Blog

By Mary-Frances Winters, Stanford Social Innovation Review, October 14, 2020 Although more and more organizations are taking steps toward greater diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, people of color continue to consistently report feeling undervalued, unsafe, and exhausted from navigating unwelcoming work environments. They see implicit biases play out as micro-aggressions (such as consistently mispronouncing one’s name, confusing one person of color for another, or...

By Buta Biberaj, Carol Siemon, and Miriam Aroni Krinsky, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, October 12, 2020 A viral video in August showed an 8-year-old boy being arrested at his elementary school in handcuffs that slid off his tiny wrists. A police officer can be heard telling the child, “You’re going to jail.” Sadly, this is just the latest disturbing example of the uniquely American phenomenon of vilifying and overpolicing our nation’s children. America incarcerates more people under...

In this installment of the A Better Normal community discussion, ACEs Connection's very own TN & Midwest community facilitator Ingrid Cockhren will discuss the need for equitable practices within the worldwide ACEs movement. In light of the recent civil unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic, there has never been more of a need to address systemic/institutional racism and the resulting pervasive historical and racial trauma. This discussion will center racism, bias and inequity as root causes...

Real Talk with Rafael is joining the A Better Normal (ABN) webinar series. Real Talk with Rafael i s designed to give the ACEs Connection community and guests an opportunity to have a safe space to talk about issues around the intersections of race, identity, and toxic stress. For those of you who attended the ABN “Episode 32: Reinterpreting American Identity, A Community Discussion” , you’ll recognize that Real Talk with Rafael is very similar, and will continue these conversations over...

In a conversational style, join physician Drew Factor who will speak with Dr. Tracy Gaudet, Liza Guroff and An é Watts in a discussion entitled "Reimagining Health Care". Dr. Gaudet will speak about her experience engaging in transformational change at the Veterans Administration and how this has shaped the development of her own Functional Medicine Institute , while Ms. Guroff and Ms. Watts will speak about their knowledge of a Trauma-Informed Approach both at a systems (National Council...

[Ed. note — This article comes from the journal Educational Leadership, which devoted its October 2020 issue to trauma-sensitive schools. Five of the 11 articles are free to the public, including this remarkable and important article about what being trauma-informed means.] Paul Gorski October 2020 | Volume 78 | Number 2 Trauma-Sensitive Schools Pages 14-19 To fully support students, schools must attend to the trauma that occurs within their own institutional cultures. "I have a story for...

Op-Ed by Jevon Wilkes: Young people need safe, stable housing. They need jobs paying living wages. They need access to education and training and support to complete them and go on to careers in growing fields. They need a sense of trust, autonomy, independence, and identity to heal and thrive.

While opioids are not prescribed for people with PTSD or trauma problems, individuals with these problems can still suffer the consequences of opioid abuse as the opioid epidemic has made these drugs easily available. As we know, traumatic experiences can come in many different forms at many different ages. Problems such as sexual assault, exposure to addiction, physical assault, and more can all have a major impact on someone’s psyche throughout their life. It can lead to deep-rooted...

From ACEs Aware, October 15, 2020 Nearly 14,000 health care providers have completed the ACEs Aware initiative’s core training program, a key finding included in a data report released today by the Office of the California Surgeon General (CA-OSG) and Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). “ Becoming ACEs Aware in California ” trains health care providers to screen patients for Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and to recognize and respond to the symptoms of toxic stress. The Provider...

ChildWIN now offers 3 self-paced, on-demand courses! Take your trauma learning from awareness to practice in this new school year with tools to help students breathe and regulate so they are better able to learn. Trauma 101, Advanced Strategies and Trauma and Self-Care are now available at https://childwin-academy.teachable.com/ . For more ChildWIN trainings and resources, please visit www.childwin.org . At ChildWIN (Child Wellness Institute of New Jersey), our focus is to build resilience...

By Jeni Klugman, The Lancet, October 13, 2020 Women are increasingly recognised as a major force in the US electorate—they represented 53% of voters in the 2018 mid-term national elections. White suburban women helped to secure the victory of US President Donald Trump in the 2016 election, whereas African American women voted overwhelmingly (94%) for candidate Hillary Clinton in that election. In the upcoming 2020 election, the role of the national government in ensuring women's reproductive...

By Vivek Sankaran, The Imprint, October 12, 2020 The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had many gifts, one of which was using language to convey the harsh impact of the law on those living on the margins. Consider her words in M.L.B. v. S.L.J , in which she authored a majority opinion requiring states to provide parents with free transcripts in termination of parental rights (TPR) appeals. She described the severity of the sanction as making a parent “forevermore, a stranger to her child.”...