crime. Becky Haas Together, we implemented evidence-based practices to reduce crime.

A Tauranga psychologist is teaming up with the son of a Hollywood movie star to start a national conversation on the impact traumatic childhood events has on mental health. Psychologist Janet Peters has met with Robert Redford's son, James Redford, in Auckland to discuss the issue. Redford recently directed a critically acclaimed documentary on the topic called, Resilience: The biology of stress and the science of hope. Ms Peters' aim was to organise a screening of the documentary to act as...

In the twilight months of the Obama administration, the Department of Justice made an unprecedented announcement : The Bureau of Prisons would phase out the use of privately run contract prison facilities after inspectors concluded that those facilities were “both less safe and less effective at providing correctional services than those run by the government,” as the Washington Post put it at the time. The evaluation by officials should surprise no one: Research suggests that private...

The Healing our Children World Summit (free, online event) starts March 1

Life has been so sweet of late and that, for me, has been emotional. I feel a mixture of joy and disbelief. This time of mothering a teen as a parent with ACEs. I sit the edge of my bed sorting socks and memories. A middle-aged mother in so many kinds of transition. Some mornings, I hear her feet soft on carpeted stairs, see her long hair rolling down her back almost touching the hips. I remember when she did not have hips. The years I gathered her up each morning, carrying her down the...

When Ayman Mohamed arrived at the Tarbiya Institute in Roseville for morning prayer on Feb. 1, he saw his religion had been attacked. On the mosque’s white front walls, “Muslims Out” and other hateful messages about Islam had been spray-painted in black. Even a nearby truck had been vandalized. Shocked and saddened, the mosque’s director of Islamic studies opened up the building and ushered in his congregants for the day’s first prayer. His message to his stricken congregation: Stay strong,...

With the Affordable Care Act’s repeal-replace-reform-repair debate crawling along, House Republicans and the White House do seem to favor one point: sharp cuts to Medicaid . Under most GOP replacement plans, including the one unveiled last week by Speaker Paul Ryan, federal spending on Medicaid, the public-health insurance program that’s most associated with low-income Americans, would be sharply curtailed and converted to either a block-grant funding formula or a capped, per-capita formula.