Blog

From Tugg.com, March 17, 2016 Tugg Edu is proud to present the highly anticipated ACEs documentary PAPER TIGERS to the educational marketplace. Directed by James Redford ( THE BIG PICTURE: RETHINKING DYSLEXIA, RESILIENCE ), PAPER TIGERS follows a year in the life of an alternative high school that has radically changed its approach to disciplining its students, becoming a promising model for how to break the cycles of poverty, violence and disease that affect families. With over 450...

Please see this exciting update about upcoming one-on-one sessions available for the District Attorney's Office Request For Statement of Qualifications (RFSQ #7191). They are really working hard to make sure that community partners, mentors, counselors, social services practitioners, small businesses, etc. who are interested can get on the approved “consultant list”. To secure a spot , please send Grace Liu an email ( grace.liu@sdcda.org ) with your times of availability between 2:00 p.m. –...

The UC San Diego School of Medicine has promoted Dr. Deepak Chopra from assistant professor to full professor to reflect his growing work with the campus to explore and explain how such things as meditation, yoga and diet affect a person's health. The promotion does not come with a salary. The 68 year-old physician-spiritualist will continue to interact with the university on a voluntary, unpaid basis. He will continue to be based out of the Chopra Center in La Costa, which he co-founded in...

Community-based organizations and community members were all in attendance at the Live Well Central Region Leadership meeting on Wednesday, March 16. During the meeting, we received updates from the health, safety, and thriving working groups. The Probation Department shared how it would screen clients using the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument. At this point in time hey have screened 40 youth and 4 have been further assessed so that appropriate services could be provided. I thought...

I recently joined the San Diego County Behavioral Health CADRE XVI group. In my first training there was an exercise where three groups (Primarily Alcohol and other Drug, Mental Health, and Child and Family Services….a mix of licensed clinicians, AOD counselors, and para professionals) were asked to list the types of services each system of care provided. I was so pleasantly surprised that each group independently listed “Trauma Informed”. What progress San Diego Behavioral Health has made...

This article, written by Wendy Smith, addresses the challenges created by trauma, and why it's important to address these issues as early as possible. While the article focuses more on the role of social workers, parents, and foster care systems, this same information applies to anyone who works with children, regardless of where we have the opportunity to provide support. ~ Leisa Irwin, ACEs in Education group manager. What Children’s Brains Tell Us About Trauma: Invest Early, by Wendy...

Cherokee Point Elementary in City Heights (San Diego Unified School District) hosted 12 educators from Oregon on Friday, March 11th. The superintendents, principals and teachers spent the day with Principal Godwin Higa and Resource Specialist Patty Wallach to talk about the school becoming trauma informed, and how it functions. They visited classrooms and had lunch with the students, then met with Dr. Audrey Hokoda, Child, Development Department, San Diego State University and Dana Brown to...

Services that help area homeless people will receive even more money than originally requested from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development this year. HUD Secretary Julian Castro announced $1.6 billion in grants this week, and almost $15 million is coming to San Diego County. The amount received so far is about $660,000 more than requested. Diaz said the increase was partially the result of adjustments to rental-assistance programs that reflected market increases. HUD funding is...

Harmonium has had the pleasure of collaborating with San Diego State University graduate student, Christine Ma, to offer trauma-informed trainings to fellow students and community members in San Diego. When Christine learned about trauma-informed trainings, she applied for a mini grant offered by the University to students. This grant enables students to bring programs to campus that would enhance their education. Rosa Ana Lozada, CEO of Harmonium, and Heidi Echeverria, MARC Project Manager,...

Director and producer Vic Compher’s documentary film, Portraits of Professional Caregivers: Their Passion. Their Pain , takes a deeper look at the causes of and treatments for what’s called secondary traumatic stress, a condition commonly...

Tucked away on a quiet cul-de-sac in an Escondido neighborhood, a group of mostly Jewish adults with mental illness are gradually taking back their lives. Chesed Home — “chesed” is Hebrew for “loving kindness”, is a 12-bed board-and-care center for the Jewish mentally ill. Its mission is to help residents build the self-sufficiency, working, coping and social skills to permanently transition to independent living. Since Chesed Home opened three years ago, nearly half of its 20 residents have...

Project PAINT: The Prison ArtsINiTiative at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility was started by Laura Pecenco, a sociology professor at Miramar College whose doctorate thesis at UC San Diego was on the performance of masculine in arts creation in prison. Pecenco, an artist herself for her company Hester Crown Jewelry, met with Warden Daniel Paramo in 2013 to discuss the idea of working with inmates to create murals that would decorate visiting areas. The next year, the men created...