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I almost didn’t see the little girl on her Strider, sliding down the hill. I was so focused on my plan for getting up this steep hill, dodging kids just wasn’t on my radar.

Dovetail Learning is offering resilience training for MediCal providers to increase provider resilience to mitigate the affects of vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue that comes with doing the ACEs screening itself. We Are Resilient™ is a research based set of skills for providers and patients to become their most resilient self. Here is the link to register for Part 1 of 2 for a 90 minute training: We Are Resilient™ Training (free to medical providers) in October (date TBD) For a little...

n this set of articles posted in November, we have been exploring several topics related to Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). We have examined how ACEs change our brain structure, cause mental health issues and how they relate to CPTSD. All these “negatives” may have left you feeling despair or even fear. However, in this article, we are going to explore the treatment options available today and how these treatment options can change the...

By Adedayo Akala, September 23, 2020, on NPR Nationwide protests have cast a spotlight on racism and inequality in the United States. Now a major bank has put a price tag on how much the economy has lost as a result of discrimination against African Americans: $16 trillion. Since 2000, U.S. gross domestic product lost that much as a result of discriminatory practices in a range of areas, including in education and access to business loans, according to a new study by Citigroup. It's not an...

By Laura Furr, September 21, 2020, Juvenile Justice Information Exchange How different would today look if people most affected by decisions held equal power in making those decisions? If public health decision-makers included Black, Indigenous and Latinx patients who are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 and suffer the effects of racially biased health care? If police accountability review boards, prosecutor’s offices and elected city leaders had actual power over law enforcement...

By April Simpson, September 21st, 2020, pewtrusts.org In May, three sisters in Chicago got a surprise phone call: They owned 35 acres in Mississippi with a stand of mature timber worth more than $40,000. “They'd never been to Louisville, Mississippi, so they had no idea they owned property,” recalled Frank Taylor, leader of the Winston County Self Help Cooperative in Mississippi, who called the sisters. Every year, the cooperative retrieves the county's delinquent tax rolls and uses public...

By Miranda Green , KHN.org, September 23, 2020 When the first fire of the season broke out on the Hoopa Valley Reservation in Northern California in July, Greg Moon faced a dilemma. As Hoopa’s fire chief and its pandemic team leader, Moon feared the impact of the blaze on the dense coniferous forests of the reservation, near Redwood National and State Parks, where 3,000 tribal members depend on steelhead trout and coho salmon fishing. He was even more terrified of a deadly viral outbreak in...

By Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, September 22nd, 2020 In reality, the COVID-19 death toll probably passed 200,000 some time ago . And yet “the photos of body bags have not had the same effect in the pandemic” as after other mass-casualty events such as Hurricane Katrina, says Lori Peek, a sociologist at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies disasters. “Is our national empathy—our care and love and concern for one another—at such a low level that we are not truly feeling, in our bones,...

Covid, politics, and racism are three challenging stressors colliding at the same time. What has been interesting is seeing how all three are deeply interlinked in the health of minority populations. In researching systemic barriers I came across this fabulous PowerPoint that is worth reviewing and sharing. https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/equity/projects/infantmortality/session2.2.pdf

By Tessa McLean , SFGATE Updated 3:30 pm PDT, Wednesday, September 16, 2020 Mayor London Breed announced today the launch of a new pilot program that will provide a basic income to Black and Pacific Islander women during pregnancy and after giving birth. The 150 women chosen will receive a monthly income supplement of $1,000 for the duration of their pregnancy and for the first six months of their baby’s life, with the goal of eventually providing a supplement for up to two years...

Are you curious about starting an ACEs Initiative in your community? Join one of these upcoming webinars to learn how to start an initiative. I'm Alison Cebulla, the Community Facilitator (CF) for the Northeast USA, Mid-Atlantic USA, and Canada for ACEs Connection. You are welcome to attend these webinars no matter which region you are interested in starting. After the webinar, I will put you in touch with the CF in your region who will help you get started if you choose to move forward. All...

If we see the fears and suffering we’re all experiencing now as a chance to grow in bravery and wisdom, in patience and kindness, then our personal distress can connect us with the discomfort and unhappiness of others. What we usually consider a problem becomes the source of empathy, a way to connect with the natural warmth of our hearts. Natural warmth is our shared capacity to love, to have empathy, to have a sense of humor. It is our capacity to feel gratitude and appreciation and...