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By Cory Turner, Christine Herman, Rhitu Chatterjee, National Public Radio, January 18, 2021 A bag of Doritos, that's all Princess wanted. Her mom calls her Princess, but her real name is Lindsey. She's 17 and lives with her mom, Sandra, a nurse, outside of Atlanta. On May 17, 2020, a Sunday, Lindsey decided she didn't want breakfast; she wanted Doritos. So she left home and walked to Family Dollar, taking her pants off on the way, while her mom followed on the phone with police. Lindsey has...

Join Alfred White, founder and owner of The League of Extraordinary People, on Sunday nights for real talk about health and wellness for the BIPOC Community! Learn about how to heal from trauma, adversity, and chronic stress. Alfred will be going LIVE on the TLOEP Facebook page ! Here is the link to the Facebook and Instagram . On March 7th, Alfred will introduce viewers to TLOEP and our guiding principles. On March 14th, Alfred will lead viewers in an exploration of The Set Up: Living with...

Plans to integrate practices and policies based on the science of adverse childhood experiences in North Carolina’s 4,000-person,100-county statewide judiciary were announced today. Jon David, district attorney for North Carolina’s 15th District, and District Court Judge Quintin McGee of the same district revealed plans to work with North Carolina Chief Justice Paul Newby and Administrative Office of the Courts Director Andrew Heath to create a statewide commission focusing on the science of...

As discussed last week in Part One of this two-part article, children who have been victims of psycho-emotional abuse within their dysfunctional family system may exist in a near-constant state of anxiety or even terror as they struggle on a daily basis just to survive and be who they think they need to be in order to have their basic needs met by their primary caretakers (typically the parents).

Join us at EmpowerSurvivors Each week on our program "Conversations with Evey & Elizabeth " we will introduce a special guest or conversation starters and discuss issues of interest for survivors of childhood sexual abuse and trauma. This Monday, March 8, 2021, at 6 PM CST – 7:30 PM CST we invite you to join us once again for comfortable conversations on uncomfortable topics. Register in advance for this meeting:...

Empathy requires understanding. Understanding requires listening. Listening requires TIME, patience, and our presence. ---------------- We have all, likely, at some point read or heard the brilliant saying that "Trauma is not what happen's to you, but what happens INSIDE of you", by Dr. Gabor Mate, and other brilliant trauma aware advocates and researchers. But what I love most about Dr. Peter Levine's version, is the addition of "in the absence of an empathetic witness", because it reminds...

Recently, the United States reached a sobering milestone. The COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 500,000 people, surpassing the number of US soldiers who died in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War combined. The pandemic has closed schools, turned urban areas into ghost towns, and caused massive job loss, long food lines, more homelessness, and isolation for many shuttered indoors in response to orders by public health officials. And 2020 also witnessed numerous instances of...

By Celeste Fremon, WitnessLA, February 26, 2021 On Thursday morning, February 25, the California Supreme Court ruled in a very strongly-worded opinion that 14 and 15 year old kids cannot be transferred to adult court under California state law, contrary to the claims of a great many prosecutors around the state, including Santa Clara District Attorney. Jeff Rosen , Ventura D.A. Erik Nasarenko, and former Los Angeles D.A., Jackie Lacey. Associate Justice Joshua Groban wrote the 27-page ruling...

By Taylor Walker, WitnessLA, February 22, 2021 On Tuesday, June 4, 2019, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted in favor of legislation to shutter the local juvenile hall by December 2021. The ordinance, which SF supes authored in partnership with the Young Women’s Freedom Center (YWFC), made SF the first major urban jurisdiction to choose to abolish juvenile incarceration. The city-county’s lone 150-bed youth lockup is already so close to empty — on August 15, 2020, there were 13...

Denis Thompson joins the show to talk about the relationship between trauma and pain. Trauma and stress are the often overlooked aspects of the opioid epidemic and addiction in general. Denis shares his expertise in pain management and provides a new way to think about and treat a common struggle of people with trauma. www.traumainformedlens.org

A 10-year author, Jayomi Douglas, will be the special guest on this week's "Breaking the Silence with Dr. Gregory Williams" radio program. Jayomi Douglas is a 10 year-old-born in Livingston NJ and she started school at 2 ½ years old. She currently attends Charter School, Easton Arts Academy in Easton, PA. She excels in all subjects but her strongest subject has always been Reading. Her mom who is a college graduate and former teacher helps enhance her writing skills by encouraging her to...

We are looking for Middle School and High School student leaders for two new student-led initiatives with the 16 Strong Project. The 16 Strong Project is dedicated to empowering resilience to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) through educational workshops, school partnerships, student-led initiatives, and community outreach. By educating youth to be more trauma-informed in their actions and intent, we take a proactive approach to adolescent mental health. We aim to raise awareness and...