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By Akilah Johnson, The Washington Post, November 4, 2021 Sickness and death were familiar companions of Thecla Xavier long before the arrival of the coronavirus in Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. Her mother had 12 children. Except for her, each got sick and died — two before age 25, and one at 33 — and now, the 64-year-old is the only one alive. Pneumonia tried to take her son, Joe Xavier, when he was a baby, leaving the infant deprived of oxygen and in and out of hospitals until he was...

This week the Family and Children's Trust Fund of Virginia will be celebrating our 35th Anniversary! FACT was created by the General Assembly in 1986 as a public-private partnership to raise funds for the prevention and treatment of family violence, including child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and elder abuse and neglect. For the last 35 years, FACT has provided funding for hundreds of programs focused on preventing and treating family violence...

One might think of negative childhood experiences as intimately linked with complex trauma and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD), and you would be correct. CPTSD is caused by a series or numerous traumas, usually in childhood, and can form in adulthood. We have not considered that positive childhood experiences are deeply related to resiliency and can alleviate some of the terrible side effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that cause CPTSD. Positive Childhood...

Without intervention, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can create long-term physical, mental, and behavioral risks. The good news is, healthcare providers have a unique opportunity to prevent and respond to ACEs in their clinical settings, using evidence-based tools and trauma-informed strategies that promote family resiliency. Futures Without Violence, a grantee of the ACEs Aware initiative , is providing online training that enables Medi-Cal providers to earn an ACEs Aware...

Addressing ACEs and Toxic Stress: Understanding CUES to Support Families and Patients This pre-recorded webinar is the first in a three-part series developed by Futures Without Violence as part of the California ACEs Aware Core Training initiative ( www.ACEsAware.org ). It is an opportunity for health providers and support staff to learn about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), toxic stress, screening, risk assessment, and evidence-based care to effectively intervene on toxic stress. It...

PLEASE SIGN ON TO THIS MEMO TO SUPPORT OUTREACH ALONG THESE LINES TO THE ADMINISTRATION! If the goal is to impact meaningful change, it might prove helpful to view vaccine fear through a trauma informed-lens. There is an intentional shift from the use of the word “hesitancy” and instead using the more specific and appropriate term “fear”. We are more likely to change that which we better define and understand. The following memo has been developed with input from an interdisciplinary team of...

We all have inner strengths and resilience that can help us deal with challenges and stress. To help us manage stress, PACEs Connection and ACEs Aware created a handout based on seven evidence-based stress busters , as described in the Roadmap for Resilience: The California Surgeon General’s Report on Adverse Childhood Experiences, Toxic Stress, and Health . These interventions can help reduce stress, improve health, and build resilience. Please share widely! The handout is available in the...

It’s a truism that schools are asked to play an increasing role in our social safety net for families. Community collaboration is not a focus. Just last month, EdWeek published “Are We Asking Schools to Do Too Much?” In that article, Heath Oates, superintendent of the El Dorado Springs district in rural Missouri explained why. “I think the data bear out that people in society like and trust their local schools. So, it’s natural… to say, ‘Hey, let’s have the schools do that.’” But one...

Bay Area nonprofit, Supporting Mamas, is proud to co-host the premiere of From the Ashes , a personal film from Theresa Fortune about her own journey with postpartum depression. The premiere will feature a panel of mental health experts exploring the inequities of maternal mental healthcare faced by women of color. From the Ashes is a multidisciplinary narrative of a black woman’s journey through postpartum depression and towards spiritual rebirth. Through the use of photography, video...

By Center for Health Journalism, November 2021 Join award-winning journalist and author Sam Quinones in a webinar exploring the new reality of the nation’s addiction crisis and the most promising solutions emerging in communities. After appearing to level off, overdose deaths have skyrocketed by almost 30% since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and by nearly 50% in some states. So many people are dying — more than 90,000 in 2020 — that the Biden administration is embracing strategies...

By Dana Hedgpeth, The Washington Post, November 4, 2021 Overlooking the chilly waters of Plymouth Bay, about three dozen tourists swarmed a park ranger as he recounted the history of Plymouth Rock — the famous symbol of the arrival of the Pilgrims here four centuries ago. Nearby, others waited to tour a replica of the Mayflower, the ship that carried the Pilgrims across the ocean. On a hilltop above stood a quiet tribute to the American Indians who helped the starving Pilgrims survive. Few...

By Jacey Fortin, The New York Times, November 4, 2021 If everything had gone according to plan, California would have approved new guidelines this month for math education in public schools. But ever since a draft was opened for public comment in February , the recommendations have set off a fierce debate over not only how to teach math, but also how to solve a problem more intractable than Fermat’s last theorem : closing the racial and socioeconomic disparities in achievement that persist...