Blog

By Lizzie Dearden, The Independent, April 11, 2020 Police officers are being “repeatedly exposed to trauma ” as they are increasingly called to homes where people have died during the coronavirus outbreak, with one officer responding to 15 deaths in the space of 24 hours. While official statistics show that most deaths linked to the pandemic happen inside hospitals, an estimated 7 per cent have happened in private homes and care facilities . Police officers are called to every sudden death...

By Julia Preston, The Marshall Project, April 10, 2020 They are children who were caught crossing the southwest border without papers and sent to migrant shelters in New York when the coronavirus was silently spreading. Now the city is a pandemic epicenter in lockdown, but the Trump administration is pressing ahead with their deportation cases, forcing the children to fight in immigration court to stay. In two courthouses in the center of the besieged city, hearings for unaccompanied...

Hello, ACEs Connection professionals! Here is the 4th in our series of COVID19 weekly resilience briefs. This one explores the protective factor of connectivity and spiritual beliefs. It encourages children in research supported ways to look to something greater during difficult times. Many Thanks to the contributions of Victor Vieth, MA Theology, J.D., Director of ZeroAbuseProject, the CAST university programs, and Chair of AVAhealth. Enjoy!

“ Surviving is important but thriving is elegant” Maya Angelou In my series of blogs raising awareness on childhood trauma, I will tackle intergenerational trauma. I had scheduled to write and post this some weeks ago but the Coronavirus pandemic sent me into a disregulated and anxious state like many of you. I was reflecting the other day that it is the first time the whole of humanity is facing the same threat, I hope it makes us look inside of us and connect more with ourselves and the...

By Cara Anthony, Kaiser Health News, April 6, 2020 That was before the coronavirus pandemic. Wilma Walker’s now nonagenarian mom moved into her daughter and son-in-law’s home about 15 years ago. Their party of three turned into a household of six when the Walkers’ now 30-year-old daughter, Andre’a Walker-Nimrod, moved back in with her young son and a daughter on the way. Their living arrangement — four generations together under one roof — has its advantages: financial support, shared meals...

Judge Steven Leifman has led the fight in Miami-Dade, Florida's Eleventh Judicial Circuit to keep individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) out of the criminal justice system. How? By helping them treat their mental illness. Listening to NPR's Scott Simon's interview with Judge Leifman about the upcoming PBS documentary, "The Definition of Insanity," featuring Judge Leifman's work, I was struck by the following key points (please know some of these are not exact quotes -- listen to the...

By Enzo Dimatteo, Now, April 8, 2020 Back in the day, one of my beats was covering what others might varyingly describe as cults. And so I’ve had occasion to find myself in some mind-bending situations – est group therapy sessions, getting hooked up to an E-meter. But this coronavirus is a whole other level of mindfuck. After three weeks of venturing out only occasionally for necessities, I’ve noticed synapses firing in my brain (or is that popping?) that I never thought I had before. It’s...

By Angelina Jolie, Time, April 9, 2020 Of the many ways that the pandemic is making us rethink our humanity, none is more important, or urgent, than the overall protection of children. They may not be as susceptible to the virus as other groups, but they are especially vulnerable to so many of the secondary impacts of the pandemic on society. The economic fallout of COVID-19 has been swift and brutal. Lockdowns and stay at home orders have resulted in job losses and economic insecurity,...

Brett Loftis has a passion for protecting the most vulnerable children that is apparent from the moment he says hello. As the Chief Executive Officer of Crossnore School & Children’s Home, Brett leads an organization that is dedicated to growing healthy futures for children and families.

You are extraordinary. Writing this post feels like I have come full circle. In April of 2019, Alfred White reached out to me on ACEs Connection. Shortly after, we spoke at length about the plans he had to create a place of healing and hope in Federal Way and King County, Washington, specifically for individuals with a history of trauma and who were now impacted with symptoms such as addiction and homelessness. I recall sharing with Alfred that there was such a need for this in that...

By Blake Farmer, Kaiser Health News, April 6, 2020 The new coronavirus doesn’t discriminate. But physicians in public health and on the front lines said they already can see the emergence of familiar patterns of racial and economic bias in the response to the pandemic. In one analysis, it appears doctors may be less likely to refer African Americans for testing when they show up for care with signs of infection. The biotech data firm Rubix Life Sciences, based in Lawrence, Massachusetts,...

By Louis Freedberg, EdSource, April 10, 2020 This “spring break” is like no other for California. Even as public schools are making a big push to ramp up their “distance learning” curriculum, millions of students, along with their teachers, are out on spring break this week. A worrisome question is whether spring break at this crucial time will slow the implementation of distance learning, or whether it has given teachers much-needed breathing space to gear up for a more intensive online...