Blog

The County of San Diego is currently developing a new website that will make it easier to access county services, by improving communication and customer service. A new county website, dubbed Connect Well San Diego will be up and running by 2017, according to County Health and Human Services. The website will take advantage of new technologies to create an electronic information sharing hub. The hub will allow County staff and contractors to communicate better with each other as well as...

A new report from Children Now details wide disparities in children’s well-being across California’s 58 counties. The 2016–2017 California County Scorecard of Children’s Well-Being looks at a series of indicators organized around the three domains of child welfare and economic well-being; health; and education. The report provides a comparison over time for each of 28 indicators, as well as a breakdown by ethnicity on each data point for every county in the state. Children Now, an advocacy...

Amy Saltzman, author of a Still Quiet Place, and her team are bringing another great conference on mindfulness education for youth to San Diego. The Bridging Hearts and Minds Conference will take place Feb 10-12, 2017, and I will be there presenting on how to cultivate Self-Compassion with Teens. Some other wonderful teachers are coming too, like: Susan Kaiser Greenland, author of The Mindful Child and most recently, Mindful Games. Lorraine Hobbs and Karen Bluth are researchers who will also...

The Urban Street Angels Homeless Youth Shelter is back up and running after it suspended operations because of a lack of money. Services include warm meals, minor medical help, hair cuts, showers and computer access for employment opportunities. More than 3,000 young people sleep on the streets of San Diego every night, according to Urban Angels. Once a week on Tuesdays, youth from 17-25 years old receive shelter overnight at the Mission Gathering Church from 6 p.m. until 9 a.m. Wednesday.

San Diego’s first transgender police officer was kept out of an event at the San Diego LGBT Community Center in Hillcrest last week because she was wearing her uniform. The Transgender Day of Awareness, an annual event to honor those who lost their lives to anti-transgender violence, was held Nov. 17 at the facility on Centre Street. Officer Christine Garcia , who publicly transitioned last year, helped plan the event and was part of the police department security detail that watched over a...

I am excited to announce that ACEs Connection Network has partnered with the producers of the film, Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion. Their Pain . to host a FREE SCREENING of the film for our members. If you have been t hinking of hosting a screening of CAREgivers in your community or are interested in learning more about secondary traumatic stress and what to do about it, join our ACEs Connection Network for a FREE screening of this film and a virtual chat with the...

Hello All! The last SD-TIGT meeting featured the Academy for Professional Excellence's Trauma Informed Journey, sharing the wonderful Trauma Informed work occurring in San Diego, reporting of the different committees, and a presentation on ACES Connection. The different committees include: marketing, membership, training, and resource. If you are interested in learning more about any of the committees please feel free to contact me and I can give you more information. The minutes are...

In the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego, the second largest home of East African refugees in the U.S., youth workers noticed some troubling trends. “We were seeing young men in their early 20s using drugs, not going to college, ending up in prison,” said Jama Mohamed, Program Coordinator and Making Connections Project Lead at United Women of East Africa Support Team (UWEAST). “We kept having this conversation: ‘What do we need to do?’” The loss of five young men in a string of suicides...

This is a moving short video from a former foster youth. It speaks to the hope and resilience in these youth - in spite of their traumatic experiences. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYUpdXnFSc8&mc_cid=8bf4247815&mc_eid=552d101b62

The National Council for Behavioral Health is starting 2 new year-long Trauma Informed Learning Communities in 2017: Trauma Informed Learning Community - for behavioral health and social service agencies Trauma Sensitive School Learning Community - for schools and districts This year-long program provides webinars, conferences and technical support in helping organizations become more trauma sensitive. See link for more information:...

Compassion Fatigue & Self-Care for Individuals and Organizations Brought to you by Futures Without Violence’s Supporting Organizational Sustainability Institute (SOS Institute) in partnership with the Office on Violence Against Women. Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 Time : 9:30 a.m. PT, 10:30 a.m. MT, 11:30 p.m. CT, 12:30 p.m. ET (1 Hr. 30 Min.) ***Closed caption will be provided. Registration Link:...

We at Harmonium value the simple ways we can integrate trauma-informed practices throughout our organization’s culture. Ensuring that staff connect trauma informed practices to the Agency’s mission and core values helps to integrate mindful practice into our daily interactions. Harmonium’s four core values are Respect, Creativity, Self-Sufficiency, and Continuous Improvement. One way we are integrating trauma-informed practices is by using Desktop Screens. Each month, our Information...