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What if nothing feels “right”? When it comes to making choices, sometimes there’s a clear winner. The decision is easy. But it seems like these days especially, every choice is harder. There are so many shades of grey. Confusion and uncertainty persist. Information is constantly changing, and we don’t know what’s accurate or what’s going to happen next. With access to COVID vaccines, it seemed like we were coming to a light at the end of the tunnel. Now as the delta variant continues to...

It was an honor to join Laura Reagan LCSW-C for another talk on her Therapy Chat podcast . In this conversation, Laura and Robyn described what the terms “top-down” and “bottom-up” mean in reference to trauma therapy and how to help survivors heal. “Bottom-up” therapy always begins with finding and exploring safety and stability for our clients. Once there is an established safer foundation, including calmer nervous system, clients can begin to notice what happens for them on the inside or...

So many relationship experts have embraced the idea of love languages. They became popular with Gary Chapman’s 1992 book, The 5 Love Languages, for the ways partners show love and care: acts of service, physical touch, words, gifts, quality time. Yet none of these can exist in a meaningful, enriching way without one basic element — safety . Safety is the foundation for all of the love languages. Safety is the prerequisite for everything else in a healthy relationship. This post addresses...

Dear PACES Connection Community, I hope this message finds you all in good spirits. I am reaching out to invite you to the Bird That Wants to Fly ~ Trauma & Healing ~ Arts & Healing Resiliency Center ~ Special Event on Sunday on December 12th at 1:00 PM - 3:00 (PST). I have invited art therapist Stephanie Wise and creative arts therapist Emily Nash, co-founders of the Therapeutic Arts Alliance of Manhattan (TAAM), to discuss their creative process. It was at a TAAM workshop that I...

As we step into the holiday season, let’s commit to each other to do it wholeheartedly. What does this mean? Often our minds are off and running and it’s only when we bring ourselves back to the present moment that we experience life as it’s really happening. This is when we realize that what is important is right in front of us! This is the point when our minds and our hearts connect. When we live from a heart-centered place it fosters equanimity and peace within that extends outward,...

By Catherine E. Schoichet, Photo: Brianna Soukup/Portland Press Herald/Getty Images, CNN US, December 7, 2021 Deqa Dhalac saw it in their faces when she started campaigning. Some people, she says, seemed scared to open their doors when she knocked. Others saw her hijab and assumed she didn't speak English. But Dhalac kept knocking and telling her story. And she says a lot has changed since those days back in 2018, when she first ran for City Council in South Portland, Maine -- and won. On...

By Campbell Robertson, Photo: Michelle Gustafson/The New York Times, The New York Times, December 1, 2021 Early in the November school board meeting, a few of the departing members made farewell remarks, talking of things that they believed still need addressing: more special education programs, mental health initiatives, a program for high school students to take college classes. There was a long list, but over the past two years other things had gotten in the way. When the meeting opened...

By Anne Branigin, Photo: Teresa Crawford/AP;iStock;Washington Post illustration, The Lily, December 6, 2021 The day she introduced the “Momnibus” in March 2020, Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) warned of a public health crisis that would not abate unless lawmakers took action: Black birthing parents were dying at unacceptable rates, she said. “While maternal mortality rates continue to drop around the world, they are rising in the U.S., leaving behind devastated families and children who will...

By Tatiana Flowers, Photo: Olivia Sun/The Colorado Sun, 9News, November 28, 2021 Five years ago, Denver made a list of people most often involved with jail, detox centers and emergency rooms — and then offered them housing. The program was so successful at keeping people in stable housing and out of jail, that the U.S. Treasury Department has offered the city more than $6 million in new federal aid, if the program can demonstrate a comparable drop in Medicare and Medicaid billings over the...

By American Medical Association, Image: American Medical Association, December 1, 2021 In this episode of Making the Rounds, Priya Shah, fourth-year medical student at Harvard and AMA Research Challenge finalist, discusses her passion for transforming medical education and the curriculum she developed, based on her research, to improve trauma-informed care. Danan: The AMA Research Challenge is the largest national, multi-specialty research event for medical students and residents. Hello, I’m...

Please join us for December installment of Education Upended: Talking Out of Turn . This monthly series features a conversation facilitated by Lara Kain, PACEsConnection Education Consultant , with special guests on education related current events and hot topics. We will use a trauma-informed and PACEs science aware lens to examine what is going on K-12 education, what needs changing, and strategies being used in the field to disrupt harmful policies and make positive changes in the system.

By Guest Author, 12/7/21, positiveexperience.org/blog The 2022 HOPE virtual summit - Building HOPE - will take place on March 8, 2022. Stay tuned for more information about speakers, sessions, and registration. Add your email to our 2022 HOPE Summit interest list for updates and be the first to know when registration opens. The Summit will start with a keynote speech from Dr. Wendy Ellis ! Dr. Ellis is the creator of the concept of Adverse Community Environments – the pair of ACEs . Her...