TRIGGER ALERT - CONTENT REFERENCING SEXUAL ASSAULT, CHILD SEX TRAFFICKING, PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL ABUSE. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. I don’t think it matters which month it is—when you feel called to share a portion of your story the calendar is irrelevant. In my case, the calendar serendipitously lined up with a surgery that occurred the same month. I had a full hysterectomy because of a large fibroid tumor in the wall of my uterus and multiple tumors in and on my ovaries. The...

In an oddly placed story, the Arts and Entertainment section of the Star Tribune in Minnesota covered the cost of phone calls for inmates after the FCC decided that it would not support caps on cost for inmates to make calls. The article starts out talking about the Netflix series, Orange is the New Black, but this issue isn't fiction, it's impacting families all over the United States. In criminal justice reform this issue could easily get lost when larger issues like mental health are so...

A few months ago I started watching April the Giraffe, via a live animal camera (cam) at Animal Adventure Park in New York. It had been such a relaxing experience that I missed it when it was turned off. I used to fall asleep watching the giraffes. I was delighted when I found another website, explore.org, and realized that they had cameras all over the world, including in Africa where I could watch giraffes, elephants, hippos, zebras, and so many more animals in their natural habitat. For...

I'd like to believe that part of life is about taking chances, taking risks, and about having a support network that will be there when you fall. I struggle with the last part, because when I fell down the rabbit hole almost two years ago (I had a mental health crisis and was then diagnosed with a mental illness), I felt abandoned by the people who were closest to me. I had built much of my life - maybe all of my life - around my career. I never felt like I had a job like other people seem...

Author’s Note: It took me over a month to write this because simply describing what it is like to struggle with the symptoms of C-PTSD resulted in triggering fear, anxiety, and flashbacks. I persisted with this narrative because I want people who have never experienced the complexities of this illness to have a better understanding of what someone with PTSD or C-PTSD might be trying to manage. If you personally struggle with anxiety, have PTSD or C-PTSD, or you are triggered by descriptions...

Viral videos are not new. Every few weeks, something will be posted in a forum such as YouTube or Facebook; a few friends will share the video with one another, and then suddenly, that video is being watched by millions. The most recent viral video takes this to a new level. April the Giraffe was not just a video, it was a live camera streaming online, allowing viewers to watch a pregnant giraffe and ultimately watch the birth of her calf. So, what makes the viral giraffe cam different than...

Schools are the best opportunity to address ACEs on a large scale. Other than time at home, school is the place where children spend the majority of their time. And if a child's home life is full of strife, school might be the only place where the child feels safe. ACEs are common, and yet, it can be difficult to know which students need extra support. And rather than create additional programs that single out anyone or any group of students, and potentially having students fall through the...

[Ed. note: This is cross-posted from the ACEs in Education group, where Leisa Irwin is the community editor. If you want more information about trauma-informed schools, please join the ACEs in Education group.] I recently wrote a blog post about how to take the first step in creating a trauma informed care model (TIC) in your school. The first step, Establishing a Baseline, is necessary because it fuels future steps in the process. In the blog post "Is Your School Ready to be Trauma Informed...

If you are like many teachers, social workers, or administrators in schools, you've been reading about the need for trauma informed care and trauma sensitive schools. Odds are you didn't need to read the research to know something that you were already seeing in your classrooms, school hallways, and community. Unfortunately reading about it, seeing the need, wanting to make changes, doesn't make the change happen. Five years ago, as the executive director of a school that needed to change, I...

by Bailey Kirkpatrick, What is Epigenetics August 16, 2016 It’s possible that the impact of traumatic experiences may be epigenetically inherited via molecular memory that is passed down through generations. Although still controversial, new research takes this concept a step further and demonstrates that traumatic behavior could be reversed when it would otherwise be inherited. A study, published in Neuropsychopharmacology , was conducted by researchers at the University of Zurich and ETH...

Dear ACEs Connection Friends,    We are holding the first of, hopefully, many chat discussions on the topic of ACEs in Education. The chat discussion is scheduled for September 3rd at 4 pm central time. Please mark your calendars and join...

I copied this from ACEsTooHigh.com. The formatting is a bit messed up with the photos, but the story is the same.  You can read the original here , if you prefer.     A note regarding this post, that I did not foresee having to...

  Paladin is a trauma informed care organization.  It has taken us about three years to fully understand and implement a trauma informed care environment.  And even after fully implementing this, we still have to work every single day...

In the summer of 2011, July 22nd to be exact, I took an interim position at a school as the Director, while the school board started a search for a permanent director.  At the time I was not willing to make a permanent commitment to the school in...

Summer 2014   Two weeks ago one of my students ran away from home.  She is 16 years old, and is not typically a student who is on my "radar" as someone I have to "watch." So when she ran away, I was surprised.  My initial thought was,...

I originally wrote this on March 10th.     I really wish I had time to write about the greatness I see in my students every single day.  Our school is somewhat like an emergency room or trauma center, everyday.  The teachers, and...

Today I am thankful. Today I am thankful for the kindness of strangers. Today I am thankful for a community that comes together when someone is hurt, or hurting.  Today I am thankful for emergency responders, police, paramedics, and all of those...

My Speech at Paladin's Class of 2014 Commencement Ceremony Congratulations, to all of you who have come so far, and made it to this evening, the celebration of your graduation, the Commencement of the Class of 2014. This past year, these past...

I had been asleep for a few hours when I answered the call.  At first, I did not realize it was my work cell phone.  The caller on the other end was sobbing uncontrollably and in the background I could hear someone yelling,...

Paladin Academy (PA) is a public charter high school located in Minnesota.  The school has been in operation for ten years. Since the school's inception, the program has drawn students for whom other educational programs have been unsuccessful....

This blog entry is a copy of a letter that I give to all applicants who apply for a position at Paladin Academy. In some cases, I never hear from the applicant again, in other cases I receive a series of questions from prospective applicants about...