Learn more about all of the elements of this amazing program, and the ways you can learn to bring this to your local schools, at their website (linked here). See short clip from their website embedded in this post!
This piece has been a long time coming. As a young person, I spent years interviewing women involved in the Black Power movement, reading their letters, poetry and essays. I was researching their experiences and the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder on their lives. Later on, I realized that I was searching for a way to be involved with movement work in which my spirit, personality and hope could remain intact. I've learned that part of that work is mine alone. But part of it is a...
A review of kids’ well-being & roadmap for the future. The 2018 California Children’s Report Card grades the state on its ability to support better outcomes for kids, from birth to age 26, through early childhood to higher education systems. This year's grades range from an A on Health Insurance to a D in several areas including Academic Outcomes, Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention, and Youth Justice. Overall, the state’s grades show a disappointing lack of investment and progress in...
For many of Sacramento’s homeless men and women, the public library is a haven from harsh weather, a primary source for bathroom facilities, a place to rest from the stress of the streets. But as the homeless crisis deepens in the capital city and around the country, libraries increasingly are seeing people with untreated mental illnesses that cause them to act oddly, or put themselves or others in danger. Now, for the first time, employees of Sacramento’s library system are taking training...
Public health experts often talk about the “ "social determinants of health" : community traits such as housing quality, access to nutritious and fresh food, water and air quality, education quality and employment opportunities. These factors are thought to be among the most powerful influences on a person’s health. Local communities in every state across the U.S. face similar poor economic realities: 52.3 million Americans live in economically distressed ZIP codes. This means that about 17...
There are still a few spaces available for the Changing the Public Discourse About Violence Training on Wednesday, Feb. 7th , from 9:00am – 4:00pm. Please confirm your participation by filling out the link below (if you haven't already) no later than Friday Feb. 2nd, at which point the registration will close Please Confirm your Participation Here . As a reminder, this training is offered free of charge, and breakfast (light) and lunch will be provided. Topics will include: Tell our story...
Sacramento County Public Health has begun the long and challenging process of seeking national accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board. As part of our accreditation efforts, Public Health will develop numerous documents and reports including a Community Health Assessment and a Community Health Improvement Plan. Community input is essential for the creation of these plans and we are asking for your thoughtful participation in our stakeholder survey. The survey should take...
Cissy's note: This review of Resilience was shared with me a few weeks ago and I've been thinking about it ever since. I'll be thinking about it more at the next Resilience screening I go to next month. It's written by Lynn Davey, Ph.D . To read entire review, go here . Cissy's note: I wonder if the author has seen Paper Tigers before and what her views of that are? I think I'll ask. I know I reacted more emotionally (in a good way) to Paper Tigers because it shared personal stories showing...
Last week, a Facebook post from a mom seeking mental health services from her OB/GYN went viral. She was educated and well informed enough to know that her symptoms were likely related to postpartum depression, but the ask for help only added to her struggle. 10 hours later, she left the ER with her infant and list of resources feeling worse. But instead of blaming the "system" that she sought help from, she has decided to embrace it by diving deeper into attempts to utilize it. Jessica...
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.
Fires/Floods/Earthquakes: Resiliency in the Face of Disaster Friday, February 9, 2018, 8:45 am – 1 pm in Fairfield Remote in Sacramento and Chico Registration is open via the link below RSVP for a convening and learn more at StrategiesCA.org/Learning-Communities Strategies 2.0 facilitates six regional Learning Communities that are your opportunity to engage with your colleagues and leaders in your region about the needs and interests of the communities you serve. Take part in the quarterly...
Front-line and case workers for the TANF program (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) are at high risk for compassion fatigue. They hear approximately 30 stories of trauma, abuse and hardship each day. Complaints from workers vary from “How many stories of torture will have to I hear.” “It feels like I am spitting at a forest fire.” “After 12 years in the field, I am now on blood pressure medication.” This year the Cal WORKs Training Academy featured a workshop on compassion fatigue...
Bruce S. McEwen, Ph.D. Alfred E. Mirsky Professor Rockefeller University “The Resilient Brain: Epigenetics, Stress and the Lifecourse” Friday, Jan.12, 2018 11:30 a.m.—12:30 p.m. PSSB Auditorium, G300 For more information, please contact Morgan Luthi at 916-734-7523 or mluthi@ucdavis.edu Bruce S. McEwen, Ph.D. Neuroendocrinologist and head of the Harold and Margaret Milli-ken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at Rockefeller University . McEwen received his bachelor's degree in chemistry...
Members of the millennial generation live with their parents more, have less sexual interaction and start families later than prior generations. Turns out they also got in less trouble with the law as teenagers. On average, 5 percent of Californians born between 1982 to 2004 were arrested while younger than the age of 18, according to a new report by the national Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, a nonprofit. That compares with 11 percent of those born between 1943 and 1960 and 8...
Sacramento and Davis are only about 15 miles from each other, but the distance might as well be 50 miles, psychologically. The town-gown partnership that ought to exist between California’s capital and UC Davis perpetually founders in ways that it simply shouldn’t. Arizona State University in Tempe is embedded in Phoenix’s economy, though 10 miles separate those two cities. No business considering a Los Angeles location would imagine that city’s sprawling assets don’t include the academic...