Tagged With "sober living home"
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ACEs Connection Parent Handouts
Great resources to accompany ACEs screening efforts, presentations, and community awareness building. Please share how you plan to use the handouts in the comments section below!
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ACEs gets a day at the (Sacramento) Capitol!
No matter where you are, be sure to follow the events of the day on twitter: Follow @acestoohigh and #4CAKidsDay17 to get live updates all day.
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Advancing a Plan for Addressing Trauma and Building Resilience within L.A. County Systems (prnewswire.com)
Center for Collective Wisdom Releases Extensive Report Outlining Research and Recommendations First 5 LA, the California Community Foundation, The California Endowment, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation along with other local, state and nationally-recognized expert organizations today released a report to advance a comprehensive trauma and resiliency-informed approach in Los Angeles County . "Trauma is a serious health concern affecting many children and...
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Anne Douglas celebrates her birthday at the skid row women's shelter that bears her name (latimes.com)
Anne Douglas could have celebrated her birthday at home in Beverly Hills with her husband, actor Kirk Douglas. Instead, she sat behind a silver-and-pink birthday cake Wednesday as women lined up, weeping, to embrace and thank her for starting the Los Angeles Mission's Anne Douglas Center for Women — one of skid row's first homeless shelters for women. "When I first encountered the women at this homeless shelter it was heartbreaking, and I was determined to make it better," said Douglas, who...
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Bob Hope’s Toluca Lake home is on the market, and here’s why it matters: Dennis McCarthy (dailybreeze.com)
“If you haven’t any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.” - Bob Hope. They could have left the family home worth millions to their children or the Catholic church, but Bob and Dolores Hope didn’t. They left it to the homeless and the veterans of Los Angeles County to help shelter and feed struggling families at the bottom of the economic ladder - a million miles from where the Hopes lived at the top. Without any fanfare or press releases, the Hopes quietly took on...
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Bringing Baby Home Educator Training
Bringing Baby Home Facilitator Training comes to Santa Ana, November 14-15, 2019. Research continues to show that our children are most fragile in the first years of their life. Even the strongest relationships are strained during the transition to parenthood. Lack of sleep, never-ending housework and new fiscal concerns can lead to profound stress and a decline in marital satisfaction – all of which affect baby’s care. Not surprisingly, 67% of new parents experience conflict, disappointment...
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Broadening Your Network and Identifying Partners for More Resilient, Healthier Communities
Who should you partner with to create lasting change through resilience in your community? The Building Community Resilience (BCR) initiative aims to address, prevent, and reduce the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and adverse community environments (ACEs) on children’s health and wellbeing ( The “Pair of ACEs” ). An essential element of the successes of BCR’s five test sites around the country has been strategic collaborations. In your work to build resilience, identifying...
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Building an ACEs, Trauma-Informed, and Resilience-Building Community: Draft MOU from Walla Walla WA
Working document, 3/20/15 Walla Walla, Washington MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING Between the Children’s Resilience Initiative and Community Partners PREAMBLE VISION: All young people thrive and parents raise their children with...
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California 2018 State Profile on ACEs Initiatives and Action
Hi, Everyone: Here’s the state profile for California. To review the entire profile, open the PDF that is attached to this post. If you have corrections or additions, please leave them in the comments section of this post. We’ll be reviewing the comments regularly and doing fact-checks. The information you give us will also help us determine how to organize and expand the information in the state profiles. We will be turning this post into a living profile that, with your help and input,...
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California is failing our kids [SactoBee.com]
California’s economy is the seventh-largest in the world, and home to global industries that have revolutionized our way of life. Yet when it comes to caring for our children, we are failing to provide the essential services they need to thrive and succeed. The facts are disturbing and unacceptable. California ranks 49th among the states for standard of living for kids; roughly half of children are in families in or near poverty; nearly three-fourths of our youngest kids don’t receive health...
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California issues update on state residents' ACE scores from 2011 & 2013 surveys
The latest adverse childhood experiences survey from the California Department of Public Health shows that 42% of the population has an ACE score of 3 or higher; 16% have an ACE score of 4 or higher. Those with an ACE score of 4 or higher are: 3x more likely to be current smokers 4x more likely to have a depressive disorder 2x more likely to have asthma 2x more likely to be obese 4x more likely to have COPD 3x more likely to have a stroke Here are a few other highlights from the six-page...
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Changing Minds and Creating Trauma-Informed Communities Convenings - South and North
Last week, on two separate days in Los Angeles and in San Francisco, about 150 people (total) convened to listen and brainstorm about creating trauma-informed communities. Futures Without Violence, which is rolling out its Changing Minds campaign later this year, hosted both events. Some very interesting and important themes emerged from the two days: Residents with lived experiences should participate in the decision-making bodies of service providers and vested...
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County Supes Create Financial Safety Net for Millions of Low Income and Struggling Angelenos (citywatchla.org)
GUEST WORDS-- Since joining the LA County Board of Supervisors 18 months ago, I, along with my colleagues on the Board, have taken a series of steps to build prosperity and economic security for residents by raising the minimum wage and establishing programs to promote social enterprises, help small businesses thrive and prevent people from falling into homelessness when they encounter short-term financial crises, like the loss of a job or a catastrophic medical condition. Last week, the...
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CYW releases "Children Can Thrive: A Vision for California's Response to ACEs"
The Center for Youth Wellness released a new report “Children Can Thrive: A Vision for California’s Response to ACEs”. This report is a follow up to last November’s Children Can Thrive Summit. ...
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Early childhood educators learn new ways to spot trauma triggers, build resilience in preschoolers
A hug may be comforting to many children, but for a child who has experienced trauma it may not feel safe.
That’s an example used by Julie Kurtz, co-director of trauma informed practices in early childhood education at the WestEd Center for Child & Family Studies (CCFS), as she begins a trauma training session. Her audience, preschool teachers and staff of the San Francisco-based Wu Yee Children’s Services at San Francisco’s Women’s Building, listen attentively.
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Echo Conference Spotlight: Mental Health of Undocumented Students
Echo's conference this year is packed with great workshops for teachers, parents and anyone who works with children and their families. In addition to the not-to-be-missed keynotes (such as Susan Craig ), we are proud to present: Jose Ivan Arreola-Torres Workshop Spotlight: Holistic Healing for Immigrant & Undocumented Youth In this important workshop, Jose Ivan Arreola-Torres will talk about an often overlooked aspect of student mental health - the mental and emotional...
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Enroll today for the December 5, 2019 SoCal Learning Community!
Welcome to the 2019 - 2020 SoCal Learning Community series! This 4-part series is designed to build leadership capacity to improve outcomes for children and families in the SoCal region. Re-visioning Prevention: Exploring Systems Innovation and Best Practices in the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect Join us for the second convening in December and participate in this innovative peer learning experience, hear from topic experts and connect with colleagues in the SoCal region. Date:...
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An Upstream Approach: Using Data-Driven Home Visiting to Prevent Child Abuse (chronicleofsocialchange.org)
(Image Credit: pixgood.com) Today, Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors will vote on a motion to move 103 public health nurses from the Department of Children and Family Services to the Department of Public Health. While largely administrative, the development sets the nation’s largest child welfare system up for a much broader discussion about how public health strategies can help break the intergenerational cycles of abuse that result in preventable child maltreatment. If Los...
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FATHERHOOD MATTERS: Dr. Jorja Leap Gives Readers a Remarkable Window into the Lives of the Fathers of Jordan Downs [WitnessLA.com]
FATHERS WITHOUT FATHERS Every Wednesday night around two dozen men from the Jordan Downs housing project meet to teach each other, and themselves, how to be fathers. “See, most of the men in the group never had fathers,” Mike...
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Free RESILIENCE Virtual Screening - register by 3/28 at 2pm PST
Join us on Tuesday, April 3rd for a VIMEO Virtual Screening of the award-winning film, RESILIENCE: The Biology of Stress & The Science of Hope - a critically acclaimed documentary chronicling a new movement among pediatricians, therapists, educators and communities, who are using cutting-edge brain science to disrupt cycles of violence, addiction and disease. RESILIENCE: The Biology of Stress & the Science of Hope is the latest film from documentary Director-Producer James Redford...
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Funds From Ballot Initiative Help Newly Released Prisoners Find a Home in Los Angeles [calhealthreport.org]
As Latanja Madison’s release date from prison inched closer, she felt more terrified than elated. During a decade behind bars at the California Institution for Women in Corona, the 55-year-old Madison underwent multiple orthopedic surgeries and now uses a walker. Her immediate family members passed away during her incarceration, creating grave doubts she would have a support system. She feared leaving prison may lead to a worse fate – habitual homelessness. “I’m more blue collar than white...
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How a Group of Female Inmates Won the Right to Live with Their Children [Vice.com]
The springtime sun blazes over East Arrow Highway in Pomona, California, and the glare off the whitish-gray concrete walkways forces everyone to squint. Regina Dotson moves busily in and out of her office on the second floor of a residential...
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How L.A. County can open more doors for homeless women: Guest commentary [DailyNews.com]
Los Angeles County’s 2015 Homeless Count showed a 12 percent jump in homelessness, grabbing headlines and leading to a declaration of “emergency” by elected officials. Yet another number stands out — 33 percent, representing the over 13,000 women who make up the county’s homeless population. A woman experiencing homelessness enters a system designed by and for the majority. Her homelessness may have resulted from a violent home, a final paycheck, or untenable...
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In L.A., Law Enforcement and Child Protection Try the Impossible: Stop Child Maltreatment Deaths [chronicleofsocialchange.org]
On Wednesday , prominent Los Angeles County officials will revisit a trying time in the county’s child protection history. In May of 2013, the violent death of an 8-year-old Antelope Valley boy rocked the county. The first story that appeared in The Los Angeles Times opened with gruesome details that are still as shocking today as when they were first written. “When paramedics arrived at his Palmdale home last week, 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez’s skull was cracked, three ribs were broken and...
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In Spanish: Handouts for parents about ACEs, toxic stress & resilience
The Community & Family Services Division at the Spokane (WA) Regional Health District has come through again, with a Spanish version of the parent handout (in English) that we posted last year , and which has been downloaded thousands of times. The English versions came about whiledoing a story about the trauma-in formed elementary schools in Spokane, WA .I interviewedp ublic health nurse Melissa Charbonneau who said that she'd been giving an...
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Inside the California facilities holding children separated from their parents at the border (latimes.com)
In a quiet nook in the small city of La Verne, small cottages topped with Spanish tile are spread across a sprawling green campus. Long ago, it was an orphanage; now it’s a group home for foster kids. Recently, it also became one of several shelters in the Los Angeles area that quietly began to house kids who have been split from their parents at the border. It is now home to some of the children who were forcibly taken from their parents under President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration...
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Is There A Foster-Care-To-Prison Pipeline? If So, This New LA-Based Program Aims To Break It (witnessla.com)
“Everyone talks about the school-to-prison pipeline,” said Loyola Law School professor Sean Kennedy. “But doing this work you see that there’s a group-home-to-prison. Kennedy is the Director of Loyola’s respected Center for Juvenile Law and Policy (CJLP), which was founded in 2004 to “tackle the injustices of the Los Angeles County juvenile court system” by providing pro bono advocacy for youth who find themselves caught up in that system. Thanks to a highly competitive $1 million grant from...
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Join us on May 17, 2019 for the SoCal Learning Community! Achieving Impact through Evaluation and Data for Family Strengthening Programs
Achieving Impact through Evaluation and Data for Family Strengthening Programs Know Your Audience: Program Participants, Potential Clients and Community Members Enroll Here! Date: Friday May 17, 2019 Time: Check in at 9:30am, begin at 10am, conclude at 12:30pm Enroll to join in person or remotely through one of the options below: Otis Booth Campus, Los Angeles Remote sites in Atascadero, Ventura, Lancaster, San Bernardino, Moreno Valley and San Diego LIVE online from your computer...
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L.A. County bail reform would pay off in fairness and efficiency: Sheila Kuehl [DailyNews.com]
Imagine waiting in jail month after month for your trial. A court has determined that you pose minimal threat to public safety, but still you sit in pretrial incarceration. And while you wait, you lose your job, your home, in some cases even your family, all because you simply don’t have the money to post bail. Nationwide, more than 450,000 people are sitting in local, state and federal jails while they await trial — in essence, serving time before they’re even convicted. The cost is...
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L.A. County’s Latest Solution to Homelessness Is a Test of Compassion [CityLab.com]
California’s budding YIMBY movement is up for a real test. Under a new pilot program approved this week, Los Angeles County homeowners are being asked to literally open up their backyards to the homeless. The county’s board of supervisors gave the green light to the The Granny Flats Motion project on Tuesday, which would give homeowners up to $75,000 to build a backyard home—if they agree to rent it to a homeless family or individual. (For those who already have a unit to offer, the county...
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L.A. County steps up efforts to eradicate homelessness (lasentinel.net)
Ethnically diverse advocates detailed their efforts to eradicate homelessness during New America Media’s forum at Skid Row Housing Trust’s Apartments on Feb. 3. Panelists hailed from African-American, Chinese, Latino and Korean backgrounds. The briefing focused on how L.A. County is working to raise awareness among our audiences about the diversity of its homeless population and how all ethnic groups have a stake in working to end it. “Who we hire is important, and how they’re trained is...
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L.A. County wants to help foster students avoid switching schools when they move homes (latimes.com)
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve a motion Tuesday that would help foster children avoid having to switch schools when they move to a new home. The motion would create a pilot program to provide transportation for the students to the schools they were attending before being moved. “Changing schools, along with changing homes, creates further upheaval for foster kids who have already experienced trauma and loss,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who introduced...
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L.A. requires face coverings outdoors to slow coronavirus, help lift stay-at-home restrictions (latimes.com)
Los Angeles County beaches reopened Wednesday and more businesses were given the green light to provide curbside service to customers, but officials made clear the region still has a ways to go before a major lifting of stay-at-home orders is possible. L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Wednesday evening that all Angelenos, except for small children and those with certain disabilities, would be required to wear face coverings outside. That marks a significant increase in the city’s rules,...
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LA County Demographics of Homelessness Continuum of Care (lacounty.gov)
A Dynamic and Deepening Crisis That Demands Our Attention By Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas The Board of Supervisors’ most recent initiative set aside $4 million for teams of social workers and health professionals to go out into the streets of Skid Row and connect homeless single adults to housing and supportive services. Los Angeles County has half a million more very low-income households than available apartments so the typical monthly rent has skyrocketed 27 percent since...
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LA County leaders support $1.2 billion ballot measure to help homeless (dailynews.com)
Los Angeles County supervisors approved a resolution Tuesday to support the city’s property tax bond measure that, if passed by voters in November, is expected to raise about $1.2 billion to build supportive housing for the homeless. Known as Proposition H, the measure would allow for a new property tax on both residential and commercial properties in the city of Los Angeles. For example, a $1 million home would be taxed about $40 to $80 a year with the new fee, according to city analysts.
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LA County leaders vote to support plan to protect undocumented youth (sgvtribune.com)
Continuing their response to President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed crackdown on illegal immigration , the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a trio of motions Tuesday in support of a federal comprehensive immigration plan and related programs that protect youth. The bipartisan motions were introduced by Supervisors Hilda Solis and Kathryn Barger, who have disagreed in recent weeks on actions that seek to protect immigrants who face deportation. “These young people were...
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With dramatic homeless increases, Redondo Beach works to help individuals (tbrnews.com)
Homelessness in Redondo Beach has tripled since 2013, causing the city to look deep into its pockets to see where representatives can help. The most recent survey from the Greater Los Angeles Area Homeless Count in January found 216 individuals in Redondo Beach, up from 165 in 2015 and 70 in 2013. The city accounted for 83 percent of the homeless population across the beach cities and El Segundo. At the most recent Redondo Beach City Council meeting, both police and the Los Angeles County...
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Working at the intersection of violence and land use (preventioninstitute.org)
This past September, the Healthy, Equitable, Active Land Use (HEALU) Network convened a summit in Los Angeles to explore the nexus of land use and community safety, drawing nearly 100 community members, policymakers, and representatives of community-based organizations. Our new report shares key learnings from this summit and invites people working in land use, transportation, food policy, education, housing, and other areas to consider the ways their own work can support safe communities.
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12 Myths of the Science of ACEs
The two biggest myths about ACEs science are: MYTH #1 — That it’s just about the 10 ACEs in the ACE Study — the CDC-Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study . It’s about sooooo much more than that. MYTH #2 — And that it’s just about ACEs…adverse childhood experiences. These two myths are intertwined. The ACE Study issued the first of its 70+ publications in 1998, and for many people it was the lightning bolt, the grand “aha” moment, the unexpected doorway into a blazing new...
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4 myths that make L.A. County's homeless problem worse [LATimes.com]
Some myths about homelessness get repeated so often that they become accepted as true. But with more than 31,000 people sleeping in our parks and on our sidewalks every night here in Los Angeles County, we cannot allow fallacies to drive our homeless policies. “Some people just want to live on the street” is perhaps the most dangerous myth about homelessness. Yes, some people resist moving into short-term shelters because that may require separating family members, losing one's...
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San Francisco Trauma Informed Systems Initiative 2014 Year In Review
The Department made the commitment to train all of its 9,000 staff to become trauma-informed. From the report: The Trauma Informed Systems Initiative Workgroup is led by Dr. Ken Epstein and currently staffed by a full time Coordinator, a team of 4...
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‘Seeing’ My Brother on the Venice Boardwalk (citywatchla.com)
HOMELESSNESS: A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE--I lost my brother Steve last week. He died of cardiac arrest at 63. Steve was the black sheep of our family of six children. He did not go to college and struggled to make a living building decks and remodeling bathrooms and kitchens. If my parents had not let him live in a converted garage behind their house in Santa Monica, he would very likely have ended up like many of the folks we see living on the street in Venice – and he certainly would have died...
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Should Trauma Equal a Disability? (CNN.com)
Thank you to LA TI Task Force member, K-Rahn Vallatine, Live Above The Hype, for sharing this CNN video with an update on the trauma informed schools lawsuit with the Compton Unified School District. To view the video; http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/12/30/straight-outta-compton-lawsuit-trauma-children-school-sidner-pkg-ctn.cnn
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Spirituality in Post-Traumatic Growth
One of the five domains of post-traumatic growth is spirituality. Helping us understand the role of spirituality in recovering from trauma at the Echo Frontiers of Resilience conference is Shaun Tomson . If you think the name and face look familiar then perhaps you know him from his days as a world champion surfer. Shaun needed every single one of the lessons he had learned about facing challenges in the form of towering waves and overcoming wipe-outs when he lost his 15-year-old son to a...
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Spotlight on: Hope Integrated Psychiatry
As your community manager, I will be spotlighting agencies who are integrating Trauma-Informed Practices and furthering the mission of ACEs Science. If you would like your agency to be highlighted or if you would like more information on how to integrate ACEs Science into your organization, please contact me directly through Private Message. Walking up to the La Maida Institute felt like entering a secret garden. The weathered, wooden door surrounded by greenery was simultaneously welcoming...
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States Produce a Bumper Crop of ACEs bills in 2017—nearly 40 bills in 18 states
A scan done in March by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) through StateNet of bills introduced in 2017 that specifically include adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in the text produced a surprising volume of bills (close of 40) in a large number of states (18). A scan done a year ago produced less than a handful. NCSL is a bipartisan organization that serves both state legislators and their staffs. The shear volume of bills in so many states represents a promising...
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Strengthening Community Trust Sypmposium - Family & Youth Support Partner Initiative
The Diversity Development Center invites you to attend the first in a series of Strengthening Community Trust Symposiums to take place at Marina Village Conference Center Building A, 1936 Quivira Way, San Diego, CA 92109 on July 18th and 19th, 2018. FAMILY & YOUTH SUPPORT PARTNER MODEL A Family and Youth Support Partner is an individual, with lived experiences in the respective system(s), who is trained and hired to help other families as a paraprofessional. We believe trust is the...
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Study: Community Trauma from Gun Violence Results in Negative Health and Behavioral Outcomes (Violence Policy Center)
Research on trauma is frequently featured in mainstream news outlets, pointing to its connection to a range of behavioral and health outcomes. While trauma can have multiple interpretations, for the purposes of this report, it is the result of experiencing or witnessing chronic and sustained violence, or specific events that can have lasting effects on individuals. Researchers have identified 13 distinct types of trauma, including community violence. Community violence is an umbrella term...
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Surrounded [latimes.com]
E ven as crime has dropped in L.A. over the last two decades, there are thousands of children who grow up with a constant drumbeat of death while navigating safe paths to schools in neighborhoods where someone has been killed nearby. The impact of close-up violence can be devastating and costly for students, schools and communities: Some students suffer PTSD-like symptoms. Schools have begun incorporating the inevitability of trauma into their design, with curriculum addressing stress...
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Teen Dating Violence is Widespread, but Underreported [calhealthreport.org]
After her visit at an adolescent medical clinic in Los Angeles in January, 19-year-old Serena was afraid to go home. Six days before, her boyfriend had beaten her so badly that she had to go to the emergency room. Serena’s name has been changed to protect her safety. “She was so sad and so scared,” said Monica Sifuentes, my colleague and an adolescent medicine pediatrician at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, who treated Serena. With visible sadness, she told me Serena’s story. Serena, who is...