By Seamus McAvoy, Photo: Hartford Courant, Hartford Courant, April 16, 2022 Charter Oak Cultural Center, a Hartford arts education organization, is using therapy and mindfulness to tackle childhood trauma. The center, located in Connecticut’s first synagogue, is now an “ACEs Aware” institution — one that formally recognizes the lasting effects of trauma and adverse childhood experiences, also called ACEs. It’s also partnering with 2AssureUs LLC, a Hartford therapy practice that serves...

By Jeff Lunden, Image: #Enough, National Public Radio, April 17, 2022 Wednesday marks the 23rd anniversary of the Columbine school shootings. Across the country, theaters and civic organizations are commemorating this event by presenting readings of eight short plays by teenagers. The program is called #Enough : Plays to End Gun Violence. Director Michael Cotey was in rehearsal on February 14, 2018, when the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland , Fla., occurred. "This...

By Elly Scrine, Photo: Unsplash, Frontiers in Psychology, January 27, 2022 A broad sociocultural perspective defines trauma as the result of an event, a series of events, or a set of circumstances that is experienced as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening, with lasting impacts on an individual’s physical, social, emotional, or spiritual wellbeing. Contexts and practices that aim to be “trauma-informed” strive to attend to the complex impacts of trauma, integrating knowledge...

By Britt Cannon, Illustration: Neto Junior, Collider, February 12, 2022 Disney is no stranger to exploring some heavier aspects of life. Many of their releases from the last couple of decades have reputations for being tear-jerkers. More recently, films like Tangled , Inside Out , and Soul unpack emotional abuse, gaslighting, trauma, and even consciousness and death. Encanto is another incredible addition to a long line of animated features that carry a deeper message. Encanto is receiving...

By Rachel Hatzipanagos, Randall Michelson, The Washington Post, January 20, 2022 The typical celebrity chef food show follows a familiar formula: chef visits a new locale each week, shepherded by a local to restaurants where they eat mouthwatering dishes over a good conversation. Los Angeles chef Roy Choi wanted to do something different with his show “Broken Bread.” “People love looking at food on TV, and so it’s kind of weirdly disguised as a food show,” Choi said. Each episode, Choi...

By Walter Marsh, Photo: Jesse Hunniford/Mona, January 26, 2022 L aunceston is one of Australia’s oldest and perhaps most characterful cities. It’s full of Georgian, Victorian and Federation-era buildings largely untouched by wrecking balls or developers, often bearing their year of construction a century ago or more. With manicured lawns, flowerbeds and a classically inspired 1859 fountain, Prince’s Square pulls all that heritage charm together. But this week things are a little different.

By Elizabeth Thompson, Illustration: Elizabeth Thompson, North Carolina Health News, January 13, 2022 Bethany Uhler Thompson didn’t know what to expect when she decided to start a youth string orchestra at Chatham Youth Development Center. She was inspired by her uncle, who was incarcerated and had confided in her how isolating being in prison could be. Thompson used to perform with her cello in a juvenile detention center when she was younger, but she wanted to get incarcerated people...

By Neda Ulaby, Photo: Kathy Tarantola/Peabody Essex Museum, National Public Radio, January 6, 2022 Your imagination does the work at The Great Animal Orchestra – you just sit in a dark room and listen. Currently at the Peabody Essex museum in Salem, Mass ., through May 22, the exhibition immerses visitors into soundscapes from remote parts of the planet: seven of them, from the tropics to the tundra. No wildlife footage accompanies this symphony of wild animals. It's audio first, in a...

By Melissa Montalvo, Photo: John Walker/The Fresno Bee, Cal Matters, November 23, 2021 Más de un año después de lanzar un esfuerzo para cambiar el nombre de la comunidad de Squaw Valley, un grupo de aproximadamente 15 manifestantes se reunió en el centro de Fresno para instar a la Junta de Supervisores del Condado de Fresno a cambiar el nombre que muchos argumentan es racista y misógino. Varias personas hablaron durante la reunión de la junta de esta semana, que por momentos se puso tensa y...

Last week I attended the Lisa Project in Stockton Ca. and it was an interesting and indelible experience. From a person with lived experiences of ACEs and childhood trauma, I would say it was both visceral and real as well as informing and educational. Check out the Lisa Project… https://thelisaproject.org

By Jim Rendon, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, June 4, 2021 Roger Brown, 33, a Black Fresno rapper and mentor, was driving home from a candlelight vigil in March when he noticed a police car was following his BMW. He was dropping off four kids, some as young as 10, who had attended the vigil held for a murdered child. As Brown stopped to let one of the boys out in front of his aunt’s house, the police car stopped behind them. The boy got out of the car and immediately jumped back in. He said...