Blog

When Leigh M. Ragsdale-Knoderer took over as principal of Jefferson Elementary, a public school in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, she was committed to helping reduce disciplinary actions. With a background as a teacher at an alternative school, Ragsdale-Knoderer felt that discipline, such as suspension, wasn’t always the right response to negative student behavior like substance misuse or abuse. “It goes deeper than coming to school under the influence,” she said, noting that there were substance...

The Alabama Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention received a grant from the Alabama Department of Mental Health in July and partnered with the Alabama Network of Family Resource Centers to provide 23 virtual training on Strengthening Families™- Preventing and Addressing Trauma in the months of August and September. The one-day training session was upbeat and interactive. At the end of the day, participants had a broader understanding of the long-term effects of ACEs and...

As we approach Thanksgiving, we are also approaching the anniversary of the first #COVID case. It is the first of many difficult anniversaries ahead. Please consider taking this course at Rutgers Graduate School of Social Work on how to manage trauma anniversaries -- from the pandemic to death to illness to school shootings to natural disasters. Sadly, these will be upon us all. Concrete strategies provided. Dec. 9 -- from 9 til noon. Reasonably priced. Valuable for educators, psychologists,...

Some days you just don’t got it. And that’s ok. You know, I get tired of these rah-rah cheerleaders who are always telling us that everything is lovely all the time. It’s not. And why the hell can’t we be OK with the fact that it isn’t always going to be fine? Some days life is fucking hard! Some days your husband leaves you, your cat dies, you burn the frozen pizza, your mom calls you, your bike gets stolen, and you drink too much coffee, so during that work meeting, you have to excuse...

In our Family Systems Trauma (FST) research, we discovered a little known fact. When a child or family member is traumatized, we often focus on the unhealed traumatic event but not the interactional trauma or constant fighting between parent and child. In short, this means drama = trauma. Or constant fighting or arguing between parent and child. When this happens, the traumatic event cannot heal. It’s like picking a scab every time it starts to heal. Click HERE to see how this works and what...

For thoughts of us without an institutional base here is a resource. National Library of Medicine https://www.nlm.nih.gov/

Fall gold is now gold falling Winter abound The cheerful humans that pedal around town Now sit and wait It’s easy to find shelter under the bus stop awning Seasonal depression is rapping at my chamber down Quoth the Raven - from now until April-ish There’s not enough day in the time And here I thought we were saving it All these holidays Great uncle mctouchy with his uninvited invites Guess that’s just how he is Politics are not allowed at this dinner table Only Xanax, red wine, and lies...

By Richard E. Besser, USA Today, November 19, 2020 One thing scientists know with certainty is that viruses don’t get pandemic fatigue, but people do. This matters today as America enters a dangerous period in which the actions of government and individuals will likely determine how many people die and whose lives our society values. We’ve known since the dawn of this pandemic that winter would be especially bad in terms of disease transmission . Many politicians put forth a different...

Franciscan Health held its first Lake County, IN Resilience Coalition Meeting on Thursday, October 29 th . The coalition meeting consisted of discussion around Franciscan’s most recent Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) and the four, top health needs within the community: infant mortality, adult mental health, uninsured & under-insured persons, and child abuse and neglect. All topics highlighting Franciscan’s foundational focus of the healing of Adverse Childhood Experiences...

When reading an article on LinkedIn about leadership, I realized that Simon Sinek was right...but not for the reasons leaders assume. For a few years now, I've been trying to harmonize the various writings by authors whom I like. For example, how do Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , Susan Cain's Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking , and Simon Sinek's Start With Why compliment each other? In addition, how does Bruce Perry's The Boy Who Was...

“Monty’s Day in Court” is the first children’s book written from the perspective of a child who testifies in court against his abuser. Monty’s story serves as a tool for children in learning resilience and as an aid for those on the front lines helping young people through challenging times. This book is based on our foster (and now adopted) son’s experiences and emotions.

In the morning hours of a sunny October Sunday in Dover-Foxcroft, over 50 cars sit idle alongside North Street awaiting their turn to receive an allocation of food from the Dover-Foxcroft Food Cupboard. The organization served more than 150 individuals and families by the end of the day. Photo by Bailey Beltramo.