Blog

As a teachers strike in Los Angeles begins, I am struck with the notion that the demands of UTLA are really about self-care and resilience for both students and adults. The union has repeatedly rejected the district’s offers, even when they could possibly agree on the salary, because it didn't meet the important demands of reduced class size and additional student support staff such as nurses, social workers and counselors. While the financial woes at the district level are real and complex,...

It was a full house last at the Savoy Theater, in Montpelier VT), to see Kim Pierce's video, "Faces of ACEs." They had a second showing since not everyone who had come out on a windy, snowy Sunday evening could get in for the first showing. The video is a very moving account of Kim's work screening her patients at the Plainfield Health Center for ACEs, and their responses to the screening. It is clear that the discussions about ACEs and their connections to life patterns is transformative...

In an effort to promote positive parenting and prevent adverse childhood experiences, every school, business, organization, agency, doctor's office, hospital, etc. should have sets of these fifty-one parenting tips bumper stickers on a counter or table so parents, customers, clients, and patients can help themselves. Parenting tips on vehicles will be read 1000s of times, by 1000s of people of all ages, for years to come. What an awesome way to get quality parenting information out to the...

Dr. Felitti's remarks were taken from the twin cities documentary Whole People. "The magnitude of the problem is so enormous and treatment approaches are so difficult and costly that you can spend the rest of your life becoming the next Mother Teresa or Albert Schweitzer and you'll be so busy helping people that you'll never notice you're just nibbling at the edges of the problem leaving the vast bulk unrecognized and untouched. So if anything meaningful is to come out of this it's going to...

Brené Brown explains how to overcome our sense of disconnection and find our common humanity. Collective assembly has long been a part of the human experience. . . . Collective assembly is more than just people coming together to distract themselves from life by watching a game, concert, or play—instead it is an opportunity to feel connected to something bigger than oneself; it is an opportunity to feel joy, social connection, meaning, and peace. The foundation of courage is...

I had a close call on the second night of the ayahuasca ceremony. I saw my teenage self melting into particles and eventually disappearing altogether. I pulled off my sleep mask and saw the people around me shape-shifting into shadows. I thought I was dying, or perhaps losing my grip on reality. Suddenly, Kat, my guide, appeared and began singing to me. I couldn’t make out the words, but the cadence was soothing. After a minute or two, the dread washed away and I settled back into a peaceful...

Global organizations are more sophisticated than ever in working together to address complex problems. Why are so many funders still using the outdated “capacity building” model? Capacity-building was born from a good intention: to develop and strengthen the ability of organizations and communities to do or expand their work. Funders invested in, for example, the transfer of technical assistance to groups perceived to be lacking expertise or capacity in a given area. Ultimately, the aim was...

On his way back to his housing unit one day, my FirstWatch teammate Eric “Maserati E” told me he was pulled over and searched for a random pat-down. A Correctional Officer (C.O.) told Eric to put his hands on the wall as the officer took items from Eric’s pockets. The other officers stood close by and watched. Once the random stop and frisk was over, the C.O. handed back the few items Eric had in his pockets (identification card, pens, guitar pick, and a couple of FirstWatch and Re:store...

PBS will be airing a documentary series on ACE's. If you do not have this station at home, each episode is available to watch online after it has aired (https://www.tpt.org/whole-people/). The Documentary Series Whole People airs Sunday nights on TPT MN at 7 p.m. (CST) beginning January 13 running through February 10, 2019. The documentary series is the result of a three-year partnership between CentraCare and TPT MN. Watch the Documentaries Episode #1 (January 13th) Episode #2 (January...

Merriam-Webster defines an elegy as " a song or poem expressing sorrow or lamentation especially for one who is dead." As a college-educated, middle-class white woman I had no idea what that word meant, I had to look it up. I thought it was interesting that the author, J.D. Vance, chose to use a word most hillbillies would have no understanding of as part of his title. But maybe this book isn't intended for a hillbilly, but for those of us that are not and do not understand the first thing...

Adapted from Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and The Courage to Stand Alone: by Brené Brown, Ph.D., LMSW. Today, our culture is in crisis. Many people have retreated to their ideological bunkers to hate from afar, dehumanizing others rather than risk having real, meaningful conversations across their differences. How will we find our way back to each other? It’s not by staying in our factions and echo chambers, pressured to conform to whatever viewpoints and ways of...

A long-term study of 1,420 people finds that childhood trauma is more commonplace than is often assumed, and that its effects upon the transition to adulthood and adult functioning are not only confined to post-traumatic stress symptoms and depression but are more broadly based. These conclusions were reported November 9, 2018 by a team led by 2009 BBRF Young Investigator William E. Copeland, Ph.D. , of the Vermont Center for Children, Youth and Families at the University of Vermont. He and...