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By Sheri Doyle, Photo: The Pew Charitable Trusts, PEW, February 17, 2022 Drug overdose deaths have skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to provisional data, there were more than 100,000 fatalities in the 12-month period ending June 2021—a 20.6% increase over the previous 12 months. To address this crisis, states should expand their treatment offerings and remove unnecessary regulations so that more people can access lifesaving treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD). Although...

By Pauly Denetclaw, Photo: Charitie Ropati, Native News Online, February 21, 2022 Indigenous students of Columbia University finally have their own brownstone–nearly a decade in the making. Columbia provides brownstones as options to some students and student groups. They are highly sought after–if and when they become available. Once available, student groups can apply to be selected as the group who move in. Beginning in 2013, Julian Brave NoiseCat , Canim Lake Band Tsq'escen, led...

From Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, February 2022 These days, resilience is needed more than ever, and one simple, underrecognized way of supporting healthy and resilient child development is as old as humanity itself: play. Far from frivolous, play contributes to sturdy brain architecture, the foundations of lifelong health, and the building blocks of resilience, yet its importance is often overlooked. In this podcast, Dr. Jack Shonkoff explains the role of play in...

Time-Outs Time-outs are an often misunderstood and misused technique for discipline. Here are a few quick ways to explain time-outs to caregivers: It’s a pause or body break, not a punishment. It’s meant to interrupt physically aggressive behavior only. It’s short: 30-60 seconds. Time-outs are not a replacement for caregiver soothing. Learning to pause and calm down takes practice and consistency. See this video for more information: Download printable flyer Click here for more tips like these

Afternoon Keynote Speaker — Dave Ellis: “What’s Strong With You? A Conversation About Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) versus (ACEs)" Dave Ellis, executive director of the NJ Office of Resilience, gave an enthralling talk about community and what it takes to build it meaningfully, inviting audience members to get to know each other better. "I know a whole bunch of folks who don't agree with the world according to data, and the biggest conversation that I like having with them is, 'Help...

By Laura Gallant, 2/23/22, https://positiveexperience.org/category/blog/ During the week of the HOPE Summit – Growing HOPE, we will be hosting our first Week of HOPE. Register today for the HOPE Summit and learn more about what the HOPE National Resource Center will be offering throughout the week of March 7 – 11. Below are the themes for each day and previews of new resources, events, and episodes of a limited release podcast, A HOPEful Podcast. We will share more each day during the Week...

By Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza, Photo: iStock, The Washington Post, February 21, 2022 For years, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers and mental health counselors have practiced trauma-informed care, an approach that acknowledges that people have traumatic experiences and that those experiences can affect their behavior and understanding of the world. The goal of trauma-informed care is to offer more effective therapy by acknowledging trauma, recognizing the signs of trauma,...

By Gillian Flaccus, Photo: Nathan Howard/Associated Press, The Press Democrat, February 21, 2022 The young mother had behaved erratically for months, hitchhiking and wandering naked through two Native American reservations and a small town clustered along Northern California’s rugged Lost Coast. But things escalated when Emmilee Risling was charged with arson for igniting a fire in a cemetery. Her family hoped the case would force her into mental health and addiction services. Instead, she...

By Kaytee Gillis, Illustration: Kaytee Gillis, Psychology Today, February 19, 2022 Children who experience trauma and dysfunction in their household often struggle to learn the same boundaries and behaviors that so many others seem to take for granted. As a child is growing and developing, they look to their caregivers as examples of how to interact with the world around them. If those caregivers behave in dysfunctional or unhealthy ways, chances are high that children will learn to mimic...

By Michael Tubbs, Photo: Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle 2021, San Francisco Chronicle, February 23, 2022 California is a state of contradictions. We are the richest state in the country, but we have the highest poverty rate. We’re home to some of the most successful companies in the world, with more billionaires living here than all but two countries , but we have more homeless residents than anywhere in America. It doesn’t have to be this way. California’s poverty problem is a policy choice,...

The best way to drive home a point is through the sharing of stories. This week on the Less Stress in Life Podcast, we finished a 4-part series on resilience. Physical resilience, emotional resilience, mental resilience, and spiritual resilience each had their own episode. You can click on this link or find it on your favorite podcast channel. As with all our series, we look for a story to share about someone’s experience with the to help our readers and listeners apply the concepts. Nicole...

In this episode of Transforming Trauma, our host Emily is joined by our guest, Muhammad (Moe) Kathrada. Moe is based in Malaysia and is an adolescent and family trauma therapist and also works in the field of addiction. He is passionate about supporting the young people he works with to have opportunities for connection, stability and recovery – and developing the capacity for more intentional living through connection. Moe defines complex trauma as “anything that disconnects somebody from...