Blog

Danny Allen, right, playfully touches the head of Dyryan Bolton, 2, who happened to walk by as Bolton was chatting with long-time Central City resident Charmaine Baker-Fox on Friday, July 7, 2023. Allen has played a key role in the New Orleans Health Department's "violence interrupter" program. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com ) By Missy Wilkinson, NOLA.com, July 10, 2023 Danny Allen came of age in the Calliope projects during the epic, crack-fueled bloodshed of the...

Javon Lomax, We Build The Block director of restorative practices and youth development, in the Brownsville In Violence Out offices in Brooklyn, New York. Lomax is the facilitator of the Heal the Ville healing circles. Samantha Max/WNYC By Chip Brownlee, The Trace, July 11, 2023 Each meeting begins with participants sharing the highs and lows of their week: pictures of a sonogram for a coming baby, a recent trip down South to visit family, flaring allergies, too many or too few hours at...

Calliope Holingue is researching the microbiome among kids with autism. She's part of a growing field of research seeking to understand the gut-brain axis. Kennedy Krieger Institute By Joanne Silberner, National Public Radio (NPR), July 8, 2023 Sixteen years ago, when Calliope Holingue was in high school, she had a problem. Two, actually. She developed gastrointestinal symptoms severe enough to force her to give up running, plus she had a long history of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive...

By Margo Snipe, Photo: Meika Ejiasi/Vox/Capital B, Vox, June 12, 2023 On most warm days, Stephanie McWoods catches the California breeze with the bubble wand she keeps on her patio. Sometimes, the bubbles float, then burst midair. Other times, when they don’t pop, it is unclear how many miles they travel. A captivating mystery. On the surface, it seems mindless. But for the therapist, it is a joy carefully curated to combat the chronic stress of living in a predominantly Black neighborhood...

Dopamine is part of an ancient neural pathway that ensures human survival. It is also part of the reason it is so hard to stop playing a video game or pass up a cupcake. Meredith Miotke /for NPR By Michaeleen Doucleff, National Public Radio (NPR), June 12, 2023 Back when my daughter was a toddler, I would make a joke about my phone: "It's a drug for her," I'd say to my husband. "You can't even show it to her without causing a tantrum." She had the same reaction to cupcakes and ice cream at...

Applications due July 21st!! The TASIE team is currently recruiting for our third and final cohort of the Trauma-Informed ACEs Screening and Intervention Evaluation (TASIE) Project. The CYW and NJAAP team will train and provide coaching to Pediatric Primary Care practice sites to implement an ACEs screening and intervention pilot using the Pediatric ACEs and Life Events Screener (PEARLS) tool and the Seven Domains of Wellness. In addition, the practice sites will participate in a 9-month...

Suicide Prevention

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/10/ptsd-treatment-veterans-medicine-mental-health/ All around the conference room in Atlanta last fall, jaws were dropping. Michael Roy, a physician from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, had just revealed to the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies the preliminary results of a study comparing two treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder: Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy, long regarded as the “gold standard,”...

Program evaluation using an empirically-validated instrument like the Traumatic Stress Institute’s Online ARTIC (ARTIC stands for Attitudes Related to Trauma-Informed Care) gives you insight into whether the training modality you choose is effective for your staff/agency.

Don Hamann discusses the age and condition of a felled tree in the Butte Falls Community Forest during the regular Community Forest Chat on Saturday, June 10, 2023. Credit: Amanda Loman By Grant Stringer, Inside Climate News, July 9, 2023 With a population of just 400 people, Butte Falls is a speck in an ocean of remote timberland, much of it burned. The community is tucked into a vast forest of pine and fir about 35 miles from the California border. Outside town, snow-capped Mt. McLoughlin...

Jose Catalan, who is currently incarcerated, poses for photos after his graduation ceremony at Folsom State Prison in Folsom, Calif. on May 25, 2023. Catalan earned his bachelor’s degree in communications through the Transforming Outcomes Project at Sacramento State. JAE C. HONG/ASSOCIATED PRESS By Jamiles Lartey, The Marshall Project, July 8, 2023 Education has been Sheron Edwards’ escape during his more than 20 years in state and federal prison. He’s earned certifications from three...

By Alix Woolard, Photo: Radu Florin/Unsplash, The Conversation, July 5, 2023 You have probably heard of “fight or flight” responses to distressing situations. You may also be familiar with the tendency to “freeze”. But there is another defence or survival strategy a person can have: “fawn”. When our brain perceives a threat in our environment, our sympathetic nervous system takes over and a person can experience any one or combination of the four F responses. What are the four Fs? The fawn...