Blog

It's been over a month since the Violence Against Women Act expired at the start of the government shutdown. Congress failed to renew the act after voting for short-term extensions in the months prior to its expiration, and many programs and shelters that address dating violence and sexual abuse are still without funding. Now, according to Rebecca Palmer, chief program officer of the Community Resource Center, a non-profit in the North County area of San Diego that serves domestic violence...

"Children's exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences is the greatest unaddressed public health threat of our time." Robert W. Block, past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics National Public Health Week (April 1-7) is an opportunity to celebrate the work and contributions of public health professionals and advocates like you. This year, we’re celebrating the theme “Creating the Healthiest Nation: For science. For action. For health.” APHA will be coordinating activities, and we...

How many emotionally injured children are there? It’s uncertain, easily millions. Most of these children go untreated; many unnoticed or falsely labeled ‘bad’ kids. While the damage to them is not well understood, the increase in anti-social behaviors stemming from unhealed trauma and abandonment is disastrous. Our homes, schools, communities, and judicial system all pay a price for unhealed children. Healthcare professionals are either uncertain what to do with them or believe that they...

(Emeka Nnaka was just featured on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. His story of courage begins Chapter 3 of Hope Rising: How the Science of HOPE Can Change Your Life by Casey Gwinn, J.D. & Chan Hellman, P.HD. Emeka Emeka Nnaka watched the ball fly as the kick-off began the game. Emeka zeroed in on the returner as he caught the ball. The returner shed the first tackle, then ran through a block. He headed toward Emeka, coming full speed. Emeka wrapped him up. The sound of the collision...

Saw this excellent essay by Rosalyn Warren shared by @Elizabeth Perry on Twitter. I immediately thought of all @Lisa Frederiksen's writing and education about the second-hand impacts of alcoholism which have informed me so much. This article does a great job of capturing the varied experiences children of alcoholics have, both as young children and teenagers as well as into adulthood. It touches on the way kids suffer, gets parentified, or let down when parents can't...

So many multiple victim homicides! One of these days it will be common knowledge that not all victims of unsupportive/harmful parenting become mass murderers, but all mass murderers experienced unsupportive/harmful parenting. A new kind of parenting education...one that reaches everyone, everywhere, all the time would elevate and level the parenting playing field. Ten, twenty, thirty, fifty years down the road this might prevent mass murder and many other problems that hurt children,...

The readers of my blog have been following the path of how an idea moves from thought into action and becomes a reality through the #NoMoreEmptyDesks initiative. This past week, Melanie Burney, a reporter with the Philadelphia Inquirer came to Brimm Medical Arts High School to interview Lisa Wallenberg, the art teacher and her students working on the project. Here is the article: ...

At nine months old, Autumn started banging her head. Victoria and Nathaniel had installed swings for their twin girls in the doorway of the living room, and Autumn would lean out of the swing in order to whack herself on the posts. They would carefully snuggle her back in, secure her, and pad the posts with pillows, but she continued to bang. Sometimes she banged with such vigor that she scarred herself and shook the house. She also started to rock, vigorously pulsating back and forth. She...

Walla Walla’s Community Resilience Initiative (CRI) has been awarded a Social Impact Grant in 2019 through Premera Blue Cross. Premera’s award will provide funding to translate the CRI materials into Spanish, thus providing access to Spanish-speaking members of our community and elsewhere. Ultimately, the award will help support CRI’s community work in addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)- by expanding understanding of the impact of ACEs on parenting and health, and more...

Part 3. Claire’s Story: She’s scared to death By A. Hosack, P. Berman, & K. Hecht These kids are a burden. No matter how hard we work, we can’t get ahead. We hate this life. Gail and Bill had their five children in quick succession. After their third child, they couldn’t stand living in their two-room apartment anymore; they could escape the sight of their children anywhere. It took a lot of searching, but they finally found a small house to rent that they could afford. All of Claire’s...

It made my heart happy to sit down with my friend Krissie Myers to discuss her program director roles with Milestones, Inc. – an equestrian achievement program – and Kentucky Intensive Family Services foster care agency.

The truth is, spoken word artists Tina Nixon and Kwabena Antoine Nixon have helped people enveloped in trauma open up about their innermost fears. They've done it by voicing their own truths and creating safe environments for youth and adults alike to let down their guard. Their tools: spoken word, art and writing exercises. The Nixons are neither counselors nor therapists, but their credibility is rooted in the trauma each experienced growing up, and the resiliency they have shown in not...