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I had two moments when I first transitioned onto a healing path that stand out as life-altering. My therapist at the time had mentioned to me, "Just notice" during one of our sessions, in the midst of a pretty intense flashback when panic attack symptoms were overwhelming me. Allowing myself the opportunity to just notice those sensations without judgment created an incredible shift in their power over me.

How do you get people to support public policies that help children thrive? Do you emphasize the possible health consequences of child abuse, or do you emphasize the financial consequences for society as a whole? If you focus on consequences, does this messaging have the unintended consequence of creating prejudices towards vulnerable children and their families? When it comes to informing and persuading, how we deliver a message matters as much as the message itself. With a $500,000 grant...

I had the chance to attend a training for law enforcement and others, described below, in Yarmouth, MA, a few weeks ago. The presentation, "Trauma Informed Response Training for Law Enforcement & Multi Disciplinary Team Members," was given by retired detective Justin Boardman . Boardman was joined in the morning by the chief domestic violence prosecutor of the Cape & Islands, Michael Patterson. Here is a news story excerpt about the training from the Cape Cod newsletter (yes, the...

Funding will go toward training staff, parents, others in early childhood settings (LITTLE ROCK, Ark.) --- The Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education (DCCECE) has been awarded a $3.5 million grant from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Children & Families that will be used to train staff, parents, and others working with children from birth to 5 years old who have experienced trauma. “Young children in...

Hi friends, I'm super busy putting finishing touches on my new course on dating and relationships for people with Childhood PTSD, but I really wanted to keep posting every week and stay connected with you. So I wanted to share this excerpt from a video that's part of my first course (Healing Childhood PTSD), which explains how the course works. It's pretty unusual, so it's worth explaining! The tragedy of Childhood PTSD is that its symptoms can suppress the best in us -- our joy, our...

Elizabeth (Liz) Clark, MSN, RN NCSN is a school nurse's school nurse. Her leadership skills were honed as President of the CO Association of School Nurses. She served on the national level as the CO NASN Director, completing her term in 2017. Liz has a prominent presence on Twitter and uses the social media platform to elevate school nursing practice. Liz is a natural teacher and you can find her sharing the most recent peer-reviewed articles with colleagues to promote health and learning. A...

This article by Brandon Stahl, Jennifer Bjorhus, and Maryjo Webster recently published in the Star Tribune . It is part 8 of a series entitled, Denied Justice: When rape is reported and nothing happens. How Minnesota's criminal justice system has failed victims of sexual assault. To read this entire article, go here and find an excerpt below. To read the entire series, go here . Again, to read this article by Brandon Stahl, Jennifer Bjorhus, and Maryjo Webster, go here and for the rest of...

It's easy to feel overwhelmed when juggling career and work demands, family time, relationships, and other obligations. If you feel like you're constantly playing catch-up with no time to achieve personal or professional fulfillment, it's possible to turn it all around by changing one thing about your day: your morning routine. There's a reason successful people tend to be early risers . Think Tim Cook or Oprah. The quiet early-morning hours are a key time for focusing on a set of routines...

Check out the latest two books in the Teachers' Guide to Trauma Series by Dr. Melissa Sadin! They can be purchased at www.traumasensitive.com Or by downloading the attached order form. Gifted Children & Trauma is intended to be a resource for parents and teachers working with gifted children with an explanation of how trauma impacts children who are gifted in a unique way. Teachers' Guide to Resilience Through Art is a guide to working with children who have experienced trauma by...

Every student should have the opportunity to learn and succeed. But adverse childhood experiences — or ACEs — get in the way of this goal. As our readers know, there are ten ACEs that include physical and emotional neglect; physical, emotional and sexual abuse; and living in households where adults misuse substances, have mental health challenges, are violent to partners, parents are separated, or a family member is incarcerated. ACEs can impact students’ capacity to learn, leading to poor...

The Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) In research that has gone on since the late 1990s, psychologists and neuroscientists have found that a fraction of the population is simply “wired” differently than most (Aron, E. & Aron, A., 1997). In 1997, Elaine Aron, Ph.D. wrote The Highly Sensitive Person. She describes the HSP as more sensitive to sounds, textures, and essentially all outside stimulation than average. HSPs also think more about decisions and actions, and naturally process more...

he U.S. is the only nation in the world to not sign the United Nation's International Rights of the Child Treaty adopted in 1989 leaving children as chattel with no civil rights in the home they are raised in, voice in courts, media or legislature. As a long time volunteer County CASA guardian ad Litem it has been hard to comprehend the explosive growth of child abuse in my lifetime. Trends, statistics & options.